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Programme 5, 2024

Kirsty Lang chairs the cryptic contest of wordplay and obscure connections, today featuring the South of England against the Midlands.

(5/12)

Kirsty Lang chairs another closely-contested battle of wits between Marcus Berkmann and Paul Sinha for the South of England, and Frankie Fanko and Stephen Maddock for the Midlands.

Today's questions are:

Q1 Explain why you might be spellbound by a group of male strippers, the Beatles' parasitic friend and one of the all-time NBA greats?

Q2 What do the Maid of Buttermere, William Bloke and (doubly so) the recipients of the 1915 Nobel Prize for Physics have to boast about?

Q3 Music: Which titular Oscar Wilde character might you add to this collection?

Q4 How might you help a day in Spain to become a baker from Llareggub, a Gilbertian Princess, a German cobbler and an airport in Washington?

Q5 By adding nothing, turn an Arsenal manager into a Long Day's Journeyman, two World Snooker champions into a liberator of South America, the father and murderer of twins in a classic horror film into Lily Savage, and one half of a Trollope novel into the other half.

Q6 Music: Why are we playing you these in this order?

Q7 (from Simon Meara) If an ornithological orb scores 50,000, Highlands headwear 300,000 and a Charleston cropper two million, which social media site out-performs them all?

Q8 A board game in Japan, a device for moving fluids in Wales, a guinea-pig in the Balkans and the capital of Peru in the Pacific: is this the right number of clues?

Producer: Paul Bajoria

Release date:

28 minutes

The RBQ League Table 2024

Going into today's contest, the teams' rankings so far in the current series are:聽

1聽 Northern Ireland聽 聽 Played 2聽 Won 2聽 Drawn 0聽 Lost 0聽 聽Total points 412聽 Wales聽 聽 聽 聽 P2聽 W1聽 D0聽 L1聽 聽Pts 353聽 The Midlands聽 聽 聽P1聽 W1聽 D0聽 L0聽 聽Pts 244聽 North of England聽 聽 聽P1聽 W0聽 D0聽 L1聽 聽Pts 195聽 Scotland聽 聽 聽 聽P1聽 W0聽 D0聽 L1聽 Pts 186聽 South of England聽 聽 聽 P1聽 W0聽 D0聽 L1聽 聽Pts 15

Last week's teaser question

Last week Kirsty asked why Sheila Escovedo might be bothered by a hawthorn fly in the drawing-room of Europe?
They all involve St Mark.聽
The 'drawing-room of Europe' is a phrase attributed to Napoleon, about St Mark's Square in Venice. The hawthorn fly, Bibio marci, is also known as St Mark's fly because of its habit of swarming around British hedgerows in April, around the time of the feast day of St Mark. And Sheila Escovedo is the percussionist and singer who, billed as Sheila E, had a hit with the Prince song 'The Belle of St Mark', in 1986.
There'll be another teaser question to get your teeth into at the end of this edition.

This week's teaser question

A book by Madonna, a play by Mae West and a shop run by Vivienne Westwood: what do they all share?

If you know the answer there's no need to write to us: just store it up and see if you're right when Kirsty gives the solution next time.

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