Relaxing Fun discussion

Now that all those analogy questions have been removed from the SAT, they have found a home in my head. Here are six, to start with. They are related to books and literature only in the way that everything is, there is a theme, however.

Example - Paris : Louvre :: Florence : Uffizi

1. Carnaval dance : samba :: venomous reptile : ?
2. flying elephant : Dumbo :: Louisiana purchase : ?
3. Congolese freedom fighter : Lumumba :: raincoat model : ?
4. supersized elephant : jumbo :: center of serendipity : ?
5. supermodel boy toy : himbo :: dance of the unbaptized : ?
6. cute forest critter : Bambi :: insipid and sentimental : ?

I think I know 4 and 6...4. Dumbo? 6. Isn't this the Bambi book? or one that goes with it?

I can't think of a supermodel boy toy, how sad.

David, Would you post another one?

I'll take a shot at 1, 2, 5 and 6, but I'm stumped on 3 and 4.

1. mamba
2. gumbo
5. limbo
6. namby-pamby

How'd I do?

EM: Four for four - excellent!

Hint for #4: What is the origin of the word "serendipity"? (This may also help with #3)

Here are the remaining six (continuation of the same theme)

7. cheesehead hangout : Lambeau :: Carthaginian beauty : ?
8. toted guns in Vietnam : Rambo :: toted guns in Abyssinia : ?
9. equilateral parallelogram : rhombus :: terrorist tactic : ?
10. Las Vegas denizens : gamblers :: Catalan promenade : ?
11. hands on hips : akimbo :: xylophone : ?
12. home of the gaucho : pampas :: Munster, Walton : ?

hmmmmmmmmm ....

I'll need to mull this over. And consult my oracle.

4. Columbo!!!!

Never would have got it without the hint, and who knew about Sri Lanka?!? Well, obv. you did ... but you are clearly not a mere mortal. :-D

7. Salammbo

10. Ramblas

11. Marimba?


Hmm, I'll think of the rest...

8 must be Rimbaud. Could 9 be 'bomb us'? Am I making the best use of my time?

And 12 is grandpas. Ashamed to know that.

My best guess for 11 is 'marimbro', which would make for a really indefensible pun.

Oh man, I should've known #12!

Well, I never would have guessed Salambo or Ramblas. You got the ball rolling. I was just cherry-picking.

Very good, folks! Clearly a smart bunch here tonight.
For # 9, either 'bomb us' or 'bomb bus' is acceptable.

That leaves only #3 unsolved, though I imagine it can't be all that difficult.

Twelve fresh and exciting clues. The first six have something in common (loosely speaking); so do the last, but it's a different common theme. (I think these are a little easier than the previous dozen, but it's hard for me to judge)

1a. Copperfield : Charles :: Baudelaire :
2a. Russell’s barber : antinomy :: Ockham’s razor :
3a. merchandise : trade :: indulgences :
4a. Sn : tin :: Sb :
5a. Italy : minestrone :: Greece :
6a. DC in March : cherry blossomy :: Fentiman Farms in October :

7a. Nero : Poppaea :: Jacob : ?
8a. Annals : chronicles :: nickname : ?
9a. goddess of forgiveness and youth : Hebe :: grandmother of Apollo : ?
10a. arrows : Fletcher :: candles : ?
11a. swan : cygnet :: kangaroo : ?
12a. George : Kennedy :: New Yorker : ?

4a. antimony

10a. chandler

11a. joey

Choupette:

Yes! All three answers are correct. Well done.

Yay! I think have another:

2a. parsimony

I could look up some of the others I'm sure, but that would be cheating.

1a. Lemony

2a. Parsimony

3a. Simony

Yes, yes, yes.
Looking stuff up isn't cheating, in my book. I don't really imagine that anyone is familiar with Fentiman farms. Though it might be guessable by now.

Let's try a musical clue -
M1. http://gaelstat.com/Documents/swan.mid : swan :: http://gaelstat.com/Documents/notswan... : ?

That's it for tonight.

Wow. Now I understand!

7a Rachel
8a moniker/Monica
9a Phoebe
12a Ross

Not very friendly of you, I must say.

And is #3 Columba, as in Ms.Columbo? Too much of a stretch?

Yes. Stately, plump Buck Mulligan hits it out of the park!!!

I had in mind 'Columbo' for #3, 'Colombo' for #4.
Still left to solve:

#5a, #6a, Musical clue M1.

OK then, let's step it up a notch:

1b. author : Beecher Stowe :: subway conductor : ?
2b. Dukas : The Sorcerer’s Apprentice :: Ravel : ?
3b. Indy : 4966 :: NASCAR : ?
4b. hand : Smith :: man : ?
5b. Hatfield : McCoy :: uncle : ?
6b. uncle : avuncular :: stepmother : ?
7b. easy job : sinecure :: guiding light : ?
8b. Wellington : Copenhagen :: Napoleon : ?
9b. humbug : Bach :: seek : ?
10b. heavy : scarlet :: light : ?
11b. quake : shake :: fox : ?
12b. http://gaelstat.com/images/pic1%20(1)... : Rossini :: http://gaelstat.com/images/pic1%20(7)... : ?

No unifying theme.

1b. Tubman

8b. Marengo

6a. persimmony
7b. cynosure

Matthew & Buck: Yes; all your answers are correct.
Clues remaining -

5a. Italy : minestrone :: Greece :
2b. Dukas : The Sorcerer’s Apprentice :: Ravel : ?
3b. Indy : 4966 :: NASCAR : ?
4b. hand : Smith :: man : ?
5b. Hatfield : McCoy :: uncle : ?
6b. uncle : avuncular :: stepmother : ?
9b. humbug : Bach :: seek : ?
10b. heavy : scarlet :: light : ?
11b. quake : shake :: fox : ?
12b. http://gaelstat.com/images/pic1%20(1)... : Rossini :: http://gaelstat.com/images/pic1%20(7)... : ?
M1. http://gaelstat.com/Documents/swan.mid : swan :: http://gaelstat.com/Documents/notswan... : ?

Oh I know M1! Kangaroo.

Kangaroo is correct!
Here is another musical clue:

http://gaelstat.com/Documents/paris.jpg : Paris :: http://gaelstat.com/Documents/tor.mid : ?

Kiev?

5a: fassoulada?

2b: Bolero?

6b: evil?


Yikes, these are getting hard and I'm taking stabs in the dark!!

Kiev is correct, but I'm afraid EM is wrong on all three.

(The musical piece is "The Great Gate of Kiev" from Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition"; the pieces in the previous musical clue were "The Swan" and "The Kangaroo" from Saint-Saens' "Carnival of the Animals")

hah! hmmmm ... shall I make a case for each? ;-)

2b. Sheherazade
12b. Turner

And is 9b 'hide', by any chance?

Sheherezade is not correct for 2b, though the answer is a work by Ravel.

Turner is a reasonable answer for 12b, as is 'hide' for 9b. However, in both cases the answer I had in mind is the name of a composer.

Ah, I see. I was being too literal.

2b. The Child and the Spells
9b. Hyde
12b. Mendelssohn

2b. The Child and the Spells, or L'Enfant et les Sortileges, is correct. The analogy to The Sorcerer's Apprentice is that both works involve inanimate objects that come to life and wreak havoc, much to the chagrin of the main protagonist. Just naming any old work by Ravel was not an adequate answer.

9b is very close, but there is (what I believe to be) a better answer.

Mendelssohn, as composer of the Fingal's Cave (depicted in the painting by Turner) overture, is right for 12b.

God, I'm too stupid to live. Haydn. It's Haydn.

(yea!)

Let's try a different kind of question. Identify the common link for each of the following.

EXAMPLE: robust -- cartridge -- tramp -- strain
(Answer: each word contains within it some kind of means of transportation - bus, car, tram, train)

1c. Strindberg -- Nabokov -- Updike -- Potter
2c. St Exupery -- Kennedy -- Richardson
3c. Homer -- McCrae -- Fleming
4c. Duchovny -- Hellman -- Janacek -- Aesop
5c. heel -- toad -- yet -- lathe
6c. rate -- beach -- bear -- alive -- drape
7c. calmness -- worst -- stuck -- indefinitely
8c. order -- thigh -- snake

Can I take another shot at the analogies? 5b. could be thrush (i.e. U.N.C.L.E.'s archenemy on the old TV show). Give me a year or so and I might get the rest.

Yes! thrush is correct.

A small clue for the remaining unsolved analogy questions: two of them require some knowledge of literature, and one of those two involves Tennyson.

Also, I would suggest that the number of straightforward mappings of letters to numbers is relatively low. Put another way, once one rules out truly simple schemes like replacing each letter by its numerical position in the alphabet, or the number assigned to it on a phone keypad, there are only a few other 'obvious' possibilities. This assumes, of course, that the person devising the puzzle hasn't resorted to truly sadistic coding schemes involving the digits of pi, or something equally impossible. Which I didn't.

5a. Italy : minestrone :: Greece :
3b. Indy : 4966 :: NASCAR : ?
4b. hand : Smith :: man : ?
6b. uncle : avuncular :: stepmother : ?
10b. heavy : scarlet :: light : ?
11b. quake : shake :: fox : ?

and a few new (easier?) ones -

13b. fear of misspelled words : fobia :: fear of giants : ?
14b. lotus : Tennyson :: potato : ?
15b. Helen : Paris :: brown bull : ?
16b. Films : Oscar :: Mystery novels : ?
17b. mosquito : malaria :: cannibalism : ?
18b. Christian : Roxanne :: Miles : ?

5a. avgolemono
3b. 112118
4b. Ellison
6b. novercal
10b. Cardigan
11b. lee

13b. feefifobia
14b. van Gogh
15b. Maeve
16b. Edgar
17b. kuru
18b. Priscilla