Cryptic Quiz

Cryptic Quiz

Questions

1. French knight, thank heaven?
2. Divinely amusing Italian poet?
3. Agent of guaranteed investment?
4. Clean graph curve?
5. Lord of the Flies is a devil?
6. South Asia Muslim ruler's title, variously distorted?
7. Physical rate of change of v over time?
8. Cubic substitute ZrO2?
9. Dripping with Yiddish sentimentality?
10. Prepared plural money slang?
11. Supercilium often raised?
12. Sound, hearing, and non-electric musical instruments from the Greeks?
13. Laughing feliform?
14. Biblical hairshirt worn with ashes?
15. Each vowel, correct order, moderate consumer?
16. Mythological Norse 'hall of the slain'?
17. Eponymous 1947 weapon developer?
18. Bass red triangle was the first ever registered (UK)?
19. Extended intranet?
20. Half-baked?

1. French knight, thank heaven?

   Chevalier (French surname and title derived from horsemen - Belgian Maurice Chevalier famously recorded the 1957 song Thank Heaven for Little Girls - we might wonder if such a song-theme would be devised in modern times..)
2. Divinely amusing Italian poet?

   Dante (Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321, author of epic poem The Divine Comedy)
3. Agent of guaranteed investment?

   Bond (see bond definitions/origins - the agent of course is James)
4. Clean graph curve?

   Bathtub (a long U-shape typically occurring in engineering failures over time - early development teething problems reducing to less common random failures, peaking subsequently again due to wear-out)
5. Lord of the Flies is a devil?

   Beelzebub (pronounced 'bee-elzeebub', the word, referring to Satan, is from Hebrew, Ba'-al-ze'-bub, meaning 'lord of the flies', a Philistine god mentioned in the Holy Bible's second book of Kings, 1:2)
6. South Asia Muslim ruler's title, variously distorted?

   Nawab (or Nawaab, or Nobab - notably in India and Pakistan - with numerous related terms for people of actual or apparent or hopeful power and status, such as Nabob, and Naybob, an English ironic reference to returning colonial ex-pats having pretensions above their actual status; also Naib, an earlier Arabic local ruler title but now referring to certain elected parliament officials in Arab-speaking regions.)
7. Physical rate of change of v over time?

   Acceleration (v is velocity)
8. Cubic substitute ZrO2?

   Zirconia (fully Zirconium Dioxide - Cubic Zirconia is the cubic crystalline form, CZ, used as synthetic diamond jewellery)
9. Dripping with Yiddish sentimentality?

   Schmaltz (commonly now referring metaphorically to excessive sentimentality in films, music, etc., the Jewish/Yiddish term originally refers to dripping or lard, from the German schmalz)
10. Prepared plural money slang?

    Readies (more money slang and history)
11. Supercilium often raised?

    Eyebrow (from Latin super, above, and cilium, eyelid - from which we also have the word supercilious, meaning haughty or arrogant, referring to a person's raised eyebrows tending to accompany such attitudes)
12. Sound, hearing, and non-electric musical instruments from the Greeks?

    Acoustic (from Greek acoustikos, and akouein, to hear)
13. Laughing feliform?

    Hyena (of the Feliformia suborder, of the Carnivora order, of mammals)
14. Biblical hairshirt worn with ashes?

    Sackcloth (the alternative Latin term cilice refers to a shirt made from course goat's hair, or similar, to produce discomfort for the wearer, typically for religious repentance atonement - cilice incidentally derives from the ancient Roman region Cilicia, now SE Turkey, where such garments were worn)
15. Each vowel, correct order, moderate consumer?

    Abstemious (or also correctly, Abstentious, meaning restrained or abstaining - see the AEIOU word puzzle and answers on the puzzles and games page)
16. Mythological Norse 'hall of the slain'?

    Valhalla (the highly symbolic legendary palace where dead warriors feast with the god Odin for ever)
17. Eponymous 1947 weapon developer?

    Kalashnikov (Russian Lieutenant General Mikhail Kalashnikov, developer of the AK-47 assault rifle - abbreviated from Avtomat Kalashnikova, and 1947, the year that he developed it)
18. Bass red triangle was the first ever registered (UK)?

    Trademark (in 1875, by the Bass Brewery company of England - the first US trademark resgistered is said to be Samson Rope's Samson and lion wrestling image)
19. Extended intranet?

    Extranet (enabling connections from/to a closed intranet with outside online users/services, but still controlled and not open from/to the internet - incidentally an intranet is a closed secure online network for staff/users of a particular institution/corporation, etc.)
20. Half-baked?

    Waffle (A waffle is a baked dough/batter cake; waffle refers separately to poorly prepared/delivered communications; half-baked refers to underprepared ideas or propositions)