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Any Questions #217

Listen up! Resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel is back.

Last week's challenge
Start with the name MISS SCARLET. Change one letter to an A, and you can rearrange the letters to spell the two word name (six letters, five letters) for something an expert might give for talented students. What is it?
Answer: If you change the I to an A, you can spell MASTER CLASS.

THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY: EARS
On-air questions
: On October 23, 1739, Great Britain declared war on Spain, officially starting what became familiarly known as "The War of Jenkins' Ear." Coined by historian Thomas Carlyle in the 19th century, the name derives from an incident in 1738 in which the commander of a Spanish patrol boat boarded an English ship suspected of smuggling, and cut off the ear of Robert Jenkins, the ship's captain. A year later, after all diplomatic avenues had been exhausted, England sent a fleet to attack Spain. To commemorate Captain Jenkins' misfortune, this week I've brought questions about ears.

1. Taking its name from a street in Liverpool where John Lennon and Paul McCartney used to meet to catch a bus into the city, what title location in a 1967 Beatles hit is "in my ears and in my eyes / There beneath the blue suburban skies"?
2. Often found growing on the bark elder trees — to the extent that its scientific name references Judas Iscariot, who purportedly hung himself from an elder tree — and popular as an ingredient in hot and sour soup in China, the wood ear is an edible species of what?
3. "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; / I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him." is the first line of a speech from Act Two, Scene Three of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The speech is delivered to Brutus and the other conspirators in Caesar's death by whom?
4. First appearing in serial form in a Belgian newspaper in the 1930s, The Broken Ear is the sixth installment in the comic series featuring Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, and what title character, a reporter who travels the world with a fox terrier named Snowy?
5. In the world of newspapers, an "ear" refers to a small area (often boxed in) to the left or the right of the nameplate on the front page. One of the most famous "ears" is "All the news that's fit to print," which has appeared on the front page of every edition since October of 1896 of what major newspaper?

Extra credit
1. Derived from the Greek words for the three component body parts, what is the name for the area of medicine practiced by professionals commonly known as ear, nose, and throat doctors?
2. In a 1964 pitch, what television series creator described one of his main characters by saying, "Probably half Martian, he has a slightly reddish complexion and semi-pointed ears"?

This week's challenge
Start with the phrase HEARING AIDS. Rearrange the letters to spell a two-word phrase (four letters, seven letters) for something that happens during a brainstorming session. What is it?

ANSWERS
On-air questions

1. "Penny Lane"
2. Mushroom
3. Marc Antony
4. Tintin
5. The New York Times

Extra credit
1. Otorhinolaryngology
2. Gene Roddenberry
 

A lifelong resident of the Capital Region, Ian joined WAMC in late 2008 and became news director in 2013. He began working on Morning Edition and has produced The Capitol Connection, Congressional Corner, and several other WAMC programs. Ian can also be heard as the host of the WAMC News Podcast and on The Roundtable and various newscasts. Ian holds a BA in English and journalism and an MA in English, both from the University at Albany, where he has taught journalism since 2013.
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