For WAMC's Ian Pickus and resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel, it must have been the roses.
Last week's challenge
Think of a seven-letter word starting with N that names a certain type of ID. Reverse this word (that is, read it backwards) and you'll get a word for a person who might ask to see some ID. What are the words?
Answer: The ID is a NAMETAG, and the person is a GATEMAN.
THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY: ROSES
On-air questions: On January 1, 1954, the Tournament of Roses (also known as the Rose Parade) was the first national color television broadcast. The parade began in 1890, and in 1902 the football game now known as the Rose Bowl (it was originally called the Tournament East-West football game) was added to help with the costs of putting on the parade. The 2016 parade featured 44 floats, 19 equestrian units, and 20 marching bands. Today we've got our own Tournament of Roses: I've brought questions about famous roses.
1. Rose of Sharon, a name given to various flowering plants, is also the name of the eldest daughter of the Joad family and sister to the main protagonist Tom Joad in what 1939 John Steinbeck novel?
2. Originally based on the life of Janis Joplin (before her family declined the producers' request for the rights to her story) the 1979 film The Rose tells the story of self-destructive 1960s rock star struggling with fame and her greedy business manager. It was the screen debut for what singer, who had a 1980 hit with the title song?
3. The Tudor rose, also called the Union rose, is an emblem that combines a red rose and a white rose, and is the traditional heraldic symbol of England. It dates to the late 1400s, when Henry VII ended the Wars of the Roses by uniting the House of Lancaster with what other house?
4. In 2012, journalist and talk show host Charlie Rose co-hosted two episodes of a series called Person to Person, which featured interviews with celebrities in their homes. It was an attempt to revive the series of the same name which ran from 1953 to 1961 and was hosted, for most of its run, by what famous broadcast journalist, also known for the program See It Now?
5. A version of a compass rose called a "sidereal rose" uses the positions of stars in the night sky to denote the directions on the compass. South is designated by the Southern Cross, east-southeast is marked by Sirius, and what star is used to denote North?
Extra credit
1. In ancient Rome, a wild rose was placed on the door of a room where confidential matters were discussed. What phrase, whose literal translation derives from this practice, nowadays describes such secret discussions?
2. "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose," a line from the 1913 poem Sacred Emily, and often interpreted as meaning "things are what they are," was penned by what writer?
This week's challenge
Start with the phrase ROSEWATER. Add a letter, and you can rearrange the result to spell the common name (5, 5) of a U.S. landmark. What is it?
ANSWERS
On-air questions
1. The Grapes of Wrath
2. Bette Midler
3. York
4. Edward R. Murrow
5. Polaris
Extra credit
1. Sub rosa
2. Gertrude Stein
