It's a superstitious show for resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel and WAMC's Ian Pickus.
Last week's challenge
Start with the words PARIS and TOWER. Change one letter to an N, and you can rearrange the result to spell a word for someone you often see in a restaurant. What is the word?
Answer: If you change one R to an N, you can spell WAITPERSON.
THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY: THIRTEEN
On-air questions: Today is Friday the 13th, a day considered unlucky by many people. There are many purported origins of the fear of Friday the 13th, called "paraskevidekatriaphobia." In Italy, Friday the 17th is considered unlucky, and in Greece and many Spanish-speaking countries, Tuesday the 13th is considered an unlucky day. We'll try to make today a lucky day for our listeners with some questions about the number 13.
1. "And Providence Plantations" is the end of the official name of which state, the first of the original 13 colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British crown and the last of the original colonies to ratify the U.S. Constitution?
2. The 1984 drama Red Dawn was the first motion picture to receive a PG-13 rating. The rating was created partly due to the efforts of what director, who lamented that movies like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom were too mature for PG audiences but not mature enough for an R rating?
3. A group of humans from planets known as the Twelve Colonies search for a fabled 13th colony – a planet known as Earth – after a cybernetic race known as the Cylons wage war and devastate the colonies. This is the premise for what television series, which originally aired in the late 1970s and was reimagined in 2004?
4. Launched on April 11, 1970, the Apollo 13 mission returned to Earth a week later after an oxygen tank exploded and the planned lunar landing was scrapped. The commander of Apollo 13 was the first person to fly in space four times and the only one to fly to the moon twice without landing. Who is it?
5. The only Major League Baseball player who has had his number 13 jersey retired is Dave Concepción, who played with the same team from 1970 to 1988 and was part of The Big Red Machine, a team recognized as one of the best in baseball history. What team did Concepción play for?
Extra credit
1. What is the first of the four words that fills in the blank in the first section of the Thirteenth Amendment: "Neither _______, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."?
2. What famous television family lived at 1313 Mockingbird Lane?
This week's challenge
Start with the word THIRTEENTH. If you change one letter to a K, you can rearrange the result to spell the name (3, 7) of a famous sculpture. What is it?
ANSWERS
On-air questions
1. Rhode Island
2. Steven Spielberg
3. Battlestar Galactica
4. James Lovell
5. Cincinnati Reds
Extra credit
1. Slavery (the entire phrase is "slavery nor involuntary servitude")
2. The Addams Family
