Any Questions?
Fridays, 6:25 p.m. on Northeast Report Late Edition
- Hosted by Ian Pickus
- Local Host Mike Nothnagel and Ian Pickus
About Any Questions?
WAMC's Friday quiz segment, Any Questions?, puts news director Ian Pickus in the hot seat, as he and listeners field questions from resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel. Nothnagel is Associate Professor of mathematics at The Culinary Institute of America, and a crossword constructor for the New York Times and Games Magazine, among other outlets. Often, Mike and Ian switch seats or feature guest answerers, such as Will Shortz, Liane Hansen, John Flansburgh and Mike Doughty. Any Questions? airs Friday during Northeast Report Late Edition on WAMC.
Last week's challenge: Start with the song title BACK IN THE USSR. Change one letter to a W and you can spell three words (three letters, four letters, and six letters) that each name something in a house that uses water. What are the words?
Answer: If you change the C to a W, you can spell TUB, SINK, and WASHER.
THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY: HEARTS
On-air questions: It's February 14, which means it's Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day is a Christian feast day that honors two (possibly three) saints named Valentinus, but its first association with romantic love is in a 14th century poem by Geoffrey Chaucer who wrote "For this was on St. Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate." In honor of Valentine's Day, this week our questions are about hearts.
1. The 1984 film Places in the Heart tells the story of Edna Spalding, a widow who struggles to save her family farm. Spalding was played by what actress, who received her second Academy Award for her portrayal, five years after she won Best Actress for the title role in the film Norma Rae?
2. "Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!" is the final line from what Edgar Allan Poe short story, first published in a literary periodical called The Pioneer in 1843?
3. The game of Hearts evolved from a group of related trick-taking card games that originated in Spain in the 1750s. It made its way to the United States in the 1880s as a game whose main objective was to avoid taking any of the thirteen hearts. What many people refer to as Hearts today is actually a variant called Black Lady, which introduces what additional card as one to avoid?
4. What song released in December of 1997 won – among many other awards – the 1998 Academy Award for Best Original Song, the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and Record of the Year, the latter of which was won for the first time by a Canadian artist?
5. What organization, whose mission statement is "To be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives", publishes journals titled Circulation, Hypertension, and Stroke?
Extra credit1. What vegetable is harvested from the inner core of the Cocos nucifera tree?
2. By what name do we commonly know a device called the Jarvik-7?
This week's challenge: Start with the phrase BROKEN HEART. Add a letter and you can spell two six-letter words that each mean to annoy. What are the words?
About Any Questions?
WAMC's Friday quiz segment, Any Questions?, puts news director Ian Pickus in the hot seat, as he and listeners field questions from resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel. Nothnagel is Associate Professor of mathematics at The Culinary Institute of America, and a crossword constructor for the New York Times and Games Magazine, among other outlets. Often, Mike and Ian switch seats or feature guest answerers, such as Will Shortz, Liane Hansen, John Flansburgh and Mike Doughty.
Any Questions? airs Friday during Northeast Report Late Edition on WAMC.
