Online Test Recap & Discussion (Pacific), January 9, 2014

[Zhankfor]

So, in the same vein as the Lady MacBeth vs. MacBeth argument last night... do they take "Manning," even though I was definitely guessing Eli Manning in my head?

Yes, they will take the last name here. Last name of a person is acceptable unless otherwise specified. Last night, they asked for the character; since there is a character named Macbeth, and another named Lady Macbeth, the one they were going for, they're not going to take that one.

I agree, but I think on the show they'd prompt you for the first name.

[MarkBarrett]

42/50 after 50 and 48, so I'm in the club for hardest of the three.

When I had no clue on the first one I felt like it threw me off. I scribbled Marie Antoinette to have a guess. Josephine? Wow, tough one for openers.

Retrograde was never going to happen. My guess was polarity.

I had genteel spelled gentile for cordial.

Peter for Thomas.

Helixes for chromosomes.

Sparta for Troy.

The one that drove me crazy was trying to recall Nash even though I knew it was John. It was five minutes after the test when I finally got the name.

Gates from CIA was a successful coin toss with FBI, but I need Sec. of Defense. Ugh.

ETA: Thanks for the correction, Surreal.

[The Surreal...]

39 for me. By far the hardest I've taken of any of the 7 or so I've done, so hopefully the grade on a bit of a curve for us West Coasters.
I've done 4 in-person auditions; I hope 5th time is a charm.

[dude33]

Anybody else guess `ribosome` for the dna question?

[econgator]

The one that drove me crazy was trying to recall Nash even though I knew it was John. It was five minutes after the test when I finally got the name.

If you were following Vermonter, you'd know exactly who he is.

[demomoke]

So, in the same vein as the Lady MacBeth vs. MacBeth argument last night... do they take "Manning," even though I was definitely guessing Eli Manning in my head?

That's a poser. Alex would almost certainly give you a BMS. Don't know whether that translates into a miss on the online test, though.

[The Surreal...]

Gates from CIA was a successful coin toss with FBI.

Gates was SecDef under Bush II & Obama, which is what the question asked. He was CIA, but under Bush I only.

[nlw44]

44/50 on this one, from the You Tube video (thanks you, sherder.) I didn't see a comment from anyone yet in a quick run-through, but did anyone else notice that they misspelled The Philippines on #46? Their version has double l instead of double p. Also, Josephine seems a pretty tough get for a first question, the way they worded the question. All in all, I'm glad I took it for real on Tuesday. I might or might not have done slightly better on Wednesday, but definitely not tonight.

[boson]

Thanks to sherder for the video again, and berto for the answer key.

I took this one for real tonight: 46 correct: missed 8-Hoover, 23- Alice Walker, 31- Cordial and 35-Thomas. Luckiest guess: Vassar (picked one of the seven sisters...). Pretty happy about that! Now, if only they call me for an audition. I haven't had one since 2008, and have passed the online test every year since then.

[Bradyguy]

After getting my butt handed to me on Thursday night (maybe a 42-43 if I was lucky!!) I went back and took Tuesday night's test on YouTube. Aced it! That' is a sickening feeling. Nearly everyone I know who took it tonight felt like it was far more difficult than any online version we've seen to date.

Just brutal!

[MarkBarrett]

Gates from CIA was a successful coin toss with FBI.

Gates was SecDef under Bush II & Obama, which is what the question asked. He was CIA, but under Bush I only.

Okay, correction made. Thanks.

[plasticene]

It turned out I got 46, which matches my Wednesday night score, but that's because most of my guesses panned out.

I didn't know The Color Purple was an epistolary novel, so if I had typed anything (after erasing Mitchell), it would have been Toni Morrison, not Alice Walker. I was stuck on male Speakers of the House, so I didn't think of Nancy Pelosi until a few seconds too late. I'm usually not too bad at New Testament questions, but that quote wasn't familiar to me, so I just guessed John. I always remember Goneril and Regan and never remember Cordelia's name, so I had no chance at that one.

There were a few guesses that I felt doubtful about, but could hardly have been anything else: Haiti, Lord Byron, Chopin. Others were coin flips that panned out: Hundred Years War, Vassar, Mount Etna (always confuse it with Vesuvius), Katy Perry. I wouldn't have even known "Roar" was the name of that song if I hadn't heard it on The Sing-Off recently, and I don't really know what Katy Perry songs taste like.

That Chopin question was weird. Nobody else is really famous for mazurkas, so it had to be him, but whoever heard of "Songs to Remember"? I guess film buffs might remember a 1945 film biography of him called "A Song to Remember". This same question was asked on Jeopardy in 2000 (http://j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=1278), but with 40 instead of 50 mazurkas.

[seaborgium]

I believe I got 43 playing off sherder's video (thanks!). Worst miss was overthinking and not coming up with Hanukkah, and changing Cordelia to Regan comes close. I'm a little ashamed of missing the Bible quote, but it was a very know-it-or-don't clue with no teasing out to be done (if you think otherwise, please explain it to me!). I got which show had the comic book store, but didn't count it because I was spoiled by a post in the study guide thread. I probably would have guessed "Caroline in the City."

Edit, just for my own personal reference some day in the future: my other misses were the Pulitzer winner (went Morrison), and three weak subjects of sports, the Cabinet, and colleges. Whoops, guess I actually got 42!

[jtb34]

Okay I did better than I originally thought. Based on the posted answers, I got 38. There were a few I was pretty sure I missed but turned out to be right. I was thrown off by the Caribbean tricolor flag question. Since France was mentioned I immediately thought of Haiti but they don't have a tricolor flag. I put Haiti anyway just to have something down since I was running out of time. I left at least five blank and had a couple of bad stretches, but it looks like it all turned out okay.

[Bradyguy]

Thanks to sherder for the video again, and berto for the answer key.

I took this one for real tonight: 46 correct: missed 8-Hoover, 23- Alice Walker, 31- Cordial and 35-Thomas. Luckiest guess: Vassar (picked one of the seven sisters...). Pretty happy about that! Now, if only they call me for an audition. I haven't had one since 2008, and have passed the online test every year since then.

How do you KNOW you passed every year?

[Volante]

.... I wouldn't have even known "Roar" was the name of that song if I hadn't heard it on The Sing-Off recently, and I don't really know what Katy Perry songs taste like.

Cherry chapstick.

[marpocky]

I think I got 41, and really should have been about 44 or 46 but I had some stupid misses (Antoinette for Josephine, Mitchell for Walker, blanked on Warhol for about 2 seconds too long) and some wrong guesses (Peter for Thomas, Goneril for Cordelia, Liszt for Chopin).

[lemonsun]

I experienced a power failure, so I was not able to take tonight's test. Oh, well, there's always next year. Hope springs eternal!

I looked at sherder's video of tonight's quiz (an invaluable service on her part!), and I got 41 out of 50 correct. However, if I had been able to take the quiz "live", my performance might have been affected by such factors as typing speed, clumsy fingers making typos, having to actually think on my feet. Oh, well. The world (and I!) will never know.

[Lefty]

On the week, I scored 48/46/49 from the transcript, for real, and via Sherder's link, respectively (missed "Big Bang Theory" tonight).

One quibble about tonight's set of clues: Wolfram is as much "ovine" as it is "vulpine".

[harrumph]

Crap, got 35+ on the first two nights but the one I picked to play for real was a 32. The first question on Josephine could have been an FJ. Thankfully no questions on car models or airlines. The Chopin clue was neg bait with a song title and waltz time.