Numbers and Letters Quiz
Here is a quiz to try over the holidays. There’s a wide range of subjects including literature, film, sport, science, music, politics and general knowledge. There are even a few on the USA though, as a cockney, I make no apology for the several that are London-based.
This is a quiz best done in a group, in a brainstorming kind of way. Some could be researched on the internet but I’ve tried to make that difficult. It is, of course, perfectly legitimate to use the net to check any answers you come up with.
Each question comprises a pattern of numbers and/or letters. Some of these are sequences but some are fully ‘complete’ in themselves. The ones that are incomplete are followed by an ellipsis.
The answer wanted is not therefore to give the next term of the sequence but to identify what the groups of numbers and/or letters signify. If you can correctly decipher the first four questions (quite easy I think) you’ll get the idea. Allow yourself 2 points for a fully correct answer and 1 point for a near miss. Be warned though - some are deliberately obscure. I’d be astonished if anyone gets them all.
I’ll give the answers early on in the New Year though I may offer some clues in due course if I’m feeling charitable over the holiday (ie if my wife and daughter have correctly picked up my clues for presents!).
So, ‘Io Saturnalia’ and ‘Have a good Yule’, to one and all.
1. R, O, Y, G, B, I, V
2. M, T, W, T, …
3. 3.14159 …
4. J, F, M, A, M, J, …
5. 3:59.4
6. W, W, H, S, H, R, J, …
7. 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, …
8. G, E, L, N, D, J, …
9. DE, PA, NJ, GA, CT, MA, …
10. 3, 19, 7, 16, 8, …
11. T, L, S, B, W, W, L, V, …
12. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, …
13. M, V, E, M, J, S, …
14. 16, 16, 14, 8, 20
15. H, He, Li, Be, B, C, N, O, …
16. 1in 13983816
17. 60, 90, 108, 120, 128.57, 135, …
18. 11MU, 10A, 8TH, 7AV, 7L, …
19. 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, …
20. M, G, D, F, G, MT or S alternating, …
21. 261.6, 293.7, 329.6, 349.2, 392, 440, 493.9, …
22. CAD, AM, TH, JB, C D-L, JM, …
23. 60, 60, 200, 100, 100, 120, 140, 150, …
24. BMT 216A
25. 41 43 32 N, 49 56 49 W
26. A, P, SL, L, S, A, …
27. 68 – 27 – 90 – 19
28. L, G, A, S, W, E, P
29. 97-99, 88-91, 90-93, 92-95
30. 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, …
31. A, T, G, C, L, V, …
32. 2.71828 …
33. V, NU, SU, F, C, T, D, F, GB, …
34. 841/594, 594/420, 420/297, 297/210, 210/148, …
35. P 15-30, EDP 8-15, EDT 4- 8, EDC 3-5
36. PS, COS, POA, GOF, OOTP, HBP, DH
37. C. 3. 3.
38. GW, JA, TJ, JM, JM, JQA, AJ, …
39. O, T, T, F, F, S, S, …
40. PPM, WTB, AHDN, BFS, H, RS, …
41. 0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, …
42. CR, LALD, M, DAF, FRWL, DN, G, …
43. COA, AB, JS, AOC, KH, KP
44. LA 1-3, LB 4-7, GB 8-12, MB 13-17, FB 18-24, SB 25-30, etc.
45. C, E, T, M, T, E, P, U, C
46. K, M, R, C, MOL, WOB, F, …
47. 5 EF, 10 CD, 20 AS, 50 JW/MB
48. WH, PT, JP, TB, PD, CB, SM, …
49. φ = (1 + √5) ÷ 2
50. EP21, B17, CR14, W14, M13, TT11, …
51. MS, CM, MW, RG, MP, PP.
52. 2 – black/blue, 3 – red, 5 – black/grey, 10 – black/yellow, 13 – brown
53. WW, AR, JM, DR, RG, BR, GT, TV, …
54. 1 S, 2 M, 4 J, 6 R, 8 M, 12 S, 16 B, 20 N, 24 M, …
55. LS, B, SP, CL, H, TCR, OC, …
56. 3 E, 6 P, 7 AOD, 8 TLS, 9 C
57. WS, RB, JH, AP, WK, TP, GB, HC, …
58. AH, JP, JH, DH, WS
59. YB, BD, SM, CB, JC, RV, HB
60. MJ, KR, BJ, IS, DT, TC
61. 53,644,737,765,488,792,839,237,440,000
62. TM, RG, CH, JC, ZP, AF, KH, JW, …
63. GWR, LMS, LNER, SR
64. – 27 A, 14T, 37 C, 41 C, 54 N, …
65. C (L), H (A), G (JH), G (M), Z (HM)
66. BB, JS, PG, PD, DW, HH and …
67. T, B, O, N, T, B, T, I, T, Q, …
68. 1S, 2BG, 3B, 4C, 5C, 6EH, 7FG, …
69. HRB, EE, LEGO, RFS, EAW
70. 212 – 736 – 5000
71. C, S, B-H, M, S, M
72. TKS, THL, SM, NCFOM, TD, C, …
73. 1 LY = 5.87849981 × 10¹² M
74. T, T, S, S, RM, PM, BM, T
75. D, D, P, V, C, C, D, B
fatboy74 | December 16, 2011 - 13:42
Brilliant Helvigo, many thanks and Merry Christmas. :-)
tcook | December 16, 2011 - 16:45
OK - I got the first four easily enough but only got two others as I flicked through them.
I keep coming back - and I've only managed one more. This is going to drive me crazy!
h jenkins | December 16, 2011 - 17:11
Curses - you have seen through my dastardly plan, Moriarty, to ... dare I say it ... to rule the entire world! Hahahahaha. [Curls moustaches in an evil manner]
Helvigo Jenkins
fatboy74 | December 16, 2011 - 20:45
Doing quite well and then 45 rang a bell and it's just taken me an hour to get it - but I did and will now kill some brain cells with vino as reward.
FTSE100 | December 17, 2011 - 17:09
It's all rhyming slang, isn't it? But what does it rhyme with?
FTSE100 | December 17, 2011 - 17:17
Got it! Roy Orbison's Yoghurt Grows Black Icky Virus.
andrea | December 17, 2011 - 20:26
Don't be silly, Foots, it's:
Royal Gelly Beats IVF
Honestly, some people...
http://www.ukauthors.com
well-wisher | January 4, 2012 - 14:17
Number 61 looks like a distance. I don't want to cheat so I'll make a guess at some astronomical distance. Is it the distance between the Sun and Earth or maybe the distance that light travels?
63 is Railways. GWR is Great Western Railway. I'm not sure of the others but LNER looks familiar. Is it London and North Eastern Railway? Just a guess.
well-wisher | January 4, 2012 - 14:26
67 is Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'. "To be or not to be. That is the question".
well-wisher | January 4, 2012 - 14:48
40 is Beatles Songs AHDN (A Hard Days Night) PPM (Please Please Me)
42 is James Bond Movies. LALD (Live and Let Die)
FRWL (From Russia With Love)
well-wisher | January 4, 2012 - 15:24
I think 59 is the Magnificent 7. YB = Yul Brynner.
well-wisher | January 4, 2012 - 15:34
60 is The Rolling Stones. MJ = Mick Jagger. KR = Keith Richards
well-wisher | January 4, 2012 - 15:37
74 is "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief"
well-wisher | January 4, 2012 - 16:35
72 is Oscar winning movies. TKS = The Kings Speech
THL = The Hurt Locker SM = Slumdog Millionaire NCFOM=
No Country For Old Men.
well-wisher | January 4, 2012 - 16:41
48 is Doctor Who's, I think. WH = William Hartnell.
TB = Tom Baker. SM = Sylvester McCoy.
well-wisher | January 4, 2012 - 21:24
The first is a rainbow. Red, Orange,Yellow, Green,Blue, Indigo, Violet
The second is the days of the week - Monday, Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
The third is Pi squared.
The fourth is the months of the year
The fifth is Roger Bannisters time for his famous 'Four Minute Mile' record.
Number 8 is the books of the Holy Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus
Number 9, I'm pretty sure, is the States of the USA
Number 13 is the planets of the Solar System - Mars, Venus, Earth, Mercury...
Number 15 is the periodic table of Elements
Number 38, I think, might be American Presidents
(JQA = John Quincy Adams?)
Number 39 is One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven
--------------------------------------------
Thats as far as I've got but I'll keep trying with the rest
I have to confess. I cheated on the Roger Bannister
4 minute mile. I used the internet.
well-wisher | January 4, 2012 - 21:38
Number 31 could be the signs of the Zodiac (Aries,Taurus, Gemini,Cancer, Leo, Virgo)
h jenkins | January 4, 2012 - 23:56
You're doing pretty well, well-wisher. Your suggestion for 61 is wrong though - look at 73 instead and you're pretty close (or perhaps far away!) - and that's a clue.
Helvigo Jenkins
FTSE100 | January 5, 2012 - 06:33
ww - slight correction: 3) is plain old pi, not pi-squared, but I'll go with you on the others.
5) This is my record time for boiling a four-minute egg. I should know.
6) We Will Have Some Hot, Red Jerk-seasoned chicken.
7) Squares of the natural numbers. They weren't there, so now they're square. (Sorry to anyone who doesn't dig the sixties.)
8) The first six letters of an anagram of Glenda Jackson (and don't tell me I'm wrong - it is!)
9) Types of pizza. Well, it could be.
10) 3 coins in a fountain; 19 fountains in an Italian city; 7 cities worth visiting in Italy; 16 Mafia hitmen who don't speak Italian; 8 policemen chasing them. It's the plot of my latest film.
11) Didn't get further than Times Literary Supplement on that one, But We Will Listen Very carefully to anyone who knows the answer.
12) Fibonacci sequence. It's the way I count when I haven't got time for the little numbers and want to get to the big ones quickly. I mention 1 twice because it's cute. Bless!
13) Planets by distance from sun
14) Avoirdupois weights (for no man. Very similar to time and tide in that respect.)
15) Chemical elements by atomic number
16) Chance of getting a cherry if you're not one of the 'in' set.
Well, I've done the hard ones. I'll leave the rest to you...
well-wisher | January 5, 2012 - 12:53
Thank you, h jenkins and FTSE for correcting me.
Maths has never been my strong point.
I just Googled Number 61. I never would have guessed the answer so I don't feel too bad about getting it wrong.
h jenkins | January 5, 2012 - 13:21
That's OK, WW. I put no.61 in for certain bridge-fiend friends of mine. Speaking of which, that's a clue to the solution for no. 11.
Helvigo Jenkins
FTSE100 | January 5, 2012 - 14:08
49) Golden ratio.
32) e (base of natural logs)
63) 'Big four' railway companies
Question for Helvigo:
B, B, R, O, Y, G, B, V...
(Clues: they are colours; you might have seen them hanging from girls' ears. The 2nd clue, although accurate, is probably more confusing than helpful!)
well-wisher | January 5, 2012 - 14:20
Number 36 is Harry Potter books OOTP = Order of the Phoenix
FTSE100 | January 5, 2012 - 14:40
47) Banknotes (Fry, Darwin, etc.)
well-wisher | January 5, 2012 - 16:48
46) The Canterbury Tales MOL = Man of Law WOB = Wife of Bath
h jenkins | January 5, 2012 - 17:42
Ha ha, FTSE - very good.
They are resistor colour codes I think. I remember it starts black, brown and I think continues with white, grey, silver and gold though I can't remember the order.
Look at no. 52 - it's a similar field.
Helvigo Jenkins
well-wisher | January 5, 2012 - 17:55
I think that Number 51 is the Cluedo pieces PP = Professor Plum, CM = Colonel Mustard MS = Miss Scarlet RG = Reverend Green MP = Mrs Peacock MW = Mrs White
h jenkins | January 5, 2012 - 18:13
You're both doing very well I think. Not many left now.
If you'd another couple of clues, the only truly seasonal one was the last, no.75, but I suppose no. 54 is sort of seasonal in terms of new year celebration.
Helvigo Jenkins
h jenkins | January 5, 2012 - 18:14
You're both doing very well I think. Not many left now.
If you'd like another couple of clues, the only truly seasonal one was the last, no.75, but I suppose no. 54 is sort of seasonal in terms of new year celebration.
Helvigo Jenkins
well-wisher | January 5, 2012 - 18:45
Santa's Reindeers. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen
joeyH | January 5, 2012 - 21:03
48. Doctor who actors ( william Hartnel, patrick troughton, john pertwee...)
well-wisher | January 5, 2012 - 21:51
I think that 28 is the 7 deadly sins. Lust,Gluttony,Avarice,Sloth, Wrath,Envy and Pride
well-wisher | January 5, 2012 - 23:20
Number 45 is The Nine Muses - Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia, Urania, and Calliope
well-wisher | January 6, 2012 - 15:07
Number 65, I'm guessing, is the Marx Brothers, Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo and Zeppo with their stage names beside their real names (in brackets)
h jenkins | January 6, 2012 - 17:13
Yep, ww - correct again. I think I'll post the answers on Monday so you've got the weekend if anyone feels like attempting a few more.
Helvigo Jenkins
well-wisher | January 6, 2012 - 17:46
Number 22 = Poet Laureates (CAD = Carol Ann Duffy AM = Andrew Motion TH = Ted Hughes)
Thanks, Helvigo. I've really enjoyed your quiz.
well-wisher | January 6, 2012 - 18:44
Not sure if Number 6 is "Kings Of England" but it could be.
W,W,H,S, H, R,J could be William I, William II, Henry
I, Stephen, Henry II, Richard I and John
well-wisher | January 6, 2012 - 20:14
43. COA, AB, JS, AOC, KH, KP = Six Wives of Henry The Eighth (Catherine Of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne Of Cleves, Katherine Howard,Katherine Parr)
well-wisher | January 7, 2012 - 04:43
I have the feeling that this is wrong but I'm going to try
11) T, L, S, B, W, W, L, V = Capital Cities?
Tokyo, Lisbon, Stockholm, Berlin, Washington, Warsaw, London, Vienna?
h jenkins | January 7, 2012 - 11:02
You're still doing well, WW. 22, 6 and 43 are correct but 11 is not. It's a London-based question.
Helvigo Jenkins
well-wisher | January 7, 2012 - 12:02
My other idea, based on your earlier clue was "Bridges on the River Thames"
T = Tower Bridge, L = London Bridge S = Southwark Bridge B = Battersea Bridge W = Westminster Bridge W = Waterloo Bridge L = Lambeth Bridge V = Vauxhall Bridge
well-wisher | January 7, 2012 - 12:59
Is Number 66 Cockney Rhyming Slang.
Babbling Brook = Cook/ Crook Hampstead Heath = Teeth John Skinner = Dinner
h jenkins | January 7, 2012 - 16:46
Yep,WW, you got it - London road bridges over the Thames going upstream from Tower Bridge. Waterloo and Westminster the other way round though.
No.66 is a well-known folk song. Only the last character is missing to add to the ones I gave. Note that I included 'and' in this one which perhaps is a fair clue, that also being a clue.
Helvigo Jenkins
well-wisher | January 7, 2012 - 18:01
It's a song called 'Widdecombe Fair'. I'm glad you gave me the clue because its one I never would have got otherwise.
"Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney,
Peter Davy, Dan'l Whiddon, Harry Hawke
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all"
There's a good recording of it on YouTube by none other than Wurzel Gummidge himself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_In9lkgVZc&feature=related
well-wisher | January 8, 2012 - 02:38
55. = London Tube Stations on the Central Line
LS, B, SP, CL, H, TCR, OC, …
LS = Liverpool Street SP = St. Pauls
TCR = Tottenham Court Road OC = Oxford Circus
CL = Chancery Lane
B = Bank? H = Holborn?
well-wisher | January 8, 2012 - 13:47
I'm wondering if Number 57 is William Shakespeare
and his company of actors, The Kings Men/Lord Chamberlains men
WS, RB, JH, AP, WK, TP, GB, HC, …
WS= William Shakespare RB = Richard Burbage
JH = John Heminges AP = Augustine Phillips
WK = William Kempe TP = Thomas Pollard
GB = George Bryan HC = Henry Condell
h jenkins | January 8, 2012 - 16:04
Oh, that's very good WW - I thought that was one of the most difficult ones. The list of actors is actually that given in the First Folio.
Helvigo Jenkins