A Wordplay Sampler Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tale

This question, retained from the original version of this quiz, is a bit of a trickster, since Before-and-After clues should properly connect the first and last words of the two parts to be linked. If you are prepared to shorten the title of Dickens' novel 'A Tale of Two Cities' to refer to it as 'Tale of Two Cities', then the standard linking process would apply, since its first word is also the last word of Shakespeare's 'The Winter's Tale'. The linked titles would then read as 'The Winter's Tale of Two Cities'.

'A Tale of Two Cities' was written by Dickens in 1859, and set during the French Revolution - the only one of his novels that was historical rather than contemporary. It starts with the well-known opening, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times".

'The Winter's Tale' is one of Shakespeare's later plays. It is often called a 'problem play', meaning that it is difficult to assign it to a specific genre. The first three acts are dramatic, but the last two are distinctly in the realm of comedy, leading to a happily-ever-after ending.

Answer: Harry Potter's wheel

The common term is potter's - Harry Potter is the young wizard featured in a series of six books by JK Rowling (and the seven movies based on them, not to mention the ongoing sequels and prequels). Should he be inclined to participate in some clay sculpting, he might find a potter's wheel to be a useful tool.

While Ron Weasley, one of Harry's closest friends, is also a young wizard, there is no such thing as a weasley's kiln. While he might own a kiln, that would not create a before-and-after phrase, just one that indicates ownership.

Answer: Sunset Boulevard

"Sunset Boulevard", based on the 1950 film of the same name, opened in London in 1993, with Patti Lupone in the role of Norma Desmond, the aging film star who is losing touch with reality. Don Black and Christopher Hampton wrote the lyrics, with Andrew Lloyd Webber creating the music.

Answer: Jesus Christ Superstar

This Andrew Lloyd Webber musical opened on Broadway in 1971. Tim Rice wrote the lyrics. The show is loosely based on the account of the final days of Jesus, leading up to his crucifixion, as described in the Bible. It puts a 20th century spin on events and was widely criticised by fundamentalist groups. Several songs, including 'I Don't Know How to Love Him' and 'Superstar' experienced chart success, both when released as singles from the original album and when covered by a number of other musicians.

Answer: Anything Goes

Cole Porter wrote both the music and lyrics for this 1934 musical, whose book was a collaborative effort between at least four writers, including P. G. Wodehouse. It included a number of songs that have subsequently become standards, covered by dozens of different singers, including 'You're the Top', and 'I Get a Kick Out of You'.

The title song, 'Anything Goes', was memorably belted out by Ethel Merman in the original production.

Answer: two-way traffic

The word TRAFFIC has been written in two ways, backwards and then forwards. When a stretch of road carries two-way traffic, some of it is going in one direction, some in the opposite direction. If they were trying to use a single lane while travelling in both directions, that could certainly lead to problems! That is why you often see people posted at either end of a stretch of road undergoing maintenance, to allow traffic through in only one direction at a time on the open lane.

Answer: underground movement

While you could say that the word ground has been written over or on top of or above the word movement, those words do not combine to make a meaningful phrase of two words. To get the two nouns and a relationship into two words, you need to see that the word MOVEMENT has been written UNDER the word GROUND, giving an underground movement.

This phrase describes a group or subculture who consider themselves apart from the bulk of society, usually with implications of political dissent.

Answer: break in half

The word half has a break in it, which could also be described as a split. This phrase describes the act of dividing something into two (roughly equal) parts.

Answer: special

The fact that this question is an anagram can be determined by recognising the indicator word reconstructed, which is one of the words used to hint at rearranging letters to form a new word. The hint indicates that there will be seven letters in the new word, so looking at the available words it looks as if 'place is' provides the letters, and 'important' is the definition of the final word. Putting all this together gives us SPECIAL.

Answer: two

The word hidden is a standard indication that your answer will be found sitting in plain sight, usually spread across two or more of the words. The next step is working out what word or words provide the meaning of the word you are searching for. The hidden word is usually in the part of the sentence that follows the words hidden by or hidden in, which means that the first word, number, looks likely to be the definition. Scanning the rest of the sentence, we find faT WOman (capitalisation to emphasise the relevant letters), so the answer is the number two.