Something in Common with a Twist in the Tail Quiz

Answer: car

StreetCAR and CARpet

Blanche DuBois is the central character in Tennessee Williams' play 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. The play first opened on Broadway in 1947, starring Jessica Tandy as Blanche, and Marlon Brando as male lead Stanley Kowalski. A film version of the play was made in 1951 starring Vivien Leigh as Blanche, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and Marlon Brando was again cast as Kowalski, for which he was nominated.

Answer: ray

StingRAY and RAYon

The stingray is related to the shark and the skate. The word cartilaginous means that their skeletons consist not of bone, but cartilage. They have a venomous barbed sting on their tail and a flat body which enables them to camouflage themselves very effectively on the ocean floor. The stingray is found in warmer oceans throughout the world.

The 'Stingray' television show was made by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, who also created 'Thunderbirds' among other shows.

Rayon is actually a product made from wood pulp, which undergoes several processes before it ends up as a fibre to be used in the clothing industry.

Answer: one

CyclONE and ONErous

Cyclones can bring much destruction and devastation, and affect many countries around the world. The French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean gained the record for the most rainfall ever recorded, which was generated from Cyclone Gamede in 2007.

Answer: sty

PigSTY and STYlish

A pigsty can range from anything between a small shelter for a few domestic pigs to huge pigsties for commercial pig farms. Shelter from the sun is very important for pigs as they have no sweat glands and therefore cannot regulate their body temperature. The word 'pigsty' can also be used colloquially to refer to somewhere which is in a very untidy state!

Answer: sum

GypSUM and SUMmer

Gypsum is a very soft mineral, second only to talc on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. It is abundant in many countries across the world where it is mined for uses including plaster, plasterboard and gypsum blocks used in the building industry. It can also be used as a garden fertiliser. Gypsum alabaster has been used as a sculpting material going back to Ancient Egyptian and other cultures.

Answer: wax

BeesWAX and WAXworks

Worker bees construct the individual cells of the beehive which make up the 'honeycomb'. The cells are always hexagonal (six-sided) in shape; this cleverly ensures that no space in the hive is wasted, and also gives the hive added strength. Apart from the honey bees produce, beeswax is also used to make beeswax candles, furniture polishes and has uses in the fields of medicine and cosmetics.

French-born sculptor Marie Tussaud opened her Madame Tussauds Museum in London in 1835, in Baker Street. There are now several branches in cities across the world. Madame Tussauds is in Marylebone Road in the City of Westminster and is a big attraction in London. Its particularly known for its 'Chamber of Horrors' which includes live actors as well as the famous (or infamous!) waxwork exhibits.

Answer: orb

AbsORB and ORBit

An orbit describes the elliptical path taken by, for example, moons around their respective planets and the planets around the Sun. The term also applies to artificial satellites such as communications satellites, and of course the largest artificial satellite of all, the International Space Station. Mercury, the nearest planet to the Sun, is the fastest-orbiting planet in our galaxy. It was named after the Roman god Mercury, the messenger of the gods. The element mercury, liquid at room temperature, is also sometimes known as quicksilver.

Answer: rag

BRAG and RAGtime

Scott Joplin (1867/68 - 1917) was known as the 'King of Ragtime' for his brilliant compositions including 'The Maple Leaf Rag' in 1899, which was hugely influential in ragtime music. Another of his compositions, 'The Entertainer', was featured as the theme music in the 1973 film 'The Sting', starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Robert Shaw. The film won seven Academy Awards including Best Original Song Score and Adaptation for Marvin Hamlisch's adaptation of Scott Joplin's wonderful music.

Answer: dog

UnderDOG and DOGgedly

An underdog is a colloquial term often used in sport for the team or individual who is not expected to win. The term is believed to have originated in the 19th century in the days of dog fighting, as did the term 'top dog' for the winning dog. Nowadays the term can be used for any situation where a competitive element applies.

Answer: crossword

Although various similar word puzzles had been around for some time, the crossword puzzle as we know it today is attributed to British-born Arthur Wynne (1871-1945). He emigrated to America as a young man and in due course was employed by the 'New York World' newspaper creating puzzles for their Sunday paper. It was there that he developed the modern crossword grid that we know today. Interestingly, the puzzle started off with the name 'Word-Cross'; it was a printing error which named it 'Cross-Word', which it has been called ever since.