What the Devil? Trivia Quiz

Answer: All these

Interesting collection - devilled kidneys occur in authors like Agatha Christie and Sapper. A breakfast item in the upper classes in the twenties/thirties. Yuk.

Answer: Exceptionally good luck

Why the devil was supposed to have good luck, I don't know.

Answer: Playing cards

The books left out are called The Apocrypha - genuine enough but not reckoned necessary. If you look at Thai and southern Indian writing, it's all rounded letters. that was because writing on palm leaves with straight lines cut the leaves up too much. Yes, they really did write on palm leaves. There aren't any ones with writing on when they grow, though.

Answer: A plant called scabious

A drill for making curved holes would be quite a money spinner. Go on, tell me someone makes one! The scabious deserves a better name - it's rather pretty. The root looks as though it's been bitten, though.

Answer: Drumming the fingers on something

Or drumming the feet. Don't like onions, but don't think they cause rashes. OK, your Aunty Flossie got one from them.... A tattoo is a drum beat (and a military show as well).

Answer: Asafoetida

Asafoetida is a nasty smelling gum resin used medicinally and in cookery. Unusual origins for the word - the 'asa' bit is Persian and the 'foetida' is Latin. Coprolites are fossilised dung, but of animal origin. Raisins just look like what the rabbit left behind.

Answer: The last one is going to be in trouble

There are races where the last one over the line wins - slow bike riding for example. The other two are just a load of rubbish.

Answer: A person appointed to oppose the canonisation of a new saint

Yes, they do appoint an 'Advocatus Diaboli' (Latin, in case you didn't know) to get together all the arguments why someone shouldn't be sainted. I would think the advocate is usually onto a loser, but I could be wrong - one of them could have won!

Answer: An apprentice in a printing works

The cleaning blade can be called a 'doctor blade'. Gremlins (no, not the ones in the film) were first discovered in the Royal Air Force in World War II - they were responsible for whatever went wrong that couldn't be explained by anything normal. I think they've mutated and moved into computing....

Answer: Reckless

Don't pick it - just good advice. (OK, I am a first aider!) I've never been quite sure what the Sufficient Unto one actually meant.

Answer: A fierce looking and fast beetle

The fast beetles are carnivorous (or insectivorous, really) and good for the garden. But not good for the slow, plant eating beetles. I'd be a bit wary of a large all black horse with red eyes, though....

Answer: Dice

British I am, but cricket I don't like. Boring. (No, I'm not a football fan either.) The singular of 'dice' is 'die', so you can't roll a 1 with dice - dice being plural and therefore at least two of them. Not unless you're gaming with someone really dicey... Corsets used to be stiffened with whalebone - strong and sort of flexible. Smoking is bad for your cigarettes.

It's also bad for you - and me if you're anywhere near me. So don't!

Answer: 13

Great title for a film, but - wrong. It's the same as a 'baker's dozen'. Bakers got into loads of trouble if they gave short weight, so to be safe, they gave 13 loaves for a dozen (not 12). 11 sounds right for a cheapskate sort of dozen, though.

Answer: Love in the mist

I was very good here and refrained from politics. Love in the mist is another flower, and that's the way I've always heard it called - but don't argue with the dictionary.

Answer: A dragonfly

The V1 was the doodlebug, which is nothing to do with the present quiz. Remember it, though....

Answer: The four of clubs

Various cards have names - the Curse of Scotland (nine of diamonds - numerous explanations) being one of the better known. My grandmother used to call the Queen of Spades 'Slippery Ann', and knew a game called that too. (It's an airstrip in Montana, apparently, as well. Can't find reference to game on Google, but there's a book published in UK as 'Slippery Ann' that's called 'Queen of Spades' in USA. Your homework for tonight is....)

Answer: The flock from making shoddy out of rags

Would be a good name for cocaine. But think back to question one - the sharp spiked machine for tearing woollen rags? Yeeesss. Flock as in that sort of slightly furry wallpaper, not as in sheep.

Answer: A carnivorous marsupial

Oh, come on! Taz?? A marsupial is a mammal with a pouch in which the very early born embryo develops.

Answer: Give credit for good points even though the person is evil

The sheep one is one of the best bits of nonsense I've come up with yet! (Well, I think so, anyway.) The one about faults in the good person could be confusing, though...

Answer: A puff-ball

A puff-ball is a sort of globular fungus. (Round like a ball.) Apparently (and DON'T take my word for it - I take NO responsibility for YOUR actions) tasty when picked young, sliced and fried. Incarsia formosa ('beautiful' rather than 'devilish') is a parasitic wasp used to control whitefly. The bombardier beetle sprays irritant liquid - I don't know of any that spray powder!