Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In "Fer-de-Lance", Manuel Kimball tells Wolfe, "[My father] told me everything you said to him. Why did you say what you did?" Wolfe replies: "Your tone is minatory. What specifically do you wish to berate me for? What did I say to your father that you would rather I had left unsaid?".
Which of these words is closest to the meaning of "minatory"?
2. In "The League Of Frightened Men", Andrew Hibbard offers Wolfe $500 a week to protect him from being killed. Wolfe (who has often expressed his view that if a person wants to kill another person, such protection is impossible) tells him: "I am sorry. To now my [ethical principle] has managed a satisfactory persuasion that the money I have put in the bank has been earned. I dare not put this burden on you".
Which word did Wolfe use instead of "ethical principle"?
3. In "The Rubber Band", Nero Wolfe is not at all pleased with the very complicated case brought to him, initially, by Archie Goodwin. Wolfe says: "Confound you, Archie, I have you to thank for this acarpous entanglement". Which word best fits the meaning of "acarpous"?
4. In "Too Many Cooks", Nero Wolfe is being questioned by prosecuting attorney Barry Tolman about the taste test that led to the murder of Phillip Laszio. Wolfe tells Tolman: "I haven't the faintest idea who killed Mr. Laszio. It may be you have heard of me; I don't know. If so, you have perhaps gotten the impression that when I am engaged on a case I am capable of sinuosities, though you wouldn't think it to look at me. But I am not engaged in this case".
What does Wolfe mean by "sinuosities"?
5. In "Over My Dead Body", Wolfe tells Inspector Cramer: "If you want [us to agree to work together], it would be doubly unprofitable for you to question me since you have stated that you will believe nothing I tell you."
Which unusual word does Wolfe use instead of the phrase "us to agree to work together"?
6. Wolfe to Naomi Karn: "Well. Now you're in a pickle."
Karn to Wolfe: "Me? Not at all."
Wolf to Karn: "Oh , yes, you are....let's don't start with caracoles. You know very well you're in a devil of a pickle" ["Where There's A Will"].
What is a "caracole"?
7. Upset because, on the way to exhibit orchids at the Crowfield Exposition, their car blew a tire and ended up on a tree, Wolfe barks at Archie Goodwin: "I presume you know, since I've told you, that my distrust and hatred of vehicles in partly based on my [total belief] that their apparent submission to control is illusory and that they may...act on whim" ["Some Buried Caesar"].
Which word did Wolfe use instead of "total belief"?
8. In "Too Many Women", Wolfe, tired of being badgered by Inspector Cramer, tells him: "Saturday afternoon a man came to this office and told me he had seen Mr. Naylor taking that taxicab. I questioned him and was satisfied that the facts he gave me were authentic, and I immediately phoned your office and gave those facts to Mr. Stebbins. What the devil is obreptitious?"
Which word best represents the meaning of "obreptitious'?
9. In "And To Be A Villain", Arnold Zeck, master criminal, tells Wolfe: "So you know my name." Wolfe replies: "Yes, I know your name, sir. Is that [recklessly dangerous]? Many people know Arnold Zeck".
Which word did Wolfe use instead of "recklessly dangerous"?
10. In "Gambit," Archie Goodwin tells Nero Wolfe that he knows who killed David Kalmus, and gives a verbatim report of his explorations. Wolfe responds, "No wonder you can name him....This is satisfactory, Archie....An analeptic for my self-esteem".
Which word is closest in meaning to "analeptic"?
Source: Author
lowtechmaster
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
looney_tunes before going online.
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