Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In his bid to solve the mystery of Mr. Dumpty's fate, The Amazing Abenaki decides to view the remains. He discovers they were taken to the most advanced medical facilities in the Galaxy, where a team of multi-species specialists will gather evidence.
The Tralthan Diagnostician in Charge of Pathology, Thornnastor, and his human female assistant, Nurse Murchison, offer their opinions on the case.
Where are we?
2. As Abenaki consults with the medical team gathered around Mr. Dumpty's sad remains, he notices a gentleman, dressed all in white and toying with a small red ball, lurking in the doorway of the room. In a cut glass British accent he remarks "I say Old Chap, I can offer you a word of advice here. Some bounder has made off with some of your evidence; there should be a lot more mass to the remains than you have there. Dashed thieves, get everywhere what. It's simply not cricket!"
Abenaki realises the gentleman has a point, and idly wonders, "Who was that mysterious stranger who knows so much about the ways of thieves?"
3. As Abenaki ponders the possible whereabouts of the wayward portion of Mr. Dumpty's remains, his subconscious comes up with a theory - what if the missing bit of Humpty was poached!
In which Roald Dahl book does someone say "A poached egg isn't a poached egg unless it's been stolen from the woods in the dead of night"?
4. All this thinking about food has made Abenaki hungry! Surely it would be inappropriate to eat chawanmushi, shakshouka, or bi pong moun right now, given the eggy nature of the deceased! Abenaki shakes his head at his own greed and turns his attention back to the case in hand.
Which writer listed Laute, Nimis, Studiose, Ardenter, and Praepropere as the "Five ways to commit Gluttony" in his "Summa Theologica"?
5. From the innards to the 'outards'! The Amazing Abenaki turns his attention to the pieces of Mr. Dumpty's shattered shell. Some of the inner membranes have strange markings, almost like little raised lumps on them. A surreptitious rustling in a large potted plant nearby catches his attention. "Pssst, I know what they look like" comes a very small voice. "They're like the casts made by worms, looking for holes" And with that, there is a brief FZZT and a blue spark as Schrödinger's worm heads back down his own hyperspace hole and away...
In which book does Will Parry use a wormhole to flee Oxford for Cittagazze, after he accidentally kills someone?
6. Careful further examination of the striations on his shell fragments leads to the suggestion that the cause of Mr. Dumpty's mysterious demise was a Fulgurator! The Amazing Abenaki considers this theory carefully, but concludes that a 'death ray' type weapon would have caused Mr. Dumpty's innards to denature and resemble large quantities of scrambled, hard boiled, or fried eggs, rather than the sparse strings of albumen which are all that actually remain.
Which author invented the Fulgurator for his novel "Facing the Flag"?
7. It occurs to the Amazing Abenaki that death rays and projectile weapons are noisy. Had Mr. Dumpty been shot, rayed, or otherwise blown up, it would surely have attracted attention. When he questioned the neighbours of the deceased, not one of them remembered hearing anything at all.
It seems that Mr. Dumpty's world ended "Not with a bang, but a whimper".
Which of these poems has that line?
8. The Amazing Abenaki turns his attention to possible motive; why would anyone want to kill Mr. Dumpty? Why do people want to look inside anything? Why to see what's there of course! What if someone thought there was something valuable inside the massive shell?
Who wrote the short story "A Deal in Ostriches" in which any one of five ostriches could be the one who swallowed the precious diamond?
9. The Amazing Abenaki speculates on just how an egg could get quite so big. A sign on the lab wall directing people to the Genetics Lab gives him a pointer; perhaps the victim was genetically modified and something went wrong which caused his death.
In the 1982 book "Friday", the phrase "My mother was a ______, my father was a _____" becomes a mantra for the genetically modified "Artificial Persons". Which of these options belongs in the blanks?
10. After one final consultation with an expert, the Amazing Abenaki is ready to reveal the truth. He now knows what happened to the late Mr. Dumpty!
Jasper Fforde revealed all in his 2005 book "The Big Over Easy"; what did happen to Humpty in Fforde's book?
Source: Author
Rowena8482
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
looney_tunes before going online.
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