Strange World Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bizarre

The marketplace that has become so unusual is a bazaar, which when spoken sounds a bit like bizarre.
A bizarre bazaar might have oddly shaped stalls or sell strange items, like gourds shaped like animals or clothing so garish that very few people would be brave enough to wear it.

"Bazaar Bizarre" (2004) was a horror documentary (!) about a serial killer, which seems to have been as bad as one might expect.

Answer: Weird

Weird is an anagram of both 'wider' and 'wired' so you had a couple of chances to see this one. The indicators are 'somehow' and 'the wrong way'.

"Weird Science" was a John Hughes-directed movie from 1985, in which a couple of high school nerds try to create a perfect woman, with unexpected consequences.

Answer: Odd

The extinct bird was a dodo, who lost its final 'o' (tail) and 'struggled' to become 'odd'.

Besides meaning the opposite of even when speaking of numbers, odd can have the connotation of quirky or eccentric. It can also refer to a mismatch, like Oscar and Felix in the play, movie and television series "The Odd Couple".

Answer: Abnormal

'Found' indicates you can find the answer hidden in the sentence: ... some sc(AB NORM AL)though ...

While many of our 'strange' words can be used in a funny or teasing manner, this is less possible with the word 'abnormal' which has very negative connotations. The 2018 fantasy comedy movie "Abnormal Attraction" starring Malcolm McDowell, received more than its share of negative reviews online.

Answer: Otherworldly

The word 'first' tells you to look at the first letters of the preceding words:
(O)h (T)om (H)ere's (E)very (R)ight (W)ay (O)r (R)ight (L)ane (D)rive (L)ike (Y)ou're...

Otherworldly can refer to beings from heaven, or even the 'other place', or to creatures from the world of one's imagination. There can be an element of spirituality to something or someone described as otherworldly.

"Otherworldly" (2015) was a horror comedy movie that does not seem to have had much of a following.

Answer: Eerie

Eerie, meaning strange and frightening (or scary), sounds just like Erie, the fourth-largest and shallowest of the five Great Lakes of North America. Canada's southernmost point, Point Pelee on Pelee Island is in Lake Erie. Cities on the US shore include Cleveland, Ohio and Erie, Pennsylvania.

"Eerie Tales" is the English title of a German fantasy horror movie from 1919 in which some unusual characters, including at least one ghost, act out gothic short stories.

Answer: Unusual

While 'mix and mingle' could refer to what you should do at a gathering like a luau on a sunny day, here it's an indicator that you should anagram 'sun' and 'luau' to arrive at that strange word, 'unusual', meaning out of the ordinary or something that is not quite what one expects something to be.

"Unusual Suspects", which first aired in 2010, is a documentary crime TV series, that reminds viewers that even the least likely suspect is sometimes the actual culprit.

Answer: Freakish

The fact that the sentence makes little sense, and the word 'finally' should lead you to look for a hidden meaning. In this case, the last letters spell out the answer:

clif(F) wea(R) sam(E) bandan(A) mas(K) el(I) use(S) varnis(H)

Synonyms for freakish include grotesque, whimsical and unpredictable, the last most commonly describing weather that can't decide what it wants to do.

The horror TV series "Freakish" (2016-2018) explored what happens when a chemical plant meltdown turns some folk into mutants who then must be defeated by high school kids.

Answer: Rare

The word 'rare' has a number of definitions, three of which are used to give us our word. A rare object might be unique, or nearly so. A rare event, like a blue moon, is infrequent. A rare steak is one that is barely cooked at all, so that blood still oozes from it on the plate.

"Rare Beasts" (2019) is a romantic comedy-drama written and directed by Billie Piper, who also plays Mandy, the main character.

Answer: Strange

The word 'around' is the clue to tell you to anagram "set Gran" to arrive at the word we started with in the intro, strange. Strange can have degrees of meaning, for example a strange person could be someone who acts oddly, maybe talking to himself or it could simply describe someone you don't know, a stranger.

"Doctor Strange" (2016) stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character, who might be a bit of both as he explores alternate dimensions and other unusual pursuits.