Dive Through an Alternative Mystery Portal Quiz

Answer: Cherry precedes the word

Fruit! That is the theme. 13 different fruits got a mention in this quiz, with one appearing four times. (Did you notice that in the edited cover photo, there were some oranges in one of the jewellery boxes?)

The first category consists of words that can be preceded by the word "Cherry".

Cherry bomb originated in the US as a small (about 1.5 in or 3 cm) spherical firework. It was painted red to resemble a cherry (with the fuse acting as a 'stalk'). It was very powerful and was made illegal in the US in 1966. It was only when its explosive was reduced by 95%, it was made legal again.

According to the "Merriam Webster Dictionary", cherry bomb metaphorically describes a person who creates lots of noise and/or excitement without producing anything of note.

"Cherry Bomb" was the debut hit for The Runaways in 1976. Yet to be lead singer Cherie Currie turned up for an audition, but the band (including Joan Jett) could not play "Fever", so Jett and Runaways' manager Kim Fowler wrote "Cherry Bomb" on the spot. The song title was a play on her name (Cherie), but within the song context, it translates as an underage girl who is a lot of trouble with suggestions of promiscuity and bad behaviour. Currie lived up to the song's meaning when she sang the song in a corset and lingerie. She did not last long in the band.

Answer: Cherry precedes the word

Cherry cola is a variation of cola drinks with cherry syrup added. It has been a popular soft drink (especially in the US) since the late 19th century and is marketed primarily at the 12-17 year-old group. Alcoholic versions are available in some markets.

A marker of the popularity of the drink is that the big three cola manufacturers: Coca-Cola, Pepsi and RC Cola all sell cherry-flavoured versions of their cola drinks. Dr Pepper also has a cherry version of its signature soft drink.

Answer: Cherry precedes the word

A cherry picker, besides its literal meaning of a person who harvests cherries, is a mechanical device with a vertical boom (elbow joint or telescopic arm) to reach high places, usually found on the back of a truck. While it may have been used to reach high parts of a cherry tree, it is now a popular machine for pruning trees, repairing overhead power lines and performing similar tasks.

Answer: Cherry precedes the word

A cherry blossom is a flower of several trees of the genus Prunus, which are common throughout eastern and central Asia. The most well-known species is the Japanese cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is called sakura in Japan, where this species is the national flower.

They are not known for their fruit, which is small and inedible, but they are known for their beautiful blooms every year. They start blooming in Okinawa in the far south of Japan in late January, and usually bloom from late March to early April in Kyoto and Tokyo. Their blooming is tracked by the Japanese meteorological service, and the locals pay attention to these forecasts, and there is a big turnout in parks, at shrines and temples with family to witness the flower viewing and participate in the cherry blossom festivals called Hanami.

Answer: Homophone

The next group of words are homophones of different fruits.

A pear tree is one of several trees within the genus Pyrus, which is in the rose family. P. communis, widely cultivated for its edible fruit, has juicy flesh and an almost spherical shape at the base and tapers toward the stalk.

Pare, a verb, is derived from Old French "parer," meaning "to arrange, prepare, trim". Originally, it was derived from the Latin "parare" which meant "to prepare, make ready".

Pair, a group of two or a duo, is also a homophone for Pear.

Answer: Homophone

A plum tree is a small rosaceous tree, Prunus domestica. It has white flowers and an edible round fruit (which can be purple, yellow, or green) with yellowish flesh and a single large stone. Plum is also a colour, a dark reddish-purple colour, the most common colour of the fruit.

The word "plumb" originated from the Latin word "plumbum," meaning (the metal) "lead.". The "plumb bob", a tool used in construction to determine verticality, uses a lead weight and is the most direct example of this etymological connection. Because of the connection with verticality, "plumb" has expanded past its literal meaning of "lead" to describe being absolutely vertical or upright. The trade profession, "plumber", also is rooted in the word "plumb," as plumbers historically worked with lead pipes.

Answer: Homophone

A currant is a small, dried grape, used as a fruit and in baked goods. The fruit comes from shrubs of the genus Ribes, native to northern hemisphere temperate regions with edible red, black, or white berries.

"Current" comes via the Middle English "curraunt", which itself comes from the Old French "corant", which is the present participle of "courre", meaning "to run", which originated from Latin "currere".

In contemporaneous English, "current" has two meanings:
1. Belonging to the present time or being in progress at present
2. A smooth and steady flow forwards, usually attributed to the movement of water or electricity

Answer: Homophone

A lime tree is a small Asian citrus tree, Citrus aurantifolia, with hard, sharp spines and smallish, round to oval green or yellow-green fruits that have an edible and acidic fleshy pulp. There are two main commercial types:
The Persian lime (Citrus ×latifolia) is the most common commercial variety, but the smaller key lime, or Mexican lime (C. ×aurantifolia), is more common in the western hemisphere.
Lime is also the name of an industrial chemical, calcium oxide (limewash is an example of its use).

Lyme is the eponym of Lyme disease, a debilitating disease caused by a spirochete (bacterium) transferred via a tick bite. It is named after the town in Connecticut where the disease was first recognised. Lyme, CT, is named after the UK coastal town Lyme Regis (Royal Lyme) in Dorset, which itself is named after the Lym or Lim River, which runs through it. "Lim" is from the Welsh word "llif", meaning "flood" or "stream".

Answer: Precedes fruit

The third group of fruits are some fruits whose name ends in fruit.

Jackfruit (scientific name Artocarpus heterophyllus) is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family. Originally, the tree came from Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh, where in the latter, it is the national fruit.

Jackfruit is the largest tree-borne fruit in the world. It can grow up to 60 cm (24 inches) in length and can weigh up to 18kg (40 lb). The skin is coarse and bumpy and turns slightly yellow from green when ripe. It is eaten cooked or raw. It has a strong odour but smells sweet when opened.

Answer: Precedes fruit

The grapefruit (Citrus × paradisi) is a citrus tree known for its relatively large, sour and quite bitter fruit. The segmented flesh varies in colour from pale yellow to deep red. They originated in Barbados in the 18th century as "forbidden fruit". They are a citrus hybrid that was accidentally crossed between the sweet orange (C. × sinensis) and the pomelo (C. maxima). Both of these cultivars originated in Asia and were introduced to the Caribbean in the 17th century. The resulting fruit is a fruit of size between the two fruits - about 20m or 7 inches in diameter. These are called grapefruit, not because of their size (obviously) but because they tend to grow in clusters like grapes.

Grapefruit consumption is declining worldwide, mainly because its juice contains furanocoumarins, which interfere with the metabolism of many drugs, especially those that are used to treat hypertension.

Grapes are the fruit of the grapevine (Vitus Spp.), which have a purple to green skin and very sweet pulp, which is eaten raw, or, because of its high sugar content, used for making wine via sugar fermentation to ethyl alcohol. Grapes can also be dried to make raisins, currants, or sultanas.

Answer: Precedes fruit

A passionfruit (also passion fruit and passion-fruit) is the fruit of the genus Passiflora, a genus of about 550 flowering species (notably the passionflower) that is endemic in southern Brazil, Paraguay and northern Argentina. The fruits are 4-8 cm (1.5 to 3.5 in), round to oval and can be green, yellow, red, or purple. The pulp and seeds are eaten or juiced. Passionfruit, as a name, was derived from the flower being interpreted as a religious symbol by 18th-century Spanish Christian missionaries.

Passion is a noun that can mean strong emotion, such as joy or anger, or a state of strong sexual desire or unlimited enthusiasm. It also has a religious meaning: It describes the sufferings of Jesus near the end of his life following the Last Supper and the Crucifixion. It came into English via Middle English, Old French, and Medieval Latin: "passio", "passion-", sufferings of Jesus or a martyr.

Answer: Precedes fruit

Dragonfruit, called pitaya, in its Central American homeland, is the fruit of the genus Stenocereus. It is called dragonfruit because the leathery skin of the fruit contains scaly spikes. The fruit weighs 150-600 g (5 1/2 to 21 oz) with the flesh being white, red or yellow. It has a fleshy, juicy pulp. The fruit is now grown in most semi-tropical regions of the world.

A dragon is a mythical monster usually depicted as a large reptile having a long tail and scaly flesh, sometimes with sharp claws and working wings. The word is derived from Middle English and Old French, via Latin" "draco", "dracon" - a large serpent, from the Greek "drakon".

Answer: Fruit that ends in berry

The fourth group is berries. Strictly speaking, the category is defined as fruits whose name ends in "berries". Berries are fleshy fruits, without a pit, that are produced from a single flower containing one ovary. Under this definition, bananas, tomatoes, and cucumbers are berries, whilst raspberries and strawberries are examples of aggregate fruits comprised of many tiny individual fruits.

While strawberries have been known for thousands of years, the Romans, for example, used them to treat melancholy and kidney stones. The strawberry we eat today (Fragaria x ananassa) is a hybrid of two species that was created in France in 1714. Fragaria virginiana is a North American species characterised by its highly aromatic but small berries, which were taken from the New World to France in 1624. Fragaria chiloensis is a wild species of strawberry native to Chile that bears berries the size of walnuts. It was taken to France in 1712 or 1714. Both species were widely grown (presumably side-by-side) in France. Chance seedlings representing crosses between the two species appeared and were propagated. The hybrid version was taken back to the US in the late 1700s, and by 1825, only the hybrid version was grown commercially in the US.

The name, strawberry, was believed to be due to straw being used to mulch strawberry plants, but this is not the case. It has no connection to straw, nor technically is it a berry. In other major languages, neither "straw" nor "berry" is part of their names (Fr. - "fraise"; Sp.-"fresa"; Port. - "morango"). The name strawberry is probably an adaptation of "strewn berry", where, in Middle English, "strewn" and "straw" both meant "to spread". The "spread" reference is due to the nature of strawberry plants throwing out runners in all directions.

Answer: Fruit that ends in berry

The blackberry, produced by many species in the genus Rubus (in the family Rosaceae), with hybrids among these species producing the edible fruit called a blackberry. (Most of the hybrids are produced by commercial growers looking for higher yields.) Blackberries are a commercially attractive crop with volumes exceeding 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) per 1 acre (0.40 ha). Blackberries grow in low, dense thickets called brambles in the UK and canes in the US.

Blackberries look similar to their cousin, the raspberry; the main difference, besides the colour, is that the stem stays on the vine with raspberries (hence the hollow centre), whereas with the blackberry, the stem stays with the picked fruit. Like the strawberry, the blackberry botanically is not a berry, but an aggregate fruit, composed of small drupelets. They are used in pies, desserts, jams, jelly, wine, and liqueurs.

They have been known as a foodstuff for thousands of years. The body of a Danish woman dating from approximately 2,500 years ago was found preserved in a bog. Blackberries were found in her stomach contents. According to English and Irish folklore, blackberries should never be picked after Old Michaelmas Day (11 October) as the devil has spoiled them by stepping, spitting or "fouling" on the berries. This may not be a fable, as in the cooler months, blackberries can become infected by moulds, which make the fruit look unpleasant and can be toxic.

Answer: Fruit that ends in berry

In 1881, California horticulturist accidently created loganberries (Rubus ×loganobaccus), which is a hybrid or cross of the North American blackberry (Rubus ursinus) and the European raspberry (Rubus idaeus). The new plant was named after its creator. The morphology of the berry resembles that of a blackberry, but it is dark red rather than black. They are more hardy than either parent, being more disease- and frost-resistant, but they are not well-liked by commercial growers as they grow on thorny plants and the fruit is often hidden under a plethora of leaves.

These are consumed fresh, canned, used in pies or made into juice. It is popular as a beverage in southern Ontario and New York. It has a very high vitamin C content, and as such was used as scurvy prevention in the British navy (replacing limes). What was remarkable was nearly half of the navy's loganberry requirements were grown on a single farm in Worcestershire, England.

Answer: Fruit that ends in berry

Gooseberries are fruits of the bushes within the genus Ribes. Slightly larger than a grape, the fruits can be black, green, orange, red, purple, yellow, or white. The etymology of gooseberries has no connection to geese. (Several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae). Once thought to be a corruption of the Dutch "Krisbes" or the German "Krausebeere", these theories have now been discredited. The "Oxford English Dictionary" believe the origin is French, where gooseberries were known as "groseille à maquereau", which translates as 'mackerel berries'. This is because of their use in a sauce for mackerel in old French recipes. "Gooseberry" first appears in written English in the 16th Century. Occasionally in Britain, they were informally called goosegogs.

These fruits are bitter and tart. They need to be cooked and sweetened to be palatable. They also harbour white pine blister rust and mildew disease. As such, they have been banned in some US states and regulated in others. These are all factors in why there has been a dramatic worldwide decrease in sales and production across the 20th century.