Three of a Kind, Part 41 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Saturday

The Ancient Romans named the day of the week after the planet Saturn ("Saturni dies"). The name entered Old English via the Germanic languages. Billy Crystal wrote, produced, directed and starred in "Mister Saturday Night" (1992). It is unclear whether he made lunch for the crew and swept up after.

He plays stand-up comedian Buddy Young Jr. who reaches the top (his own television show) and then sabotages his own career. The Saturday Evening Post was published weekly from 1897, fortnightly from 1963, monthly from 1969, and quarterly from 1971, and occasionally since 1982. Between 1916 and 1968, Normal Rockwell drew over 300 covers for the magazine, which became a sort of genre within a genre.

The magazine published material by Ray Bradbury, Agatha Christie, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, C. S. Forester, Robert A.

Heinlein, Kurt Vonnegut, Louis L'Amour, Sinclair Lewis, Jack London, Ogden Nash, Dorothy Parker, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Carl Sandburg, William Saroyan, John Steinbeck, and Rex Stout.

Answer: bolt

A crossbow fires a projectile called either a quarrel or a bolt. The name "quarrel" is derived from the French "carré" meaning square (with reference to the bolt's head). Lt. Col. John Franklin Bolt (1921-2004) was a US Marine Corps naval aviator who was decorated as an ace in WWII.

He then fought in the Korean War and was decorated as an ace again. David Lowell Rich directed "That Man Bolt" (1973) which touched many popular genres. Jefferson Bolt, the protagonist, was portrayed as a black James Bond in exotic international settings. Several martial arts professionals acted in the film. To convey the 007 connection as bluntly as possible, movie posters said of Williamson's character "He's bonded."

Answer: white

"White Christmas" was the only film ever to star Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye together. The motion picture earned the biggest box office of 1954. Fred Astaire and Donald O'Connor were both offered the part finally played by Danny Kaye. Vera Lynn and Glenn Miller's recording of the Walter Kent-Nat Burton song "There'll Be Bluebirds Over the White Cliffs of Dover" was her biggest hit.

The reference is to the chalk cliff facing the Strait of Dover and France over which allied bombers flew on their missions to Europe in WWII.

The return of the bluebirds was understood to herald the restoration of peace. E.B. White (1899-1985) wrote "Charlotte's Web" about the friendship between a barn spider and a pig. A cartoon adaptation was made by Hanna-Barbera in 1973 but this can probably be forgiven.

Answer: page

From medieval times, a nobleman has often been attended by a young male servant known as a page. The ring bearer in a traditional Christian wedding is a remnant of the page, as are the pages (of both genders) in the Washington State Legislature and the NBC television network. Geraldine Page (1924-1987) was an American actress on stage, on television and in films.

In addition to her Oscar, she won two Emmys, two Golden Globes and was nominated for the Tony Award four times. Her voicing of Madam Medusa in Disney's "The Rescuers" was memorable.

She died in her Manhattan apartment while performing in "Blithe Spirit" on Broadway. James Patrick Page (b. 1944) was a member of the Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968 until he founded Led Zeppelin. He did remarkable things with a guitar, on occasion bowing the strings with a cello bow. "Rolling Stone" ranked him third in the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" behind Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.

He was inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once with the Yardbirds and one with Led Zeppelin.

Answer: boot

When electrical power is applied to a computer, the device initiates a routine whereby it becomes ready to accept input and perform work. Programmes are loaded into the CPU to be executed. This process is called booting or booting up. If the machine is turned off and back on, the process is called rebooting.

The expression derived from the phrase "to pull one's self up by one's bootstraps." A law enforcement officer or a parking lot operator may attach a metal clamp to the wheel of an improperly parked automobile to prevent it from being driven away.

The device attached is sometimes called a Denver boot, named for the first city to employ them to compel the payment of outstanding parking ticket. Tony Lama grew up as an Italian immigrant shoemaker in New York.

After a term in the Army in Fort Bliss, Texas, where he worked as a cobbler, he moved to El Paso and established the boot shop which became famous. The company grew to national and international prominence. The business was sold to a national conglomerate in 1990.

Answer: mink

Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink (1927-2002) was a Japanese American born in Maui, Hawaii. She served in both houses of the Hawaii territorial legislature before serving twelve terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. She ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States in 1972. Terry-Thomas, Athene Seyler, Hattie Jacques and Billie Whitelaw starred in the 1960 British comedy motion picture "Make Mine Mink." The film was about a gang of oddballs who stole mink coats, coached by a retired police major. Sultry singer Peggy Lee recorded "Mink Jazz" in 1963.

It included "The Lady Is a Tramp" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers), "Days of Wine and Roses" (Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer), "As Long as I Live" (Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler) and "I Won't Dance" (Dorothy Fields, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, Jerome Kern, Jimmy McHugh).

Answer: dozen

In 13th century England, bakers notoriously shorted their customers by selling them scant underweight loaves of bread. In 1266, King Henry II imposed a law upon the Worshipful Company of Bakers (a trade guild) which severely punished this practice. Bakers responded by adding a 13th loaf to any order for a dozen.

The resulting "baker's dozen" prevented a fine, a beating or jail time. The 1967 American motion picture "The Dirty Dozen" starred Lee Marvin as a major placed in charge of twelve convicts sentenced to death or long prison terms who were given the opportunity to escape punishment by completing an extremely dangerous mission in Germany. Among the group were Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Trini Lopez, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland and Clint Walker. Under a spell, Heracles/Hercules killed his wife and children. For this sin, he was sentenced to compete certain tasks, twelve in number, including those well-known ones involving the Nemean lion, the Hydra, the hind of Arcadia, the Augean stables, the Stymphalian birds, Hippolyte's girdle, the golden apples, and the three-headed dog Cerberus.

Answer: shark

The term "shark" has been used colloquially to describe a criminal who preys on others since the 16th century. The narrower term "loan shark" appeared in 1905 to describe a predatory lender who extorts very high interest and enforces collection with violence.

More modernly, payday loans have been described as "legal loan sharking" because they exploit the poor. Jerry "Tark the Shark" Tarkanian (1930-2015) coached 31 seasons of college basketball, primarily for the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

His team won the national championship in 1990. He was inducted into the collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013, shortly before his death. His career was marred by investigations of rules violations, penalties imposed by the NCAA and several lawsuits which he brought against the NCAA.

Many mountains look like the tooth of a shark. This similarity explains why Shark Tooth Mountain in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia and Sharktooth Mountain in the Northern Interior of British Columbia have such similar names. Shark Tooth Mountain is 2533 m (8310 ft)  tall whereas Sharktooth Mountain is the taller at 2668 m (8753 ft).

Answer: indigo

Indigofera tinctoria is a plant anciently grown in Egypt, India, and Peru for its properties as a dye. The Greek and Latin names for it mean "Indian dye" with reference to its source. The dye produces a deep blue colour shading toward violet. The original colour of "blue jeans" was produced by indigo dye. Duke Ellington and Barney Bigard wrote a tune for a radio broadcast in 1930 which they called "Dreamy Blues." It was a success. Irving Mills wrote lyrics for it and it was renamed "Mood Indigo." "Mood Indigo" is featured in the motion pictures "The Cotton Club" (1984), "The Untouchables" (1987), "Harlem Nights" (1989), "White Men Can't Jump" (1992), "The Legend of Bagger Vance" (2000) and "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" (2002). Reiner Knizia created a board game called "Indigo" which was published in 2012.

In it, up to four players lay tiles on a board which creates paths for variously valued jewels to travel, capturing them to score and keeping them away from opponents.

Answer: ring

Oxford don J.R.R. Tolkien wrote "The Hobbit" as a children's story. Pressed by his publisher for a sequel, he published "The Lord of the Rings" almost two decades later. The latter novel, often published in three parts, is one of the best-selling novels of all time. Tinnitus is the perception of sound, often a ringing, where there is no actual external source of the sound.

It is a common affliction, especially of elderly males. Tinnitus is always a symptom of something else which can, if identified, sometimes be treated to relieve the ringing.

A planetary ring system is one in which matter -- dust, gasses, moonlets -- orbit around a planet in a sort of band. The best example in the Solar System is Saturn; Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune have ring systems, as well. Even a moon or minor planet may have one.