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3 Para (SF), part of the Parachute Regiment, is a special forces unit of the Indian Army. The unit was raised in 1813 by Sir Henry _______ (7), the British Resident in the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad. What is the deadly nickname of the unit, the same as the name of the organism pictured here? The blank is part of the answer.
In which '90s heist film does Lieutenant Vincent Hanna ask career robber Neil McCauley: “What do you say I buy you a cup of coffee?” and together hit a diner forgetting their cat-and-mouse chase? Two of the most iconic actors of a generation finally met on screen face-to-face in this film.
Tree Cities of the World is an initiative to recognise metropolitan areas with extensive green spaces. Which city, the most populous one in its hemisphere, houses a UNESCO-listed Green Belt Biosphere Reserve within its limits? Parque Estadual da Cantareira was one of the green spaces that led to it receiving this recognition.
Another cafe on Architectural Digest's list of eateries with unusual design elements is The Camden Lane, Pune, which takes inspiration from similar cafes in Japan and Korea. Popular across Pinterest and Instagram, what are cafes with such designs called, based on the limited perception of perspective for the viewer?
What is the common name of the tree that bears the California bay leaf, because excessive consumption of this spice can result in this affliction? Ironically, it also features in many Native American medicines to combat the symptom in question.
Marilyn Monroe pioneered this jeans style in the 1960s, and soon every other woman had started borrowing her [BLANK]’s jeans and wearing them. Over time, these went from inter-gender borrowed fashion, to being a style unto themselves - loose-fitting, relaxed, low on the waist. Which jeans style?
In FIDE chess notation, what action does the character = indicate within a move, as in e8=Q? This action can only take place on the last rank.
Who featured in a 90s television ad that showed him adopting the disguise of a schoolgirl, a swami, and a vampire, in order to get some more Kissan jam from his mother?
Identify this type of jewellery clasp (6), consisting of a T-bar that is slid through a ring to secure it. The term for this mechanism is also used to refer to switches or UI features that alternate between on/off, play/pause, or enable/disable.
The song 4 Minutes, which was initially titled 4 Minutes to Save the World, features on Madonna's eleventh album, Hard Candy. It was the first time in Madonna's 25-year career that another singer was featured in her own single. Which singer? Its music video shows Madonna and this singer running away in sync from a giant black screen that devours everything in its path.
In 2013, a "Battle of the Sexes" five game mini set entertained the audience at the China Open. It saw Novak Djokovic facing which player who won two Grand Slam singles titles during her career? She won the mini set 3–2, after receiving a 30–0 advantage at the start of each game.
What type of crane (4) is used for lifting and moving cargo on oil rigs, naval vessels, and research ships? It is named so because it is mounted on the namesake upper section that spans the length of a ship or offshore platform.
Most modern chef knife manufacturers borrow design elements from both Japanese and German styles. A fine example of this hybrid approach is what kind of knife, with a flat edge like Japanese styles but often combined with a full tang stainless steel body? Its name means "3 virtues" in Japanese, meaning it can be used for slicing, chopping or dicing, but could equally apply to its aptness for use with meat, fish and vegetables.
Constructing a regular polygon such as an equilateral triangle, a square or a hexagon using only a ruler and compass are exercises given to middle-school students to familiarize them with constructions in geometry. The 1801 method to construct the 17-sided regular heptadecagon, the first major advancement in this field of geometry for over 2000 years, was discovered by which mathematician, then only 19 years old? (Long GIF, don't hold your breath)
In the 1980s, Quick Response (QR), a manufacturer-to-retailer model based on lean principles, was developed by the U.S. clothing industry. This model morphed over time to what is called ____ _______ (4,7) and refers to business models that replicate recent catwalk trends and quickly mass-produce them at a low cost. What business model? (4,7)
What type of backyard structure (5/6) is formed by plants growing close together over a light framework? Deriving its name from Latin for "tree", this aesthetic choice serves as a shaded passageway or sitting area.
Spaghetti alla puttanesca is a Neapolitan dish made with tomatoes, capers, olives, anchovies, and pepperoncino. While one origin of the name "puttanesca" suggests that it came from a cook putting a "bunch of shit" together, the more accepted etymology suggests that it originated in establishments hosting individuals of which profession - considered to be one of the world's oldest?
: UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list includes many folk music traditions that are only active in some parts of the world. Featured on the list, Urtyn duu or Long Song is a folk music style where syllables are extended for a long duration. This is a tradition in which Asian country where this music is typically coupled with a horse-head fiddle?
Which gag-a-day comic strip features titular characters whose names also happen to be the surnames of English philosopher Thomas ______ (6) and French theologian John ______ (6)? Its creator also illustrated this series (visual) on the banality of daily life.
Identify this attacking technique (5), where a player quickly snaps their wrist to send the ball over the net with minimal arm swing. It is nicknamed so because the extended fingers resemble the distinctive hood formed by a genus of venomous snakes.
Hauteville House located on the British Crown Dependency of Guernsey, an island in the English Channel, is today owned by the city of Paris. Whose house is it? This person lived here from 1855-1872 after being exiled from France. In a nice touch, his descendants gave the house to Paris in 1927, the centenary year of the Romanticism movement in art and literature.
In cricket, what term is used for a diagram showing where a number of balls, usually from a particular bowler, have passed the batter? It is so named because the swarm of balls resemble a waxy structure from the natural world, one that also lends its name to a hairstyle.
The Key of Awesome was a YouTube channel created by Mark Douglas that was known for its parodies of famous music videos. Identify the song parodied here.
What treaty signed between an Islamist outfit and the government in Manila in 2012, calls for the creation of a namesake political entity in the country's second largest island? Widely regarded as a "failed experiment", this autonomous region derives its name from a Malay word for "race" and "moor".
While this word has traditionally been used to describe those who are reserved, quiet, or modest, a new usage has spread through social media -- one used to describe refined or sophisticated appearance or behaviour. What word is this, Dictionary.com's 2024 word of the year?
Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, co-authors of the popular Freakonomics book series, write in detail about a nonprofit organisation that focuses on cutting operational costs by upskilling local doctors to perform a surgery for correcting certain deformities. Identify the organisation or the 2009 Oscar-winning documentary film, related to the work it does, that it sponsored.
"Tedted" is a type of Filipino traditional artisanal salt where mounds of salt are piled together in the crude ovens to form a shape reminiscent of what tapering structure (10) found in caves? They either hang like icicles from the roof or rise like columns from the floor.
From 1801 to 1812, agents of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of [blank] removed these structures from their original place of installation and had them transported to Britain. WHAT ARE THESE STRUCTURES that have been housed in the British museum after the Earl sold it to the government, a subject of contention between Greece and Britain for many many years?
In the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Kate Winslet's character Clementine Kruczynski sports a variety of hair colours and has innovative names for all of them. She has this hair colour when she first meets her love, Joel. What does she call it, which is the same as a period that began in the 1960s when certain countries adopted technology to increase returns in agriculture?
What is the name given in Japan to edible kelp used to make _____-cha ('tea') by infusing it in hot water? What is known as _____-cha in the Western world is a misapplied loanword, made by fermentation of sugared tea using a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, causing poisoning if done incorrectly, and which has some popularity in India due to brands like Toyo, Bhu and Borecha.
Which 1992 novella (5,5) by Joyce Carol Oates is a roman à clef based on the Chappaquiddick incident, in which U.S. senator Ted Kennedy crashed a car and caused the death by drowning of passenger Mary Jo Kopechne? The book ends with a line that is repeated throughout the book: "As the _____ _____ (5,5) filled her lungs, and she died."
A challenging ultramarathon in the Kabardino-Balkaria republic sends one around the base of which mountain? Coincidentally, the race covers the same elevation as this mountain, the highest stratovolcano in Eurasia.
In K-Beauty, the term "_____ (5) skin" describes the glowy and translucent apearance of the face acheived from a rigorous multi-step skincare routine. The focus is on exfoliation, hydration, and brightening to get a crystal-clear sheen on the skin. Fill in the blank (5).
In this part of Gambino's Feels Like Summer, Birdman can be seen at the grill while Chance the Rapper encourages a child in a superhero outfit. Who is this child, now 24 years old, who made his film debut in 2006 with his father who also features in the video? Full name needed.
Vulture suggested in its article that should Sabrina release a club remix version of her hit song, it be named after what popular cocktail that includes coffee liqueur, vodka and simple syrup along with its main ingredient? Despite its name, it contains neither gin nor vermouth. Two-word answer.
In 1980, Susanna Hoffs took out an ad in The Recycler's classified section with the headline "Am Forming a Boss All Girl Group", and thanks to the ad, went on to do so in 1981 until their breakup in 1989 (re-formed in 1998). Which band thus came about?
This luxury rental service in Perth offers a class of fully equipped vehicles suitable for travellers to enjoy road trips across the country. What is the name chosen by this service, which alters one letter in the name of the aforementioned internet content subscription service?
Identify this TV show based on a paperback thriller series written by an author who chose his pseudonym so that his books would end up stacked between Chandler and Christie. The first season follows the titular drifter and his attempts to solve his brother's murder.
This edit shows Morpheus waiting alongside a Lincoln Continental for which computer programmer destined to be the chosen one?
WHAT CUE SPORT gained its identity after British army officer Neville Chamberlain devised a set of rules for it in 1875 when stationed in India? It got its name from a derogatory term used to describe inexperienced or first-year military personnel.
The third episode of Silicon Valley follows the team attempting to register the company under the name Pied Piper. What is the three-word title of this episode, a set of documents filed with the government to legally document the creation of a business?
The Audie Awards are given out annually for excellence in audiobook and spoken-word entertainment. Who won the Audiobook of the Year in 2024 for his narration of his memoir titled Surrender? The memoir takes its name from a song he penned in 1983 for the band he fronts. This Irish band also had a 2009 song titled Moment of Surrender.
In his 2018 tome Rebel Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji, Manu S Pillai mentions that Alauddin Shah, the founder of the Bahmani Sultanate, was one of the earliest Muslim kings in India to declare that no _____ (5 or 6) should be levied from non-Muslims in lieu of military service. What was this, best associated with another Indian ruler from much later?
Native to tropical forests of Central America, the houseplant Monstera deliciosa is also known as the _____ ______ (5,6) plant due to the split-leaf’s resemblance to the "eyes" of the the food item it is named after. What is its popular name? (5,6)
Before dominating the video game market, this company sold handmade Hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto. Which company is this?
Which host city's logo for Euro 2020 featured a famous bridge named for a castle on the north bank of the city’s river?
Which now-famous actor played the dual role of two feuding brothers who fail to bring down the wall that separates them, in an iconic 2001 ad?
Which structure, built at the site of its city's founding (in 1764) by the Mississippi River, casts such a shadow?
Following the premature retirement of Bjorn Borg, Swedish tennis needed a new torch-bearer and they found one during the 1982 French Open. Which unseeded 17-year-old stunned several higher ranked players to win the first of his 7 Grand Slams in the tournament? He remains one of only 3 players along with Nadal and Djokovic to win atleast 2 Slams on all surfaces.
In early 2013, while serving as the coach of D Y Patil’s B team, he got an 11th-hour chance to play for its A team in an invitational T20 tournament, in place of injured leg spinner Rahul Sharma. His 12 wicket haul in the tournament was noticed by scouts which lead to the oldest IPL debut at the age of 41 despite having never played first class cricket. Who is this cricketer?
In 2013, Business Standard published an article about the rise of a particular industry in India. It estimated that over 1 million families in the Surat region were involved in it, contributing over $11 billion through the export of certain “cut” and “polished” variants. Which James Bond film serves as the article’s title?
Which celebrity couple got married in 2007 in a traditional Hindu wedding held in Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur? The marriage between the English actress of Bedazzled/ Austin Powers and an Indian textile heir lasted 4 years.
In March 2024, Zuckerberg was spotted at the pre-wedding festivities of Anant Ambani in Jamnagar wearing the creations of rising Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra. Identify the line of the "Royal Bengal Tigress" shirt Zuckerberg wore, named after the largest mangrove forest in the world.
The title role of which Handel opera is performed as a breeches role today, even though the first premiere had a castrato singer? The opera narrates the life story of the titular Achaemenid king who reigned from 485 BC to 465 BC, culminating in his assassination at the hands of the Greeks.
France’s FIFA World Cup 2022 Away kit made by Nike features a graphic print that contains French featurettes including The Arc De Triomphe and scenes from the French Revolution. The jersey draws inspiration from which style of fabric printing? It is a decorative French style from the 18th century, named for the town of [BLANK]-en-Josas that made it popular.
What nail shape (6) is characterised by its long, tapered side that ends in a squared-off tip, much like the shape of a wooden object that traditionally ends up six feet under?
The submental triangle harbours the lymph nodes that drain the mental region, the tip of the tongue, inferior lip, and incisor teeth. It is bound laterally by the digastric muscle and inferiorly by the body of which bone that is commonly referred to as the tongue bone or lingual bone?
Another on the list of New 7 Wonders of Nature is the volcanic South Korean island of Jeju. One of Jeju's unique residents are the haenyeo, females who perform the task of harvesting certain animals, a task that puts them at great risk given they prefer not to use any kits for the same. Japan also have a class of such people called the ama. What exactly do the Haenyeo do to perform their tasks?
EteRNA is a citizen science game that engages users to solve puzzles related to the folding of RNA molecules. In 2016, its users managed to design RNAs to detect a gene signature for what infectious disease caused by a species of Mycobacterium that typically affects the lungs?
Odyssey by Stephen Fry opens with maps depicting the journeys undertaken by various characters. Which character's journey is depicted in this map? The towering figure travelled from Phthia in Thessaly to fight in the Trojan War where he would duel on two occassions with Hector. This son of Telemon kills himself when Odysseus is granted Achilles' armour over him.
What term (10) is used for this technique of squeezing hair in sections to form volumised curls? It is similar to _________ (10) paper or cloth into a compact mass. A type of circular elastic hair tie works in a similar manner.
This 1971 Charlton Heston starrer, based on I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, moved away from its source by characterising the pandemic as having been caused by biological warfare. Name the movie, whose title signifies that the titular character played by Heston is the last of his kind.
Manaus is the largest city in the Amazon rainforest and the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. During the late 19th century it was known as the 'Paris of the tropics' due to an economic boom spurred by the export of rubber. Manaas is located at the confluence of Solimões ( Upper Amazon) and which other river, so named because its colour is similar to that of strong tea due to Humic acid in the water, resulting from an incomplete breakdown of phenol-containing vegetation from sandy clearings?
Along with milk, what is the primary ingredient in a pink latte? It is the dry powdered form of Beta vulgaris, a folate-rich vegetable of the Betoideae subfamily.