The document describes the rules and details of "The Chaos 2020 General Quiz" hosted by Quiz Cetera across various colleges in India. It provides information on the format of the quiz including 25 total questions, 11-20 being star marked for tiebreakers, and 6 teams qualifying for the finals. It also lists the organizers' names and contact information.
2. Presented by
Quiz Cetera
-
75+ quizzes across
25+ campuses, incl.
IITs, IIMs, and NITs
Aniruddha Mitra
p15aniruddham@iima.ac.in
9426310784
Dhanraj B.
p14dhanrajb@iima.ac.in
8123955150
Minakhi Misra
p13minakhipm@iima.ac.in
9998154540
Tauseef Warsi
p14tauseefw@iima.ac.in
8691045534
3. Rules of Engagement
● 25 questions in total
● 11-20 are star marked and will be used to resolve ties (please mark them on
your answer sheet)
● In case of further ties, sudden death will be used
● The prelims are written so please do not shout out the answers
● 6 teams will qualify for the finals
● Please refrain from relying on electronic devices or nearby participants
5. 1. Which substance?
The Global Commission on Drug Policy concluded in 2019 that drug laws have little
scientific basis, and it blamed the UN’s classification system. Drugs were classified
on some arbitrary degree of "harm to user," but completely ignored the equally
significant "harm to others" factor.
Taking the second factor also into account, the Commission found that the
substance with highest potential harm has not even been classified at all by most
lawmakers.
6. 2. Which phrase?
One of the earliest mentions is in Charles Cotton's 1670 work, Voyage to Ireland in Burlesque.
Mistress mayoress complained that the pottage was cold;
'And all long of your fiddle-faddle,' quoth she.
'Why, then, _____ ___-_____ (5,3,5), what if it be?
Hold you, if you can, your tittle-tattle,' quoth he.
The phrase highlights the relative privilege that the mayoress enjoys. The first word in the
phrase is a corruption of the then-equivalent of "Mrs." and the second hyphenated word refers
to her material advantage in have two of something when the rest have none.
Over the years, the meaning of the phrase has changed from someone having privilege to
someone showing altruism.
7. 3. Italian pick-me-up
"X," murmurs Rob Reiner’s character knowingly to Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle.
“What is X?” asks Hanks' character, a widower venturing back into the world of
dating. “Some woman is gonna want me to do it to her and I’m not gonna know what
it is!” “You’ll love it,” Reiner assures him.
Tristar, the official distributors of the movie, apparently received as many as 30 calls
a day from viewers as anxious as Hanks to be enlightened. Some were disappointed
(and others were audibly relieved) to discover it was merely an obscure Italian
dessert, which literally translated to "pick-me-up."
8. 4. Which company?
In December 2019, following a New York Times report about racism at some of the
company's outlets in Arizona, CEO Jamie Dimon was asked by five Democratic
lawmakers for a list of steps that the company is taking to combat discrimination
against black customers and employees.
Dimon was previously on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York, and was included in Time magazine's 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2011 lists of the
world's 100 most influential people.
9. 5. Which animals X and Y?
Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov often names his minor-piece maneuvers after
animal moves. For instance, despite his attacking style, he sometimes uses his knights
defensively in the slow "yawning hippopotamus", a variant of the Hippo Defense. His two
favorite attack patterns, however, involve the bishop, and are called the "raging X (8 letters)"
and the "chasing Y (7 letters)".
In the former, one of his bishops, which in Russian are called X, creates havoc through
successive discovered double attacks that cause serious material loss to his opponent.
In the latter, fast advancing center pawns push back a major piece like the Queen. The pawns
are often supported by a distant bishop that acts as the "balancing tail" of a Y, continuing the
chase if the Queen leaves the center for either side of the board.
10. 6. Give the assumed name of the perpetrator.
In 1972, following a series of "copycat" crimes, the US Federal Aviation
Administration mandated that all cockpit doors be fitted with peepholes. And
specifically the Boeing 727 was mandated to be fitted with a "_____ vane", a device
that prevents lowering of the aft airstair during flight.
The original crime, which was being copied, had occured on Nov 24th, 1971, during a
thunderstorm over Washington state. The crime has since sparked several subplots
in books, movies, and serials, often involving fugitives. The blank above is the
assumed name of the perpetrator.
11. 7. Give X and Y.
When X was pictured on the cover of Newsweek, and delightedly showed the
magazine to Y, his grudging response was:
"The only time Newsweek put me on their cover was when someone was trying to put
a bullet in my head."
12. 8. Why did he do it?
In 2017, Olav Njolstad, head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, said in an email to
The Associated Press that neither the will of prize founder Alfred Nobel nor the Nobel
Foundation’s rules provide for the possibility of withdrawing the honor from
laureates.
13. 9. What Name?
In November 2019, a Qantas flight flew 10,500 miles from London to Sydney,
making it the longest ever commercial flight. Earlier in the year, when the company
ran tests, one of the guinea pig passengers had remarked that he experienced a
"double _____", something that one is used to experiencing only once a day. This
eventually led to the naming of the project as Project _____ (same word).
14. 10. Give X and Y
X (born 6 February 1969) is an English professional football manager and
former midfielder. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1987 until 2005,
notably as captain of Blackburn Rovers' Premier League title-winning side in
1995. He made three appearances for the England national team in 1999.
During his time at Blackburn, coach Kenny Dalglish wanted to sign both Y and
Christophe Dugarry, who were playing in France for Bordeaux, but Rovers
owner Jack Walker reportedly said to Dalglish: "Why do you want to sign Y
when we have X?"
15. * 11. What am I talking about?
Since 1375, the only time this hadn't happened was between 1789 and 1803 despite
several changes of monarchs and loyalties. It continued even during the Second
World War when Germany occupied the area. In 2019, however, it didn't happen
again.
16. * 12. Which famous surname?
Louis ______, along with his brothers Pierre and Jacques, took what was a boutique
jewellery store in Paris, and made it an internationally coveted brand even as the
world went through the Great Depression and two World Wars. Being the eldest
and very hot-headed, he once challenged a Rothschild baron over a snub to his
family name.
But his creativity fuelled innovations such as the use of platinum for more delicate
settings and their famous “mystery clocks”, whose hands appeared to hover in thin
air as if “woven from moonbeams”. J.P. Morgan was a fan and the Hope Diamond was
one of the attractions on their catalog.
17. *13. Identify the two names for the country
The ____ _______ is a self-governing country based in the South Pacific. Citizens of this
place also hold New Zealand citizenship. They are named after a famous British
navigator.
However, this country has become a haven for tax avoidance especially for rich
felons and Ponzi scheme perpetrators. It has therefore gained another notorious
nickname : The _____ ________
Identify both nicknames (only differentiated by one letter)
18. * 14. Give X and Y
This increasingly popular lifestyle choice X takes its name from an avant-garde art
movement in the 1950s. Championed by person Y in Japan, it spread throughout the
western world close to the start of the 2010s, thanks mostly to Y's books, and the
blog and podcast of the duo Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus.
On Pinterest and Instagram, hallmarks of X imagery emerged: clean white subway
tiles, furniture in the style of Scandinavian midcentury modern, and clothing made of
organic fibers. Next to the products were monochromatic memes and slogans.
19. * 15. What am I talking about?
With no archaeological evidence to establish the origins of X prior to its use in China during the 13th century
AD, different historians have suggested theories, most likely apocryphal, that have taken deep root in public
imagination.
Some Indian texts dated 9th century AD suggest that X was modelled on the Varna system of Hindus. More
recently, texts from the time of the French Revolution suggest a similar modeling, albeit of the French system
of Clergy, Nobility, Merchants, and Peasants.
Ancient Egyptian literature on papyrus dated 2nd century BC claims X is based on the elements: Fire, Water,
Wind, and Earth. However, there is contention whether these sources are original or fabrications much later
on ancient papyrus.
Middle Eastern sources dated 14th century AD suggest that X is based on basic human needs of love, power,
wealth, and food.
20. * 16. What are classified by the Hornbostel-Sachs system?
Formally, the Hornbostel–Sachs is modeled on the Dewey Decimal Classification for
libraries. It has five top-level classifications (though only the first four have formally
recognised numbers), with several levels below those, adding up to over 300 basic
categories in all. For instance, spoons would be classified as 111.14 and coconut
shells as 111.141.
There are ways to classify items with this system even if they have elements from
more than one group. Such items may have particularly long classification numbers
with colons and hyphens used as well as numbers.
21. * 17. Which letter? Which two symbols?
This English letter mysteriously lends itself to not one but two symbols of a finite,
ordered set.
In the first of these, the end of the letter has a flourish to possibly indicate a maiden
crossing her legs.
In the second, the end of the letter has a flourish to indicate the most distinctive
anatomical feature of what the symbol represents.
22. * 18. What is X? What is the sport?
The original product was co-invented in 1965 by James M. Faria and Robert T.
Wright. It was patented in 1965 and originally sold under a different name. It was
rebranded as X by a company employee named John A. Wortmann after its first
well-publicized use at the Houston Astrodome stadium - the world's first
multi-purpose, domed sports stadium in 1966.
For a specific sport, the first major use of X was in the 1976 Montreal Olympics and
has been mandatory for global tournaments since. The use of X also coincides with
the decline of Asian teams and the rise of European teams and Australia in the sport.
23. * 19. Fill in the blank
"All the important questions...have been settled,” Max Schultze, a German biologist,
opined on his deathbed in 1874. “Except the ___ question.”
Fishermen know how to catch them, chefs know how to cook them, but biologists
even today have very little idea about how they reproduce. This is mostly because
they travel from freshwater to long into the seawater - the ones in Bay of Biscay are
known to procreate near Bermuda - sometimes even crossing short patches of dry
land in between if conditions are right.
No one has actually seen them mate, so a more pressing concern these days is no
one knows how to repopulate the species, which is already declared critically
endangered.
24. * 20. Give X and Y
Quite contrary to the portrayal of company X in the blockbuster musical film Y,
Natives Go Wild, a cabaret at the Sydney Opera House, depicts the fate of the 17
Aboriginal people kidnapped from Queensland by X in the 19th century.
Advertised as “human oddities” and cast as “cannibals and boomerang throwers”,
these men, women and children featured in a show called the “Ethnological
Congress of Strange Tribes” alongside Sioux, Toda and Zulu people. Tens of
thousands of Americans bought tickets. The performers paid a higher price. Half of
them died within six months from diseases to which they had little resistance, such
as pneumonia and tuberculosis.
25. 21. Fakes of what?
Fritz Vollrath, a zoologist at Oxford University, claims he can kill the demand for
poachers by flooding the market with his artificial ______.
His fakes are made of hairs collected from horses’ tails, which have similar
dimensions and symmetry and share a spongy core structure. The binding matrix is
made from a fibrous protein-rich glue of the sort produced naturally by spiders and
silkworms.
The fakes even stand the test of scanning electron microscopy, a method often used
by the most sophisticated of Chinese Triads. They will of course fail in a DNA test,
but the black market is yet to escalate to that level for the moment.
26. 22. Why is RISC-V fast gaining popularity?
Microprocessors are built around designs, known as
instruction-set architectures, i.e. ISA, which are owned
by-and-large by either Intel (USA) or by Arm (Japan).
2018-19, however, saw a boomlet in chips made using an ISA
called RISC-V. It was originally written by computer scientists at
the University of California, Berkeley, who wanted an
instruction set that they could use for publishable research. If
boomlet becomes boom, as the popularity trend suggests, it
may shatter the Arm-Intel duopoly.
27. 23. What am I talking about?
Colloquially known as "the change", this is a painful process that can damage the
bones, brain, and heart of a person.
In the US, close to 80% of those undergoing "the change" experience symptoms such
as hot flushes, night sweats, depression, insomnia, anxiety and memory loss.
Symptoms can last up to 12 years.
Around 25% in developed countries feel so wretched that their quality of life is
dimmed. Almost 50% in Britain experiencing it say that their work suffers as a result.
28. 24. Which brand ? Why the drop in sales?
This brand line (one of the largest selling
for the company) was growing at a
decent pace until 2008-09 where it
started seeing a gradual decrease and a
bottoming out in sales.
This was majorly due to a massive
decrease in sales in a single month every
year.
Which brand ? Why was there a monthly
drop in sales ?
29. 25. Identify X, the sportsman/ doctor
Though known across the world for achievements in another field, X was actually a
pioneer in the field of medicine. His major contribution to academic medicine was in
the field of autonomic failure, an area of neurology.
Till the end, he always said that he was prouder of his achievements in medicine than
in sport, saying that he had spent 60 years in medicine as compared to just 8 in sport.
Who is X, a famous celebrity in sport despite never winning a Olympic medal in his
discipline ?
31. 1. Which substance?
The Global Commission on Drug Policy concluded in 2019 that drug laws have little
scientific basis, and it blamed the UN’s classification system. Drugs were classified
on some arbitrary degree of "harm to user," but completely ignored the equally
significant "harm to others" factor.
Taking the second factor also into account, the Commission found that the
substance with highest potential harm has not even been classified at all by most
lawmakers.
33. 2. Which phrase?
One of the earliest mentions is in Charles Cotton's 1670 work, Voyage to Ireland in Burlesque.
Mistress mayoress complained that the pottage was cold;
'And all long of your fiddle-faddle,' quoth she.
'Why, then, _____ ___-_____ (5,3,5), what if it be?
Hold you, if you can, your tittle-tattle,' quoth he.
The phrase highlights the relative privilege that the mayoress enjoys. The first word in the
phrase is a corruption of the then-equivalent of "Mrs." and the second hyphenated word refers
to her material advantage in have two of something when the rest have none.
Over the years, the meaning of the phrase has changed from someone having privilege to
someone showing altruism.
35. 3. Italian pick-me-up
"X," murmurs Rob Reiner’s character knowingly to Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle.
“What is X?” asks Hanks' character, a widower venturing back into the world of
dating. “Some woman is gonna want me to do it to her and I’m not gonna know what
it is!” “You’ll love it,” Reiner assures him.
Tristar, the official distributors of the movie, apparently received as many as 30 calls
a day from viewers as anxious as Hanks to be enlightened. Some were disappointed
(and others were audibly relieved) to discover it was merely an obscure Italian
dessert, which literally translated to "pick-me-up."
37. 4. Which company?
In December 2019, following a New York Times report about racism at some of the
company's outlets in Arizona, CEO Jamie Dimon was asked by five Democratic
lawmakers for a list of steps that the company is taking to combat discrimination
against black customers and employees.
Dimon was previously on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York, and was included in Time magazine's 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2011 lists of the
world's 100 most influential people.
39. 5. Which animals X and Y?
Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov often names his minor-piece maneuvers after
animal moves. For instance, despite his attacking style, he sometimes uses his knights
defensively in the slow "yawning hippopotamus", a variant of the Hippo Defense. His two
favorite attack patterns, however, involve the bishop, and are called the "raging X (8 letters)"
and the "chasing Y (7 letters)".
In the former, one of his bishops, which in Russian are called X, creates havoc through
successive discovered double attacks that cause serious material loss to his opponent.
In the latter, fast advancing center pawns push back a major piece like the Queen. The pawns
are often supported by a distant bishop that acts as the "balancing tail" of a Y, continuing the
chase if the Queen leaves the center for either side of the board.
41. 6. Give the assumed name of the perpetrator.
In 1972, following a series of "copycat" crimes, the US Federal Aviation
Administration mandated that all cockpit doors be fitted with peepholes. And
specifically the Boeing 727 was mandated to be fitted with a "_____ vane", a device
that prevents lowering of the aft airstair during flight.
The original crime, which was being copied, had occured on Nov 24th, 1971, during a
thunderstorm over Washington state. The crime has since sparked several subplots
in books, movies, and serials, often involving fugitives. The blank above is the
assumed name of the perpetrator.
43. 7. Give X and Y.
When X was pictured on the cover of Newsweek, and delightedly showed the
magazine to Y, his grudging response was:
"The only time Newsweek put me on their cover was when someone was trying to put
a bullet in my head."
45. 8. Why did he do it?
In 2017, Olav Njolstad, head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, said in an email to
The Associated Press that neither the will of prize founder Alfred Nobel nor the Nobel
Foundation’s rules provide for the possibility of withdrawing the honor from
laureates.
46. In response to popular outrage for stripping Aung San Suu
Kyi of her Nobel Peace Prize
47. 9. What Name?
In November 2019, a Qantas flight flew 10,500 miles from London to Sydney,
making it the longest ever commercial flight. Earlier in the year, when the company
ran tests, one of the guinea pig passengers had remarked that he experienced a
"double _____", something that one is used to experiencing only once a day. This
eventually led to the naming of the project as Project _____ (same word).
49. 10. Give X and Y
X (born 6 February 1969) is an English professional football manager and
former midfielder. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1987 until 2005,
notably as captain of Blackburn Rovers' Premier League title-winning side in
1995. He made three appearances for the England national team in 1999.
During his time at Blackburn, coach Kenny Dalglish wanted to sign both Y and
Christophe Dugarry, who were playing in France for Bordeaux, but Rovers
owner Jack Walker reportedly said to Dalglish: "Why do you want to sign Y
when we have X?"
51. * 11. What am I talking about?
Since 1375, the only time this hadn't happened was between 1789 and 1803 despite
several changes of monarchs and loyalties. It continued even during the Second
World War when Germany occupied the area. In 2019, however, it didn't happen
again.
53. * 12. Which famous surname?
Louis ______, along with his brothers Pierre and Jacques, took what was a boutique
jewellery store in Paris, and made it an internationally coveted brand even as the
world went through the Great Depression and two World Wars. Being the eldest
and very hot-headed, he once challenged a Rothschild baron over a snub to his
family name.
But his creativity fuelled innovations such as the use of platinum for more delicate
settings and their famous “mystery clocks”, whose hands appeared to hover in thin
air as if “woven from moonbeams”. J.P. Morgan was a fan and the Hope Diamond was
one of the attractions on their catalog.
55. *13. Identify the two names for the country
The ____ _______ is a self-governing country based in the South Pacific. Citizens of this
place also hold New Zealand citizenship. They are named after a famous British
navigator.
However, this country has become a haven for tax avoidance especially for rich
felons and Ponzi scheme perpetrators. It has therefore gained another notorious
nickname : The _____ ________
Identify both nicknames (only differentiated by one letter)
57. * 14. Give X and Y
This increasingly popular lifestyle choice X takes its name from an avant-garde art
movement in the 1950s. Championed by person Y in Japan, it spread throughout the
western world close to the start of the 2010s, thanks mostly to Y's books, and the
blog and podcast of the duo Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus.
On Pinterest and Instagram, hallmarks of X imagery emerged: clean white subway
tiles, furniture in the style of Scandinavian midcentury modern, and clothing made of
organic fibers. Next to the products were monochromatic memes and slogans.
59. * 15. What am I talking about?
With no archaeological evidence to establish the origins of X prior to its use in China during the 13th century
AD, different historians have suggested theories, most likely apocryphal, that have taken deep root in public
imagination.
Some Indian texts dated 9th century AD suggest that X was modelled on the Varna system of Hindus. More
recently, texts from the time of the French Revolution suggest a similar modeling, albeit of the French system
of Clergy, Nobility, Merchants, and Peasants.
Ancient Egyptian literature on papyrus dated 2nd century BC claims X is based on the elements: Fire, Water,
Wind, and Earth. However, there is contention whether these sources are original or fabrications much later
on ancient papyrus.
Middle Eastern sources dated 14th century AD suggest that X is based on basic human needs of love, power,
wealth, and food.
61. * 16. What are classified by the Hornbostel-Sachs system?
Formally, the Hornbostel–Sachs is modeled on the Dewey Decimal Classification for
libraries. It has five top-level classifications (though only the first four have formally
recognised numbers), with several levels below those, adding up to over 300 basic
categories in all. For instance, spoons would be classified as 111.14 and coconut
shells as 111.141.
There are ways to classify items with this system even if they have elements from
more than one group. Such items may have particularly long classification numbers
with colons and hyphens used as well as numbers.
63. * 17. Which letter? Which two symbols?
This English letter mysteriously lends itself to not one but two symbols of a finite,
ordered set.
In the first of these, the end of the letter has a flourish to possibly indicate a maiden
crossing her legs.
In the second, the end of the letter has a flourish to indicate the most distinctive
anatomical feature of what the symbol represents.
65. * 18. What is X? What is the sport?
The original product was co-invented in 1965 by James M. Faria and Robert T.
Wright. It was patented in 1965 and originally sold under a different name. It was
rebranded as X by a company employee named John A. Wortmann after its first
well-publicized use at the Houston Astrodome stadium - the world's first
multi-purpose, domed sports stadium in 1966.
For a specific sport, the first major use of X was in the 1976 Montreal Olympics and
has been mandatory for global tournaments since. The use of X also coincides with
the decline of Asian teams and the rise of European teams and Australia in the sport.
67. * 19. Fill in the blank
"All the important questions...have been settled,” Max Schultze, a German biologist,
opined on his deathbed in 1874. “Except the ___ question.”
Fishermen know how to catch them, chefs know how to cook them, but biologists
even today have very little idea about how they reproduce. This is mostly because
they travel from freshwater to long into the seawater - the ones in Bay of Biscay are
known to procreate near Bermuda - sometimes even crossing short patches of dry
land in between if conditions are right.
No one has actually seen them mate, so a more pressing concern these days is no
one knows how to repopulate the species, which is already declared critically
endangered.
69. * 20. Give X and Y
Quite contrary to the portrayal of company X in the blockbuster musical film Y,
Natives Go Wild, a cabaret at the Sydney Opera House, depicts the fate of the 17
Aboriginal people kidnapped from Queensland by X in the 19th century.
Advertised as “human oddities” and cast as “cannibals and boomerang throwers”,
these men, women and children featured in a show called the “Ethnological
Congress of Strange Tribes” alongside Sioux, Toda and Zulu people. Tens of
thousands of Americans bought tickets. The performers paid a higher price. Half of
them died within six months from diseases to which they had little resistance, such
as pneumonia and tuberculosis.
70. X: Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Y: The Greatest Showman.
71. 21. Fakes of what?
Fritz Vollrath, a zoologist at Oxford University, claims he can kill the demand for
poachers by flooding the market with his artificial ______.
His fakes are made of hairs collected from horses’ tails, which have similar
dimensions and symmetry and share a spongy core structure. The binding matrix is
made from a fibrous protein-rich glue of the sort produced naturally by spiders and
silkworms.
The fakes even stand the test of scanning electron microscopy, a method often used
by the most sophisticated of Chinese Triads. They will of course fail in a DNA test,
but the black market is yet to escalate to that level for the moment.
73. 22. Why is RISC-V fast gaining popularity?
Microprocessors are built around designs, known as
instruction-set architectures, i.e. ISA, which are owned
by-and-large by either Intel (USA) or by Arm (Japan).
2018-19, however, saw a boomlet in chips made using an ISA
called RISC-V. It was originally written by computer scientists at
the University of California, Berkeley, who wanted an
instruction set that they could use for publishable research. If
boomlet becomes boom, as the popularity trend suggests, it
may shatter the Arm-Intel duopoly.
75. 23. What am I talking about?
Colloquially known as "the change", this is a painful process that can damage the
bones, brain, and heart of a person.
In the US, close to 80% of those undergoing "the change" experience symptoms such
as hot flushes, night sweats, depression, insomnia, anxiety and memory loss.
Symptoms can last up to 12 years.
Around 25% in developed countries feel so wretched that their quality of life is
dimmed. Almost 50% in Britain experiencing it say that their work suffers as a result.
77. 24. Which brand ? Why the drop in sales?
This brand line (one of the largest selling
for the company) was growing at a
decent pace until 2008-09 where it
started seeing a gradual decrease and a
bottoming out in sales.
This was majorly due to a massive
decrease in sales in a single month every
year.
Which brand ? Why was there a monthly
drop in sales ?
79. 25. Identify X, the sportsman/ doctor
Though known across the world for achievements in another field, X was actually a
pioneer in the field of medicine. His major contribution to academic medicine was in
the field of autonomic failure, an area of neurology.
Till the end, he always said that he was prouder of his achievements in medicine than
in sport, saying that he had spent 60 years in medicine as compared to just 8 in sport.
Who is X, a famous celebrity in sport despite never winning a Olympic medal in his
discipline ?