Tuesday Night Judgment Calls (12/5/07)

A few of the snap decisions I had to make on last Tuesday’s quiz:

Question: According to legend, Laocoon and Cassandra both warned against accepting what large gift?
Correct answer: the Trojan Horse
Team asked: Can we have credit for “horse”? They didn’t call it the Trojan Horse.
Verdict: No. Too general. I would’ve given credit for “big wooden horse” or something, but not just horse.
In the cold light of day: I probably should’ve given them the point. In Quiz Bowl or on Jeopardy!, no, but for pub quiz, probably OK.

Question: In Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Sleeping Beauty, what present does Carabosse give Princess Aurora on her sixteenth birthday?
Correct answer: spindle
Team asked: What about “spinning wheel”?
Verdict: OK.
In the cold light of day: I’m still OK with it, though a friend of mine noted that they aren’t the same thing.

Question: In the O. Henry story “The Gift of the Magi,” Jim sells his watch so he can buy what present for his wife Della?
Correct answer: combs
Team asked: Will you take “brush”?
Verdict: No, because they’re not the kind of combs you use to comb your hair, so a brush is a different kind of thing altogether.
In the cold light of day: Good call.

Question: Bob Dylan tells Mr. Jones — rather than Mr. or Mrs. Charles — that “something is happening here, but you don’t know what it is” in what song?
Correct answer: “Ballad of a Thin Man”
Team asked: What about just “Thin Man”?
Verdict: No, because a) that just capitalizes on my hint, and b) it’s not the complete title.
In the cold light of day: Good call.