Round 3 at the Old Pequliar on Dec. 2, 2008
Average score: 6.07/10 (15 teams)

Triangulation is the product of an unholy union between Wikipedia’s disambiguation pages, seldom-used dictionary definitions, Urban Dictionary, and whatever words catch my fancy. I’ll give you three definitions, you tell me the word or phrase that fits them all.

Example: A Canadian music award, a Roman goddess, and Roger Ebert’s favorite film of 2007: Juno

1) a kind of wine, a kind of rock, and where Hewlett-Packard got its start

2) a British drink made of fruit juice and soda water, a non-Olympic racquet sport, and a zucchini

3) something you build while hunting, a forced bet, and a slat-driven device

4) five and a half yards, something you’d find near a cone, and a character from Avenue Q

5) Snoopy’s sister, a Disney princess, and Sebastian’s dog

6) a wrestling lineup, a wag or wit or joker, or something you punch

7) a kind of bug, a field, and Jennifer’s middle name

8) part of a whip, a British crime TV series, and a racial slur

9) a tour guide, to summon someone, and a 1950s Playmate of the Month

10) a porn studio, Elphaba’s story, and Bostonese for “extremely”

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Round 3 at the Old Pequliar on October 7, 2008

Triangulation is the product of an unholy union between Wikipedia’s disambiguation pages, seldom-used dictionary definitions, Urban Dictionary, and whatever words catch my fancy. I’ll give you three definitions, you tell me the word or phrase that fits them all.

Example: A Canadian music award, a Roman goddess, and Roger Ebert’s favorite film of 2007: Juno

1) An SUV, a bar on Capitol Hill, and an East Coast WNBA team
2) The opposite of double, an indefinite pronoun, and the force that threatens Fantasia
3) A honeycomb holder, a story that contains stories within itself, and 1/24th of a second of a movie
4) The average value of a force multiplied by the time during which it acts, a jazz record label, and when a man you never met before suddenly gives you flowers
5) A Unix command, an octothorp, and a kind of brown
6) Police Woman, a warm-up exercise, and a Gwyneth Paltrow character
7) A British lad mag, a really good poker hand, and a WWII quote
8) Two out of three games of bridge, a gumshoe, and a french letter
9) Clarissa’s last name on Clarissa Explains It All, Lady’s owner in Lady and the Tramp, and a Julie Christie film
10) Chutzpah, the website that described itself as “literate smut,” and what the Cowardly Lion sings for

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Round 3 at the Old Pequliar on August 12, 2008
Average score: 4.82/10 (11 teams)

Triangulation is my tip of the hat to Wikipedia’s disambiguation pages and the seldom-used tertiary and sub-tertiary definitions in the dictionary. Given three definitions, tell me the word or phrase that fits them all.

Example: A Canadian music award, a Roman goddess, and Roger Ebert’s favorite film of 2007: Juno

1) a sequel by Alexandra Ripley, a G.I. Joe, and Barack’s email pen pal
2) something you’d yell at a dog, sentimental stuff, and porridge
3) a British car model, a fictional FBI agent, and a Project Mercury astronaut
4) a knotmaking term, a fingerprint pattern, and part of a roller coaster
5) a kind of railway freight car, an American painter, and a Pixar villain
6) an album by Jewel, the crimefighting identity of Denny Colt, and something you’d find at a pep rally
7) a movie about skiing, Jughead’s pet, and the goodbye song on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
8) a corporate mascot elf; a football term; and an exclamation of dismay, disbelief, surprise, or joy
9) something a Jungian psychologist discusses, a pulp hero played by Orson Welles, and Sonic’s rival
10) a professional degree, a character on MASH, and a TV trucker

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Round 2 at the Old Pequliar on August 12, 2008
Average score: 8.27/10 (11 teams)

Each correct answer starts with “o” or “oh.”

1) The official mottos of Manitoba and Alberta are Latin translations of lyrics from what song?
2) What speedy athlete and recent author of If I Did It portrayed Kadi Touray in the miniseries Roots?
3) “I come from Alabama with my banjo on my knee” is part of the chorus of what popular folk song?
4) What abbreviated question appears all over the internet, often on a John White photograph of a snowy owl?
5) On Seinfeld, Elaine’s nemesis Sue Ellen Mischke inherited the fortune generated by what candy bar?
6) In 1980, what Chevy Chase film became the first Benji movie to be rated PG?
7) What popular graduation gift was the last book written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss?
8) What slang term was popularized during the 1840 presidential election by boosters of Martin Van Buren?
9) On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded after cold weather helped cause what part to fail?
10) What Shins album, their debut, contains the songs beloved by Natalie Portman’s manic pixie dream girl character in the movie Garden State?

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Round 3 at the Old Pequliar on June 3, 2008.
Average score: 6.13/10 (16 teams)

1) the Segway, one of the Spice Girls, and a castaway
2) a DC Comics supervillain, a children’s television show, and a kind of camera lens
3) a fruit-based dessert, a geologic term, and something a baseball player wants to avoid
4) Beatrice’s cousin, a role playing game system, and what they call a grinder in New York
5) a sign in the Chinese zodiac, something you’d find at a mall, and Splinter
6) a monster that lives in a maze, something funky you might see on TV, and a Whoopi Goldberg film
7) a women’s basketball team, a Peggy Lee song, and something to starve
8) an episode of the series Rome, an automotive company, and a Conan O’Brian character,
9) a recent celebrity autobiography, a truly creepy Japanese horror film, and an Adobe software title
10) a baseball stadium, a jazz-era synonym for hunky-dory, and the alligator man

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Round 5 at the Old Pequliar on May 6, 2008
Average score: 8.33/10 (12 teams)

My ode to Wikipedia’s disambiguation pages. Find the word that fits all three descriptions.

Example:
a planet, a candy bar, and a fictional Veronica: Mars

1) a Saturday Night Live character, something a baker does to a cake, and a unit of butter
2) a Stephen King novel, something Clara Bow had, and someone you try to avoid at recess
3) something done to stomachs, part of a traditional diet, and something that used to be common in Playmates
4) a pharmaceutical term, a shade of blue, and something you seek out at Whistler
5) a particular kind of fiction, something done to prices, and someone who played guitar for Michael Jackson
6) a Sondheim musical, a kind of taxi, and a resident of the Satellite of Love
7) an after dinner cocktail, one of the few kosher insects, and a pop cultural synonym for padawan
8) a resident of Narnia, something women wear, and a typewriter key
9) a chapter of the Qur’an, a Harvey Keitel movie, and something you do to salmon
10) someone who just doesn’t get jazz, a popular intersection in a city, and a carpenter’s tool
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1) John D. Rockefeller, by most measures the richest man in American history, earned his money in what industry?
2) What slang term based on sound effects from dental commercials was popularized in the late 1990s by hip-hop artists like the Cash Money Millionaires, Lil Wayne, and B.G.?
3) Who’s been the only African American listed on the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans every year since 1995?
4) According to Forbes magazine, who is the wealthiest: the richest person in Canada, Japan, Mexico, or Russia?
5) What fictional character’s wealth was once calculated as “one multiplujillion, nine obsquatumatillion, six hundred twenty-three dollars and sixty-two cents”?
6) What 1987 movie paraphrases a speech made by Ivan Boesky before he was jailed for insider trading?
7) At the end of every episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Robin Leach wished the viewer “champagne wishes” and what kind of dreams?
8) In 2004, Bill Rancic became the first person to win what television show?
9) Republican pollster Fred Luntz popularized what alternate name for the estate tax?
10) According to Forbes magazine, what British archaeologist is the wealthiest fictional woman in the world?

Average score: 8.4

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1) What’s the only Schoolhouse Rock! song from the Science Rock category that has a rhyming title?
2) What “frozen novelty product” made by Good Humor mimics the appearance of a Mexican entree?
3) What recurring Daily Show segment used to pit the stars of The Office and The Colbert Report against each other?
4) What database claims to be the “world’s largest collection of public records, unpublished opinions, forms, legal, news, and business information”?
5) Which Beatles song is an ode to an amusement park slide?
6) When Mr. Jinks says “I hate those meeses to pieces,” who are the meeses in question?
7) What 1992 indie rock classic was the debut album by Pavement?
8) What Ben & Jerry’s flavor was named after the clown who was chief of the Please Force at Woodstock?
9) What famous four-word headline in Variety used their slanguage to say that rural audiences rejected movies about rural life?
10) What sportscaster claimed in a Saturday Night Live skit that he would eat the moon if it were made of barbecue spare ribs?
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1) Most films are projected at 24 fps. What does fps stand for?
2) What revolutionary film editing product takes its name from a word that means “characterized by enthusiasm and vigorous pursuit”?
3) According to a song in Team America: World Police: Show a lot of things happening at once / Remind everyone of what’s going on / And with every shot you show a little improvement / To show it all would take too long / That’s what we call a what?
4) What invention, famously featured in The Shining when Danny was riding his tricycle, was originally known as the Brown Stabilizer?
5) A foley artist creates what kind of effects?
6) What term sounds like a junior member of a wedding party, but actually describes the assistant to the key grip or gaffer?
7) A kookaloris is a screen with holes in it used to make interesting light patterns. It’s sometimes called what other name that’s also a kind of dessert?
8) If you’re on a set that’s working French hours, what event won’t you have during the day?
9) As seen in the title of an HBO series, what traffic-related noun is also a verb that means “to finance a movie”?
10) What cocktail gives its name to the last shot of the day?
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Used Jan. 9, 2007, at the Old Pequliar.

1. The title of L. Frank Baum’s first Oz novel is slightly different from the movie. What word from the book’s title is not part of the movie title?
2. What’s Dorothy’s last name?
3. In the movie, Dorothy wears ruby slippers. What are they made of in the book?
4. What comedian plays the title character in the 1978 musical film The Wiz?
5. Wicked lost the 2004 Best New Musical Tony Award to what parody featuring “full puppet nudity”?
6. What future witch played Dorothy in the 1985 sequel Return to Oz?
7. Pink Floyd denies that they deliberately recorded what album as an alternate soundtrack for the 1939 movie?
8. In Baum’s novel, Munchkin Country is one of four countries in Oz. Name one of the other three.
9. According to historian Hugh Rockoff’s interpretation of Baum’s first book as a political parable, what character represents the Prohibition Party, or teetotalers?
10. If you’re a “friend of Dorothy,” what are you?

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