D4. This is one of a series of painting by American artist Cheryl Edwards which places African-American subjects in a staple of classical art. Accordingly, each painting in the series is titled 'Modern Day _______', with a number suffixed. What word fits in the blank?

A. Madonna

I thought this was quite easy to figure out, but there were very few responses!

F6. His full name was ______ Miélli Venerando, but he was commonly known simply by his first name or by the nickname 'Paper', given to him because of the way he flew across the goal to make saves. He died just a few days ago, on August 24. What is the 'lucky' first name of this goalkeeper (the guy in the centre) of the great Brazil team that won the 1970 World Cup?

A. Felix, which means 'lucky' or 'happy' in Latin

A4. In 1983, when Ronald Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a system of lasers and missiles meant to intercept incoming ICBMs, the plan was quickly labeled '_____ _____' by detractors, implying that it was science fiction. Reagan was reportedly annoyed by this nickname at first, but Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle told colleagues that he "thought the name was not so bad". "'Why not?' he said. 'It's a good movie. Besides, the good guys won.'" This gained further resonance when Reagan described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire". Fill in the blanks with a two-word movie name.

A. Easy one -- 'Star Wars'

B7. This is a screen grab from the Website of a London-based casual wear company, which launched this range of clothing called the Warhol Collection in 2007. Name the brand.

A. Pepe Jeans

E2. The streets of a certain Swiss city are punctuated by fountains and statues depicting these mythical creatures, perhaps because the names of the city and the creature share the same root (the Greek word for 'king'). In the creature's case, the name is given because of the 'crown'-like appendage on its head. Name the creature.

A. Basilisk, in Basel, both originating from the Greek 'basil', meaning 'king'.

This one, I thought was quite workoutable, given the limited number of Swiss cities, and the not-so-many mythical creatures in European folklore. Sadly, not many got it right.

C5. In 2002, psychologist Richard Wiseman and colleagues at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, finished a year-long experiment, concluding that of all animals, these evoke the most humour and silliness. In his report, Wiseman said, "If you're going to tell a joke involving an animal, make it a ____." One of the well-known jokes involving one such creature is set in a chemist's shop, and features chapstick and a condom. Fill in the blank.

A. Duck

Here's the joke: 

Duck walks into a chemist's shop, asks for chapstick. Chemist says, "Cash or charge?" Duck replies: "Just put it on my bill."

Couple of days later, the duck's back (hey, there's a pun there as well). This time he asks for a condom. Chemist says, "I suppose you want me to put it on your bill?" Duck draws up to his full height and replies, outraged: "What kind of duck do you take me for?!"

B6. Which novel, whose title has become a phrase in the English language, follows the wartime exploits of members of the fictional 256th Bomber Squadron, based on the island of Pianosa, in the Mediterranean Sea west of Italy?

A. Catch-22

F5. This character from Marvel Comics is based on which ancient Egyptian deity associated with healing and preservation (her name may have meant "she of the ointment jar"?

A. Bastet (not, as far as I know, prefixed by the Egyptians with a "bleddy..."), also known as Bast or Ubasti.

Tough one this time -- garnered only a couple of correct answers, and some very wild guesses!

A3. For a long time, our very own Bhagwat Chandrashekhar was the holder of a unique record which was a staple of sports quizzes -- the only player to have taken more wickets in Test cricket than the runs he scored (167 runs versus 242 wickets in a 58-Test career). The chap in the picture has joined him -- though he's still playing, the likelihood that he will leave this august company of two is very low. In 65 Tests so far, he has scored 112 runs and taken 218 wickets. He also holds the record for the highest number of pairs in Test cricket history, with 6 (Chandra, poor fellow, had only 4). Name him.

A. Chris Martin of New Zealand

G4. In 2009, this Website took over as official sponsor of NASCAR driver Bobby Labonte's No. 96 car, seen in the picture (I have blanked out the site name, obviously, wherever it appears on the car). It later also became the official search engine of NASCAR. Rated the No 4 search engine behind Google, Yahoo and Bing, the site uses a natural-language question-and-answer format for its queries. It is owned by InterActive Corp, which also runs the sites Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com. Name it.

A. ask.com