D2. In Japanese mythology, Namazu is a giant catfish that lives in the mud beneath the earth, guarded by the god Kashima. Whenever Kashima lets his guard down, Namazu thrashes about. This is a mythical explanation for what natural phenomenon?

A. Earthquakes

Answers I received were split between 'earthquakes' and 'tsunamis'. A few hedged their bets and put both in. I have treated those as multiple answers and, as per standard quizzing rules, taken the first answer as the one to consider. 

F2. The name of the goddess depicted in this painting derives from a Proto-Germanic word for 'lady', and is as such linked to words with similar meaning in modern Teutonic languages. The first line of the Danish national anthem invokes her name: "It is called Old Denmark and it is _______'s hall". Identify her (any one of several spellings will do).

A. Freyja, from the same root as 'Frau'

G2. Raised in the Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam, he lived quietly as a lens grinder, turning down rewards and honors throughout his life, including prestigious teaching positions. His given name, rendered as Baruch in Hebrew, Benedito in Portuguese and Benedictus in Latin, means "the blessed" in all these languages. His magnum opus, the posthumous 'Ethics', in which he opposed Descartes's mind–body dualism, has earned him recognition as one of Western philosophy's most important contributors.

A. Spinoza

C2. We are familiar with only a couple of these, but the International Society of Blood Transfusion lists 30 of them! MNS, Lutheran, Diego, XG, Indian and 25 others are systems to classify what?

A. Blood types

B2. This Brazilian footballer had a very successful stint with Bayern Munich in the early part of the previous decade, helping them win the domestic league and Cup double three times between 2002 and 2006. When he found his place in the starting XI threatened under new coach Felix Magath, though, he left amidst much acrimony, foretelling the downfall of the club. But he was back in 2007, and Bayern again won the double that year. Name the player.

A. Ze Roberto


Now that second clues have started to appear for the various Themes, guessing at the Themes is open. You can do that once for each Theme at each stage. Please remember that there are negative points for getting Theme guesses wrong.

D1. Initially, this medium of communication was referred to as 'wireless telegraphy', which is why the British call it what they do, as opposed to the term more commonly used in the US, India and most parts of the world. This term eventually derives from a Latin word that means, among other things, 'spoke in a wheel', 'beam of light' or 'ray'. What's the common term we refer to it by?

A. Radio (the British tended to call it the wireless). The Latin root is 'radius'

F1. Across most of Europe, it's called a 'smoking'. In France for example, the two varieties -- distinguished by collar type -- are referred to as 'le smoking Deauville' and 'le smoking Capri'. It rose to respectability in Britain after it was worn to informal parties in the 1880s by the then Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). The Prince introduced it to a guest of his, the American millionaire James Potter. Potter then wore it at parties at the elite club housed in the buildings in the picture. As a result, in America, it got its name from the name of this club. What do they call it there?

A. A tuxedo

A1. Called "the Marco Polo of neuroscience" by Richard Dawkins, he writes regularly on "Illusions" in the magazine shown here. Who?

A. Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

E1. What might you do to a painting, a volume on a computer's hard disk, a telescope or a horse without offending your significant other?

A. Mount it. 

Got all kinds of funny answers -- how do you partition a horse, or defrag a painting?!

G1. The word 'catamite', reasonably popular in the Victorian era but now considered archaic, refers to a young man or boy kept by a man for sexual purposes. The word derives from the Latin form of the name of the young man seen being 'pursued' by Zeus in this depiction of a Greek myth. What's his name?

Clarification: I'm looking for the original Greek name.


A. Ganymede