10Q (February 10, 2018)

[For most of the images, larger versions can be viewed by clicking on them]

1. You might imagine that this World Heritage Site, National Park and Ramsar Site is named for its natural beauty, but it's actually named after the local name for the mangrove species Heritiera fomes (whose flowers are shown here), that are found there in large numbers. Which cross-border site?

2. [Audio link] These are the opening lines of the audiobook version of a novel first published in 1923. Identify the actor who did the recording, and name the character he is 'playing'. If you can identify the book – only the second to feature its protagonist and the first set outside England – from this scant sample, an additional 2 points!

3. What word used originally for a medieval contest between groups of knights on horseback, deriving from the Old French for 'to joust', was first used the way it currently is – in the context of other sports and games – in 1761?

4. The bottles in the photo below contain liquids composed of X, propylene glycol, glycerine, and flavourings. They are used to refill devices known, besides other common names, as ECs, ENDS and PVs. What are these devices, and what is X (it's the expansion of one of the letters in one of the abbreviations mentioned here)?

5. In Hindu theology, the six passions of the mind – negative characteristics that prevent people from attaining moksha or salvation – are kama (lust), krodha (anger), lobh (greed), moha (attachment), mada or ahankar (pride) and matsarya (Y). What are they collectively known as, and what is Y (that is, 'matsarya' in English)?

6. This type of simple, reversible line embroidery stitch (left, in the image below) is named for the 16th-century portrait painter (right top) best known for his paintings of Henry VIII (such as the one right below) and his children, almost all of whom are depicted wearing clothing decorated with blackwork embroidery. What is it called?

7. What is known in defence services terminology as a brown-water navy?

8. The construction of this Tudor-style edifice with fortified towers, battlements and turrets was started in 1862 and completed in 1944. In 1884, it was bought by the British guardians of the minor Maharaja Chamarajendra Wadiyar X, to serve as a place of residence during the course of his education and administrative training. It is known by the name of the city where it stands. What is it called?

9. Theron, who is the headmaster of the Collegium Magikos located in the Himalayas, is the father and teacher of which fictional character?

10. The two people in this photo were known to be good friends. In 1976, in Mexico City, the guy on the left (let's call him A) attended a screening of the film 'La Odisea de los Andes', for which the other man (B) had written the script. Spotting his friend, A went to embrace him. B, however, punched him in the face, knocking him down and giving him a black eye. Ever since, literary people in Latin America have wondered why. One story is that A had told a mutual friend that he found B's wife Patricia less than beautiful. A second is that Patricia, suspecting that B was having an affair, had asked A what she should do about it, and A had told her to leave him. The cause of this famous falling-out remains unknown. Who are these two?


Answers
1. The Sundarbans, named after the Sundari tree
2. Hugh Fraser (who played the character in the popular TV series) playing Captain Hastings in 'The Murder on the Links'

3. Tournament (or tourney), from 'tornoier'
4. Electronic cigarettes, nicotine [visual]
The abbreviations expand, respectively to electronic cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery systems, and personal vapourisers (hence vapes and vaping).

5. Arishadvarga, jealousy
6. Holbein stitch, named after Hans Holbein the Younger
7. A naval force that carries out military operations in river or littoral environments. 
The term originated in the US Navy during the Vietnam War, used for the small gunboats and patrol boats used in rivers, along with some of the larger ships that support them as 'mother ships'. The US Naval Operations Concept document defines blue water as "the open ocean", green water as "coastal waters, ports and harbors", and brown water as "navigable rivers and their estuaries"
8. Bangalore Palace (not Mysore, though he obviously was from Mysore, but that palace has obviously existed from way before)
9. Mandrake the Magician


10. Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Varga Llosa