Quizzers Day Out at Tata Crucible Pune Corporate Edition - 2008

The Pune round of Tata Crucible Corporate Edition 2008 just concluded at the Taj Blue Diamond. Pune, lived up to it's history of being a quizzers city, from the huge audience turnout that comprised of a mix of ever so enthusiastic college quizzers to the 120 odd teams from the corporate circle to the inquisitive set of people - age no bar.

For the patient reader there's some more to follow and for those interested only in the results here they go.

Non Tata Track

Winners - Kotak Mahindra Bank (with 65 points)
Runners Up - BMC Software

Tata Track

Winners - TAL Manufacturing Solutions
Runners Up - TCS (prolly the first all women duo to be in the finals of Crucible history)

The huge audience turnout was certainly daunting and it provided enough pointers towards a tough set of prelims questions. As expected, the prelims were a tad tougher primarily due to the less number of clues provided by Giri.

Prelims
25 questions comprised of 2 video clips 3 stills and the rest dry Qs

1. Which sports goods company owns the range of products under the name Ballistic, Stealth, Atomic and Velocity?

2. What is brewed at six locations across India namely Mount Shivalik in Rajasthan, Impala Breweries in Goa, Mikal in Orissa, Iceberg in Bihar, SOM in Madhya Pradesh and Manav Breweries in UP?

3. Who sponsored the FairPlay award at this years IPL?

4. Which brand owned by N Ranga Rao and Sons was amidst a controversy for it's similarity to the logo of a prominent political party?

5. This company then (in 1852) was known as the Volcanic Repeating Arms Co. It started to produce a lever action pistol nicknamed the Volcanic Pistol (named by Scientific American because of the pistols incredible firepower and its rapid-fire capability). In 1986 it was sold to Tomkins plc of London England and subsequently in 2001 it was acquired by Saf-T-Hammer Corporation. This company was in news recently for the interest Indian Army showed.

6. Name this joint venture formed between Airtel and IFFCO aimed at providing a major boost to the Indian Agriculture sector

7. Who has been selected as a brand ambassador for Fly phones by Meridian Mobile. As mentioned by the company the person (male) reflects the brands chs of being a go-getter and aggressive

8. Which clothing company recently launched a brand of clothing for kids - OYO (On Your Own)?

9. By what name are the chain of specialty stores focused on selling health and beauty products launched by Dabur know as?

10. Which company (into the beverages industry speaking on a macro level) has ventured into the hospitality sector by launching The Serai, a hotel and a spa. This move demonstrates a new kind of busines concpet that the company has tapped into considering it's land bank.

11. Which company has recently launched its clothing line Probase. It also has two other brands in it's portfolio titled Genesis and Basis. (the name of the co. will remind you of a toys co.)

12. This print syndicate launched DailyINK, an online service which bills subscribers $15 annually. DailyINK makes available, on a web page and via email, more than 70 vintage and current comic strips, plus editorial cartoons. Name this company?

13. This entertainment company derives its name from a famous landmark in Vancouver. It is famous for producing the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, which became the studio's highest grossing film.

14. Which company in India produces the Nightingale brand of diaries? (_____ Fine Arts)

15. TIME in 1952 described this as 'a short lived, satirical pulp'. What?

16. Which novelist and poet is featured on the bank notes issued by the Bank of Scotland?

17. This publishing house, part of the Random House is known for its 'Borzoi' trademark. Name it

18. Yahoo India recently launched a new concept in online search which collates and integrates the most relevant information from across the web onto a single visual search results page. Name the concept.

19. It was first mentioned by Mark Twain in 1872 in his novel 'Roughing It'. There was also an attempt to trademark it by a magazine known by the same name. However it was not allowed to do so. What is being referred to here?

20. Terrapin, is the children's imprint of _______ It has published six books, in association with JSW, to make children aware on climate change and the nature around them. Fill in the blank

21. Visual for Lenovo here

22. Visual Y C Deveshwar

23. Visual Avon Cycle logo

24. Video SBI Ad (two old ladies traveling all the distance to wish their their old brother on his birthday. An ad highlighting the importance of relationships)

25. Video Camlin Marker (the famous ad depicting mourning in process and the village women trying to wipe off the bindi from the forehead of the "widow")

Cutoffs were not declared but prolly hovered around 12-13 as mentioned indirectly by Giri. The surprising fact was the top scorers were from internal Tata Track rounds. In the internal track six teams on stage were Tata AutoComp Systems Ltd, Computational Research Labs (for the first time), TERI (all the way from Mumbai), Tata Motors, TAL Mfg Solns and TCS (Mumbai team).

The usual set of rounds for the internal track with a couple of inane blunders from some teams. TAL emerged as a decisive winner and their perseverance of two time regional finalists payed off. TCS duo finished as runners up

The non Tata track witnessed intelligent quizzing with Kotak Mahindra team and Infosys cracking some hard to connect laterals. They were followed closely by the IBM team of Rohit Jain (TC Campus Edition Winner 2007) and Nikhil Lasardo. BMC software however managed to edge out Infosys to become the runners up.

Good Luck to the participants in upcoming rounds of Tata Crucible. Last but not the least three cheers to Giri and his team for hosting a wonderful quiz and Giri for his flawless timing and wit.

Happy Quizzing!!!

TriviaYogi i - Bizz 8

Q1. The origins of this company can be traced back to the northern seaside town of Blackpool in the early 1920s. It was here that a young motorcycle enthusiast, Bill Lyons met William Walmsley. Together they founded the Swallow Sidecar Co. on 04th Sep 1922. Lyons pursued his ambition to build cars and at the 1931 London Motor Show, Swallow Sidecar Co. revealed their first model the S.S.1 coupe. By the end of 1934 the company was producing about 1800 cars a year and S.S. Cars Ltd had been established as a public company.

It was towards the end of WW II in 1945, that Lyons was the first to recognize that the SS initials had become tarnished by their identification with the Schutzstaffel in Nazi Germany – “A sector of the community which was not highly regarded”. He then changed it to its presently known name as we know.

Name this company which is a luxury marquee brand and which was in the news recently

Jaguar

Q2. Nils Bohlin’s automotive invention – the three-point seat belt – is credited with saving millions of lives worldwide. It first appeared in 1959 on a vehicle by which automaker?


Volvo. Nils Bohlin of Sweden invented the three point seat belt for Volvo, who introduced it in 1959 as standard equipment. Bohlin was granted US Patent 3,043,625 for the device.


Q3. This company was “born from jets”. In 1937, an aircraft company called Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (Swedish Aeroplane Limited) was created to meet the needs of the Swedish Airforce. When WW II ended the airplane company started making cars to diversify its business

In 1947, the _____ Automobile Company was incorporated. The company’s first car was the _____ 92, named because it was simply the company’s 92nd design project (the previous 91 had all been aircraft). In 2000 this company was bought out by General Motors.

Name the company

SAAB

Q4. This company began its life in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co. in Hiroshima, Japan. At the time, there was a cork shortage because of World War I, so the company was founded to process a cork substitute made from the bark of an Abemaki or Chinese cork oak tree. It was a good idea at the time, but shortly afterwards Japan could get real cork again and the company foundered.
In 1927, Jujiro Matsuda came onboard and the company began manufacturing tools, three-wheeled "trucks" and then cars. After World War II, the company formally adopted its present name, which depending on who you ask, stood for the Zoroastrian god Ahura _____ or an anglicized pronunciation of Matsuda the founder’s name (or both).
In the 1936 the logo was inspired by the emblem of Hiroshima city. The 1991 and 1992 logos symbolized a wing, the Sun and a circle of light. The company’s current logo, nicknamed the "owl" logo, was designed by Rei Yoshimara in 1997. The stylized version was meant to look like stretched wings, but many people saw a stylized tulip instead.

Name the company

Mazda

Q5. Identify this and it's purpose

Fuwa literally "good luck dolls" are the mascots of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The design was created by Han Meilin, a famous Chinese artist.

The Fuwa consists of five members according to the traditional five elements: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini. Each of the five names is designed to look like a plausible name for a small child, but when put together, they sound nearly identical to the phrase “北京欢迎你” which means “Beijing welcomes you”. Each of the five figures also represents one of the five Olympic Rings. Two of the five mascots represent members of endangered species.