The Daily Teaser — 10-1-2014: Going Underground

Now, that’s unusual: although it DOES give people an itch they can scratch.

Have you ever taken part an old fashioned treasure-hunt?   There’s been a few, over the years.

You know the sort of thing, you get a cryptic clue that leads to another clue — and another, and another — that eventually leads to a prize of some description.

Online versions have become popular, recently.    Including the one that’s cropped up, over the past couple of years: that I’ve only ever seen referred to as Cicada 3301.

Seemingly, it’s a series of highly encrypted, and seriously arcane clues in both unusual parts of the world: and Dark Net.

That’s not the only mystery.   The other … ?   Is who exactly is organizing this … ?

I’m aware that I really don’t have the academic skills to come anywhere near solving the clues in the 3301 puzzles.

But I’d love to know who’s behind it: Speculation Can Be Fun … !

Either way, let’s move on … !

~≈Â≈~

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Debbi* putting in her answers: along with letting us know she loved yesterday’s tune, she ALSO scored ten out of ten.

Let’s see how she — and you — do with today’s Underground questions, shall we?

Here they are, along with the How To, License and video … 

Q1) 10th January, 1863, saw the opening of the first part of what’s now the London Underground.   Name either of those first two stations.

Q2) Which of those two stations features a building by Isambard Kingdom Brunel … ?

Q3) What was the name of the original line that connected those two stations … ?

Q4) As a result similar underground railways across the world are know as what: metros, subways or streetcars … ?

Q5) Those two original stations are now on two London Underground lines: name either.

Q6) On the current London Underground, what’s the most southerly station … ?

Q7) That most southerly station is on which London Underground line … ?

Q8) The most northerly — and westerly — station on the London Underground is in Buckinghamshire: is it Chester, Cheshunt or Chesham … ?

Q9) In the early 1930s, Harry Beck designed which iconic item: the London Underground logo, the tube map or London Underground’s wooden elevators?

Q10) Finally … Radio 4 show, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, features a game named after which London Underground station … ?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) New England Telephone & Telegraph installed the first battery powered telephone exchange on 9th January, 1894.   But in which Massachusetts town: Lexington, Manchester or New Braintree … ?

A1) Lexington.

Q2) More to the point, in which Massachusetts county is that town: Essex, Middlesex or Sussex … ?

A2) Middlesex.

Q3) New England Telephone & Telegraph was formed by investors from Massachusetts, and which other US State?

A3) The smallest in the US, Rhode Island.

Q4) Who’s generally accepted as the inventor of the telephone … ?

A4) Alexander Graham Bell.

Q5) More to the point, he originally designed the ’phone whilst working on educating whom: the deaf, blind or mute … ?

A5) The deaf.

Q6) Who else has a claim for patenting the first telephone: Elijah Wood, Elisha Gray or Elliot Smith … ?

A6) Elisha Gray.

Q7) BT is Britain’s main landline provider: but what does BT stand for … ?

A7) British Telecom.

Q8) What’s the American term for a mobile phone … ?

A8) It’s cell phone.

Q9) What’s the traditional Cockney Rhyming slang term for a phone … ?

A9) Dog and Bone.

Q10) What was the original term for a phone hacker: phone phunker, phone phan or phone phreak … ?

A10) Phone phreak.

I’ll leave you with this thought from Arthur Smith …

“I abhor nothing more than bumping into someone I know on the Tube.”

Arthur Smith.

With this tune from Madness … 

Oh … And I couldn’t not give a Teaser the title today’s has, without including this … 

And I have to mention I’m currently reading Terry Pratchett’s fortieth Discworld novel: Raising Steam.

Have a good day … 

*        You’ve got to love a bit of Blondie, haven’t you, Debbi … ?   If that doesn’t sound ambiguous … ?   :D   (Oh, by the way, did you try phoning me, a couple of days ago?   Only I got a call from a number that was hidden and wondered … )