Annual Cryptic Movie Quiz Answers

 

Annual Cryptic
Movie Quiz Answers

Well it’s that time of year again where I give you the winners and answers to this end of year Cryptic Movie Quiz. Thanks all who had a go. This year we have two separate winners with full marks so congratulations to Nicholas Walker* and Matthew Cunningham. If memory serves, they’ve both won this in the past on different years.

Okay, so time for the answers, which you can also see in the grid above...

1. I’m calm as Godzilla.
So, if Godzilla was calm I guess s/he’d be ‘Calm-illa’... or in this case, the recent vampire movie CARMILLA.

2. More than nine aliens.
A word for aliens would be extra terrestrials... shortened to ET (of course). Nor than nine would be TEN so.... TENET.

3. Miss Te Kanawa and her friend Harry.
Kiri Te Kanawa and Harry expressed another way may be the Japanese classic HARA KIRI.

4. How hard was this aquatic bird?
An aquatic bird... a duck. How would... well... Howard. So HOWARD THE DUCK.

5. Many stories but, not completely cryptic.
Not completely cryptic might be crypt. Many stories could equal Tales so... TALES FROM THE CRYPT.

6. This is the hundredth rash I’ve got from those reversible rats!
One hundred in Roman numerals is C, add it to rash and you get Crash. Rats reversed is Star. So STAR CRASH.

7. I guess that’s what you get to bug you when you scramble to harm!
Unscramble “To Harm’ and you get MOTHRA.

8. Famous Liverpudlian percussionist gets weaponised.
A famous Liverpudlian percussionist could be Ringo star. Give him a gun and you get the Italian western A PISTOL FOR RINGO.

9. Artifical Intelligence gets all backwards with fives.
AI reversed is IA. Add two Roman numeral fives or Vs into the mix and you get VIVA.

10. Sheriff Ross, go back and get your men.
Ross backwards is Ssor. A sheriff’s men are usually called a Posse. So POSSESSOR.

11. Not a very heavy home.
If it’s not a heavy home then it must be a light house. THE LIGHTHOUSE.

12. Oh no! Kim’s red!
Or, ‘Kim Oh No!” Crimson is a form of red so... the Sam Fuller classic THE CRIMSON KIMONO.

13. It’s only half okay. Why Dan?
Half of OK would be K. Put it in front of ‘Why Dan’ and you get the Japanese collection of ghost stories KWAIDAN.

14. Get Frank something to hold his beer in.
Well how about a beer stein? FRANKENSTEIN.

Okay, that’s it. Hope you liked the answers and please let me hear from you if you want me to carry on this tradition next year.

For all those wondering (and for those who have been asking), I wasn’t going to do a Best Movies Of 2020 column. Covid kept us from the cinemas and of the few new releases under my radar this year, frankly there weren’t many qualified to even be on such a list. I might mention The Hunt, Possessor (uncut), Wonder Woman 1984, Jay And Silent Bob Rebooted and Bill And Ted Face The Music as films that would have probably made the cut but, yeah, in all conscience I don’t think it’s right to try and put together a half hearted list from the impoverished choice of cinematic delights which were so  heavily curtailed in the times of Coronavirus.

*Nicholas impressed me by having this all in the bag in less than two days and he's also returned the favour and devised a Cryptic Movie Quiz for me. Thanks for this, much appreciated although it may be half a year before I get time to sit down and give it my proper attention... looks quite hard. ;-)