Annual Cryptic Movie Quiz Answers

And the winner is...

It’s that time of year again to reveal both this year’s winner of my, apparently quite fiendish, Annual Cryptic Movie Quiz and, of course, to give you the answers.

Once again, let me extend my thanks to all the readers and supporters who had a go and, as always, I hope you had some fun trying to crack these.

This year we have a complete newcomer to the competition as our winner so, without further ado, let me say congratulations to...

Nicholas Walker

... who was the only person this year to come up with a completely correct full house of answers.

You can check out his twitter here @narwalker and his letterboxed account here... https://letterboxd.com/narwalker/

He also writes reviews here at https://youreawful.wordpress.com/ and, as he puts it, ‘blithering nonsense’ at https://gingerbreaddragoon.wordpress.com/ So... check out his stuff at some point soon.

Okay, so here we go with the answers... don’t kick yourselves too hard. ;-)

1. You received a new chauffer for coming first place in that competition.
If you come first place in a competition you WIN. A chauffer is a DRIVER that you won so... Win Driver... re-split the words to... WIND RIVER.

2. A laboratory test to see if a ringing object can knock you out.
Okay so, a ringing object could be a BELL. A knock out is often abbreviated to KO. A laboratory test is an EXPERIMENT so... Bell KO Experiment... THE BELKO EXPERIMENT.

3. I didn’t lose the red back for the lady.
If you didn’t lose, you WON. Red backwards is DER. A lady is more than often a WOMAN. So WONDER WOMAN.

4. You’d be one of these if you were taking the toddler out for a spin.
If you were taking a toddler out for a spin in your car you’d be a BABY DRIVER.

5. The examination of the religious ending of a British drink is medically assaulted for the thousandth time.
An examination is a TEST. A religious ending to something like a prayer would be AMEN. A British drink is TEA (let’s call it T). So TESTAMENT so far. Medically assaulted might be DR ABUSE. Slip in the Roman numeral for 1000 in the middle... M, so DOCTOR M ABUSE... THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE.

6. Jazz trumpeter wears head gear for the satellite of the apiarist's favourite spread.
Head gear would be HAT. A jazz trumpeter could be CHET Baker. So HATCHET. The MOON is a satellite. An apiarist’s favourite spread is presumably HONEY so... HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON.

7. Your audible, sorrowful breath is covered in hair!
An audible, sorrowful breath is a SIGH. If you are covered in hair it could be FUR. SIGH FUR... CYPHER.

8. Drowned swimming location.
DEAD in the POOL then, I guess. DEADPOOL.

9. Finally, a double consonant for an emasculated Clark Kent.
Finally would be LAST. Clark Kent is SUPERMAN. Emasculated would get rid of the MAN. Stick a double consonant in their would give you SUPPER. So... THE LAST SUPPER.

10. It’s almost a mixed up kangaroo, if you let it defrost.
If you let something defrost then you THAW it. A mixed up KANGAROO is almost RAGNAROK so... THOR RAGNAROK.

11. Tab back personified... but not quite a Hobbit.
Tab backwards is BAT. Personify it and you could end up with BATMAN. A famous Hobbit was BAGGINS but, it’s not quite that so change it a little to get... BATMAN BEGINS.

12. I happen to be a foot.
A foot is something at the END of a LEG so... I AM LEGEND.

13. Noah’s 4th vessel comes complete with urban environment.
Noah’s ARK. Fourth vessel along could be 'D' ARK so... DARK. An urban environment is a CITY. So... DARK CITY.

14. No, I see... this gent is made with the opposite of it’s literal meaning.
A gent is a MAN. Something which is used as the opposite of its literal meaning could be IRONIC. No, I see... No IC so, not IRONIC but IRON. Giving you IRON MAN.

15. Cunning but why is it a mix of red and green?
Cunning like a FOX. Mix red and green paint and you should get BROWN if you’re doing it right so... FOXY BROWN.

16. A cloned feline.
A COPY of a CAT... COPYCAT. 

17. She is the pun!
She is the pun. THE PUN IS HER... THE PUNISHER.

18. Mutilated drone makes a bad guy.
Mutilate the word DRONE by taking out a letter, putting a stop in and rearranging the letters to give you famous Bond bad guy DR. NO.

19. 54A
This clue would also work as 65A.
Split it into number and letters... 5 4 A. Express the digits as Roman numerals V and IV. Then add the A to get Anna Biller’s VIVA.

20. I wish I was dead.
That would be a DEATH WISH.

21. A very quiet Lord Of The Rings species makes a hasty retreat.
A Lord Of The Rings species could be an ENT. Quieten it down to make it SILENT. Making a hasty retreat implies it’s RUNNING so SILENT RUNNING.

22. Saw her feller.
SPIED HER MAN... SPIDER-MAN.

23. Journal for you to keep track of the misplaced young lady.
A journal is usually a DIARY. A young lady is a GIRL. If she’s misplaced then she's probably LOST so DIARY OF A LOST GIRL.

24. Prejudiced against a villanous fantasy race no longer.
If you’re prejudiced against race then you’re a racist. If you’re prejudiced against an ORC then you’re an ORCIST. No longer means you’re EX that so... THE EXORCIST.

So there you have it. Truly hope all of you that played enjoyed racking your brains as much as I did to put this together. Hopefully this tradition will carry on again at the end of the year but, in the meantime, lots of reviews coming up soon.

Annual Cryptic Movie Quiz Winners & Answers

Click on image to enlarge.

Cryptic Movie Title 

Quiz for Christmas - 

Winners and Answers

Thanks to everyone who took part in this years movie quiz and I'm glad I made it a cryptic one because, from the sounds of it, a fair few of you had good fun puzzling over some of the answers... so that made it all worth doing. 

This year we have two big winners who got all the answers right and they are...

Alex Kittle

and

Miles Donovan

Alex Kittle (the being formerly known as Film Forager) is an amazing artist and one of my all time favourite bloggers. She writes about art and movies and also does some great, often film based, illustrations and designs. You can follow her on Twitter here and check out her blog here.

MIles Donovan is an artist/designer/blogger who does amazing things with robots... among other things. You can follow him on twitter here and see some of his wonderful creations at his alter ego The Daily Robot here.

You should definitely check out their stuff when you get a minute.

One further clarification for Katrin Jenny who got a heck of a lot more right than she initially thought she would... no, the answer to the last question was not "Smart Ass"... but I appreciate the sentiment, I think. And the fact that you carried on with a recently dislocated arm due to ski-related mayhem. Get well soon.

The Answers and how you arrive at them...

Please remember this is a bit of fun so some of the spelling needs to be changed based on the phonetics of the situation. ;-)

1.  One up on stereoscopic sound for your old gun. 18 letters.

Well, to fully appreciate stereo sound you need two ears. One up on that would, presumably, be three ears. An old gun is a musket so... Three Ears and a Musket? The answer must be The Three Musketeers.

2.  You keep banging on about a third of a dog! 10 letters.

Rin Tin Tin was a famous movie star dog. A third of his name could be Tin. Something you can bang on would be a drum so the answer I was looking for was The Tin Drum.

3.  Wolverine beats a hasty retreat. 9 letters.

In most of the comics and certainly the films, Wolverine's real name is Logan. If you're beating a hasty retreat then you're probably running so the answer to this one would be... Logan's Run.

4. An appendage worth its weight. 10 letters.

A well known saying is that something is worth its weight in Gold. An appendage could be a digit like a finger. So the answer is Goldfinger.

5.  It’s just those really passionate about each other that can still lay claim to existence. 19 letters.

Just those = only. People passionate about each other are often lovers. A claim to existence would be if they were alive and if they are still alive then that must mean they've been left alive. So the answer is Only Lovers Left Alive.

6.  It’s a bit of a wreck. 3 letters.

Yes it is. The three letters sandwiched between the W and K for instance, give you the answer of the Spanish horror movie REC.

7.  Plasma made fit for a king. 13 letters.

Plasma can be a substitute for Blood. Something made fit for a king could be a piece of furniture, for instance, like maybe his Throne. So the answer is Kurosawa's famous Macbeth adaptation Throne Of Blood.

8.  One thousand quid for rooms to rent for that annoying, enlightened soul. 21 letters.

One thousand pounds is also known as "a grand". An enlightened soul could be Buddha but, if he's annoying, then he could be a bit of a Pest. If he's renting a room then it could well be in a hotel. Hence we have The Grand Budapest Hotel.

9.  The masculine French takes the applause... and then it’s all downhill in the snow. Just make sure you do it large.  14 letters.

French masculine for "the" is Le. If you take applause then you take a bow. If you travel downhill in the snow then you might well decide to ski. If you do it large then you do it big. Hence The Big Lebowski.

10. Sometimes you need to get away from filing down all that cheese. 14 letters.

If you file down on cheese you are probably using a cheese grater to grate it down. If you need to get away from it you need to Escape. So the answer here is The Great Escape.

11. Common sense replaced by a beer holder in one of three wise men’s gifts. 12 letters.

Frankincense was a gift allegedly given to the baby Jesus by one of three wise men in biblical times. A special tankard for beer is called a Stein. If you remove the sense from Frankincense and replace it with stein you get... Frankenstein.

12. Tripping Homo Sapien reaches Terra Firma. 20 letters.

A Homo Sapien is a man. If he tripped he fell. Terra Firma refers to the Earth. Therefore the title I was looking for was The Man Who Fell To Earth.

13. Legal payments for bed and board in Western Asia. 16 letters.

If something is done legally then it is done to the letter of the law. Payments for bed and board is rent or, rents because there's more than one implied in the wording. A country in Western Asia could be Arabia. LawRents of Arabia... oh, Lawrence Of Arabia.

14. Arrived at a correct conjecture about this person without any real evidence. 8 letters.

This one foxed everyone except the two winners. If you arrive at the correct conjecture about a person but you didn't have any evidence as to why you arrived at it, then you almost certainly guessed. The Guessed? Oh yeah... The Guest.

And that's it. The cryptic form of quiz proved pretty popular so I'll probably use the same kind of format next year... but please do come back and read some of my other posts and reviews in the meantime.

All the best to all my readers and I hope you all had fun.