The Cash Corridor

 

This puzzle included an interactive component, the details of which appear below.


One of the first mentions of the phonograph in contemporary literature was in "The Cash Corridor", a little-known play by even lesser-known playwright Sir Benjamin Sorkin. Its sole performance ended disastrously when an ill-conceived stage direction in the middle of a particularly intense exchange sent two actors walking off the edge of the stage...

Note from Prof. Emit:

This was apparently one of the earliest examples of an HQ interaction puzzle. The archivist in charge of this puzzle is apparently taking his job a little too seriously - he's insisting we actually run the interaction before he'll give us what we need to solve the puzzle. Call my lab to schedule an appointment. Comfortable shoes are recommended.



The interaction component was a set of 25 rapid-fire trivia questions conducted while walking the length of the Infinite Corridor's third floor and back. If enough trivia questions were answered correctly before the solver returned to the starting point, the solver received the complete list of questions from which the quizzes below are taken. If the answer to a question is a person's name, only the last name is required.

QUIZ A:

  • In the story of the Three Little Pigs as traditionally told, one of the pigs used bricks to build his house, and one of the pigs used straw -- what did the other pig use?
  • What small unit of weight takes its name from the carob seed, which is roughly equal to the unit of weight?
  • William Barton Rogers' last words were "128 grammes of bituminous" what?
  • What televsion show, currently in production, follows the exploits of charlatan Shawn Spencer and his sidekick Burton Guster?
  • What band released the multi-platinum album The Grand Illusion in 1977, which contained the single Come Sail Away?
  • Who is the puzzle master on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday and current editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle?
  • In hand-painted cartoons, the plastic sheet on which a full or partial frame of the cartoon is painted is called what?
  • What symbol appears above the 6 on a standard QWERTY keyboard?
  • At over 200 miles in diameter, what feature of the 1960 Pacific typhoon Carmen was the largest ever recorded?
  • What alcoholic beverage derives both its flavor and its name from juniper berries?
  • What one-syllable plural geographic term can follow "Northern", "Western", "Windward", "Somers", or "British"?
  • Who was Chancellor of Germany during the German reunification (and not, as you might think, the founder of a department store chain)?
  • In the context of stock options, a put contract allows its holder the optional right to do what to a share of stock at a given time?
  • In Batman & Robin, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a villain whose gun can do what to things?
  • The zygomatic arch is part of what larger skeletal structure?
  • A well-documented nickname for Belgian martial-arts star John-Claude Van Damme is the what from Brussels?
  • In Barenaked Ladies' song "Crazy ABCs", K is for knickknack, T is for tsunami, and D is for what supernatural being from Arabic lore?
  • What is the palindromic short-form name for a large, often concave curtain placed at the back of a thetrical stage?
  • A brief-lived Nickelodeon series set Camp Anawanna and featuring underwear on a flagpole in its title sequence was titled "Salute Your" what?
  • Of the letters that are also Roman numerals, which one is third alphabetically?
  • In the brandy designation VSOP, what does the P stand for?
  • In classical architecture, what six-letter name starting with F is given to the wide middle region of an entablature?
  • In the first verse of the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme, as it is listed on Wikipedia, what is the only word that contains a bigram consisting of 2 vowels?
  • According to the tradtional song, what was Molly Malone selling along with her cockles?
  • What term used in competitive rowing can be a noun that refers to an oar or to the boat itself, or a verb that means "to row"?

QUIZ B:

  • What 1988 dark comedy starred Michael Keaton as a "bio-exorcist"?
  • At over 200 miles in diameter, what feature of the 1960 Pacific typhoon Carmen was the largest ever recorded?
  • In the first verse of the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme, as it is listed on Wikipedia, what is the only word that contains a bigram consisting of 2 vowels?
  • In golf, what is the grassy area between the fairway and out of bounds called?
  • Of the letters that are also Roman numerals, which one is third alphabetically?
  • In a set of stairs, what name is given to the vertical counterpart of the horizontal tread?
  • In Barenaked Ladies' song "Crazy ABCs", K is for knickknack, T is for tsunami, and D is for what supernatural being from Arabic lore?
  • The zygomatic arch is part of what larger skeletal structure?
  • What four-letter term used in the card game bridge means to play a trump card?
  • In Batman & Robin, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a villain whose gun can do what to things?
  • Despite usually being less bright than its constellation-mate Rigel, which star was mistakenly given the Bayer designation "Alpha Orionis"?
  • In classical architecture, what six-letter name starting with F is given to the wide middle region of an entablature?
  • A well-documented nickname for Belgian martial-arts star John-Claude Van Damme is the what from Brussels?
  • In the board game Cosmic Encounter, what fiery name is given to a type of card that temporarily grants some of another species's power?
  • What is the name of the yards-long cloth worn about the waist and shoulder by many Indian women, such as Damayanthi in a painting by Raja Ravi Varma?
  • In the brandy designation VSOP, what does the P stand for?
  • The body's so-called "bony labyrinths", which include a person's semicircular canals and vestibules, are also known as the left and right whats?
  • In the movie Office Space, what name is given to the buttons worn by employees of the restaurant Chotchkie's?
  • According to the traditional song, what was Molly Malone selling along with her cockles?
  • What one-syllable plural geographic term can follow "Northern", "Western", "Windward", "Somers", or "British"?
  • What alcoholic beverage derives both its flavor and its name from juniper berries?
  • What board game, in which players use cards to move their four pawns around a board, has been sold by Parker Brothers for more than 70 years?
  • What Mad About You star authored the books Couplehood and Babyhood?
  • What two word phrase, referring to money that is past due, appears in the Grateful Dead's 1987 song "Touch of Grey"?
  • What term used in competitive rowing can be a noun that refers to an oar or to the boat itself, or a verb that means "to row"?

QUIZ C:

  • What sort of creature is the cartoon character Bullwinkle?
  • In a set of stairs, what name is given to the vertical counterpart of the horizontal tread?
  • In hand-painted cartoons, the plastic sheet on which a full or partial frame of the cartoon is painted is called what?
  • Who is the puzzle master on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday and current editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle?
  • Circles, ellipses, parabolas, and hyperbolas can all be obtained by taking a cross section of what three-dimensional figure?
  • What term can refer to either a creamy egg-based dessert or a product that adds volume to hair?
  • What Mad About You star authored the books Couplehood and Babyhood?
  • In the board game Cosmic Encounter, what fiery name is given to a type of card that temporarily grants some of another species's power?
  • Who won the 1992 Grammy for Best New Artist on the strength of his hit "Walking in Memphis"?
  • What was the first name of the student that Molly Ringwald played on 14 episodes of The Facts of Life?
  • What alcoholic beverage derives both its flavor and its name from juniper berries?
  • What small unit of weight takes its name from the carob seed, which is roughly equal to the unit of weight?
  • In the first verse of the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme, as it is listed on Wikipedia, what is the only word that contains a bigram consisting of 2 vowels?
  • Of the letters that are also Roman numerals, which one is third alphabetically?
  • A brief-lived Nickelodeon series set Camp Anawanna and featuring underwear on a flagpole in its title sequence was titled "Salute Your" what?
  • What four-letter term used in the card game bridge means to play a trump card?
  • In the movie Office Space, what name is given to the buttons worn by employees of the restaurant Chotchkie's?
  • What one-syllable plural geographic term can follow "Northern", "Western", "Windward", "Somers", or "British"?
  • In Barenaked Ladies' song "Crazy ABCs", K is for knickknack, T is for tsunami, and D is for what supernatural being from Arabic lore?
  • What symbol appears above the 6 on a standard QWERTY keyboard?
  • In the context of stock options, a put contract allows its holder the optional right to do what to a share of stock at a given time?
  • Bamako is the capital of what African country?
  • At over 200 miles in diameter, what feature of the 1960 Pacific typhoon Carmen was the largest ever recorded?
  • In golf, what is the grassy area between the fairway and out of bounds called?
  • In the brandy designation VSOP, what does the P stand for?