Well we've now reached the climax of this gripping contest. The sole entrant was greatkingrat, who took the novel approach of not looking up any of the answers in the counting thread, though he assures me that they're not completely random. Let's see how he got on. Just for fun I've included the actual entry for each of his guesses, as well as a list of all the answers to each question that I found. (There may well be others that I've missed.)
(1) a train or class of train (including locomotives). greatkingrat's answer: 507 (incorrect)
The BMW 507 was a roadster produced between 1956-59. Difficult to get that one on the rails.
Possible answers: Class
444 on SWT; Class
450 "Blue Desiro"; Class
455; Class
458; Class
466 Networker; Class
483 (1938 Tube Stock);
508 (odd coach on 455/7); locomotives
822 and 823; Union Pacific
844; D
867 diesel locomotive;
928 Stowe; D
1003 Western Pioneer;
1014 locomotive restoration project; D
1017 Western Warrior
(2) a submarine. GKR: 781 (incorrect)
781 in Dewey Decimal Classification denotes general musical principles and forms. Such as in "Yellow Submarine", no doubt.
Possible answers: U-
438; U-
460; U-
504; U-
556; U-
571 (fictional); U-
582; USS Scorpion SSN
589; U-
856; U-
864; U-
871
(3) a type of computer or calculating machine. GKR: 486 (incorrect)
486 AD is ten years after the fall of Rome. What a shame! If only they'd hung on for another ten years, the Romans might have invented the computer.
Possible answers: IBM
602 Calculating Punch; IBM
610 Auto-Point Computer; IBM
701; Atari
800; Elliott
803; Xerox
820
(4) a food additive. GKR: 836 (incorrect)
Steward 836 at the Download Festival 2011 became a small internet star due to his antics. I really don't think I'd want
him in my food.
Possible answers: E
516 (calcium sulphate); E
622 (monopotassium glutamate); E
640 (glycine); E
904 (shellac); E
938 (argon); E
950 (acesulfame K); E
954 (saccharin); E
958 (glycyrrhizin)
(5) an outdoor sport other than (association) football. GKR:
501 (correct)
Brian Lara scored 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994, the highest individual score in first-class cricket. Hurray! Will GKR emulate Lara's success from now on?
Other possible answers:
470 yards on a par 5 (golf); Hanif Mohammad run out for
499 (cricket); .
525 Cincinnati Reds' winning percentage (baseball); Norm Van Brocklin's
554 yards (American football); .
574 Mike Carp's slugging percentage (baseball); Tejaswini Sawant's
597 (shooting); Red Holzman's
613 wins (basketball);
949 Athletics (volleyball)
(6) a song or individual musical work (not an album). GKR: 933 (incorrect)
Take the first six prime numbers: 2 3 5 7 11 13. Insert 933 between each pair: 2 933 3 933 5 933 7 933 11 933 13. Concatenate to a single number: 29333933593379331193313. This number is prime. I tried setting it to music, but I don't think it'll catch on.
Possible answers: K.
467 (Mozart's "Elvira Madigan" Concerto);
476 in Rolling Stone's top 500 ("I Want To Know What Love Is" by Foreigner);
5:15 (on The Who's album Quadrophenia);
543 (start of "5-4-3-2-1" by Manfred Mann);
678 (part of "5-6-7-8" by Steps);
747 ("747 Strangers in the Night" by Saxon);
909 ("One After 909" by the Beatles); BWV
925 (Bach's Little Fugue in C); BWV
934 (Bach's Little Prelude in C Minor)
(7) a type of drink, or the manufacturer of a drink. GKR: 624 (incorrect)
624 = Last three digits of the STD code for the Isle of Man. Well they do brew beer on the Isle of Man I suppose. They also make something called
Manx Spirit which pretends to be whisky.
Possible answers: Breckenridge
471 Small Batch IPA (beer);
612Brew (brewery);
667 Pinot Noir (wine);
901 Silver (tequila);
941 ml (amount of vodka);
989 (energy drink)
(8) a commercial business with the number in its name. GKR: 999 (incorrect)
999 is the emergency telephone number for the United Kingdom used to summon the Police, Ambulance, Fire Brigade and Coastguard services. Surprise surprise! Perhaps GKR thought they'd been privatised.
Possible answers:
463 Communications;
505 (video games publisher); Fly
540; Laser
558 (radio station);
5.7.9 (clothing retailer);
612Brew;
679 Artists (record label);
7-Eleven (convenience store);
826 National (tutoring company):
828 Chinese Takeaway;
848 Group (business services);
983 Bushwick's Living Room (bar in New York); Cafe
1001;
Ten Thirteen Productions[*];
1019 Cafe
[*]GKR posted this one himself just over two weeks ago. A bit of an own goal?
(9) a mathematical fact involving prime numbers. GKR: 719 (incorrect)
The A719 contains the "Electric Brae", south of Dunure, not far from Ayr, between Drumshrang and Knoweside. That's where cars appear to roll uphill, defying the laws of physics - almost the opposite of a mathematical fact. 719 is prime though.
Possible answers:
563 (Wilson prime);
593 ("good prime");
641 (prime factor of Fermat number);
683 (Wagstaff prime);
769 (different prime when digits reversed);
821 (in prime quadruplet);
830 (sum of primes);
866 (sum of squares of primes);
933 (can be inserted between primes to create another);
947 (balanced prime);
953 (prime factor of 54321);
991 (permutable prime);
1021 (primorial prime)
(10) a national assembly or parliament. GKR:
650 (correct)
There are 650 elected Members of Parliament in the House of Commons. A late surge! The ayes have it at last.
Other possible answers:
535 (seats in US House of Representatives plus Senate);
538 (votes in US Electoral College);
651 (MPs in 1992-97 House of Commons);
659 (MPs in 1997-2005 House of Commons);
664 (members of the Assembly of the Union in Myanmar); House of Commons Early Day Motion
945
So that's two right answers and eight wrong ones. The rules don't specify how to score a wrong answer if no correct ones are submitted, so I can't calculate a score, but fortunately it doesn't matter as greatkingrat wins by default anyway. Well done!
Next up: "Rare Entries meets Tumbleweed"