Is there a "stupidly hard quiz" this year...?

[SoupDragon]

For the last few years, @ApocalypseNowt has posted the quiz from her workplace. Surely it's time for this year's joint MN effort...?

Another = Tehran

ANOTHER - Tehran (Iran)
MONITOR - Moroni (Comoros)
ABUSING - Bangui (Central African Republic)
EARPLUG - Prague (Czechia)
THEAKSTON - Tashkent (Uzbekistan)
AIRPORT - Pretoria (South Africa)
STONING - Kingston (Jamaica)
OBAMA - Malabo (Equatorial Guinea)
ELM - Lomé (Togo)
PORTALS - Tiraspol (breakaway state of Moldova, Transnistria)

And I think Port Moresby is correct for PROMOTERS even though it's plus BY (I think it might be an error?!).

If you write out the missing/extra letters in order (using only the Y from Port Moresby) you get: Bogota, Ottawa, Seoul (left list) and Tokyo, Oslo, New Delhi (right list).

Oh which I've just realised spells out BOSTON with the first letters so maybe try that?

Obama works for 2 possible cities as does Elm.

🙌

Isn't the overall answer just capitals then?

Ah, Boston is better.

Can I go back to the James Bond one? The xnumbers under the flags don’t seem to correspond to correct number of films. Did it mean something else? You are all very clever people btw!

Ahhh just found this - posted on last year’s thread as I hadn’t seen it. I’m not at work this year so may not be on as much but I LOVE this quiz and still want to work where ever @ApocalypseNowt works.

I need to know whether Boston was the right answer!

I think it is number of films but Sean Connery is mistyped as 1 instead of 7

Hi, sorry for the delay. Work isn't usually this busy at this time of year!

Anyway, Boston is correct!

Next puzzle - I've worked out the first one is Denzel Washington (Cry Freedom, Malcolm X, Courage Under Fire, The Bone Collector, The Book of Eli) so one of the categories is going to be actors.

Top right is Tom Cruise (All the right moves, top gun, born on the fourth of july, interview with the vampire, war of the worlds).

Hello @WitcheryDivine ! Glad to have you back :)

Four on top row is Shakespeare plays

Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Taming of the Shrew
Love's Labour's Lost
Romeo & Juliet
The Merchant of Venice

Five on bottom row is Jane Austen books

Sense and Sensibility
Pride and Prejudice
Mansfield Park
Emma
Northanger Abbey

So we have authors and playwrights as categories.

Column 2 second from bottom - Mariah Carey songs

All I Want For Christmas Is You
Fantasy
Always Be My Baby
I Know What You Want
We Belong Together

So perhaps category is women, as we already have three "categories" (actors, playwrights/authors).

Or could be more generically "writers" - maybe actors, writers, singers?

Bottom no 3 is Charles Dickens

Column 1 second from bottom - Mark Twain books

The Pickwick Papers
Oliver Twist
A Christmas Carol
A Tale of Two Cities
The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Column 3 second from bottom (above Dickens) is Stevie Wonder.

Column 5 third from bottom - Jack Nicholson films

Top row column 2 - Whitney Houston songs.

Column 3 third row down - Clint Eastwood films.

Top row column 5 - Tom Cruise films.