# HELM Tryouts (with answers)

- Quiz by: Chinmay Kale (QM Prayag)
- Published: 2025-10-14
- Slides: 64
- Event: Inter IIT Culturals 2025
- Topics: History, Etymology, Language, Mythology
- View online: https://prayag-mohanty.github.io/QM/quiz/helm-tryouts-with-answers/
- Download PDF: https://prayag-mohanty.github.io/QM/files/helm-tryouts-with-answers/helm-tryouts-with-answers.pdf

Inter IIT Quiz Auditions for the IIT Bombay Squad 2025

## Slides

### Slide 1

History · Etymology · Language · Mythology
HELM Tryouts

### Slide 2

Join ‘Quizzers of IITB’ GC for updates on upcoming events

### Slide 3

1. H

The X Movement was a Chinese anti-imperialist movement, in 1919.

Students gathered at a place, now famous for another reason.

They were protesting a recent decision, agreed upon by countries, to allow
the Empire of Japan to retain territories in Shandong that had been
surrendered.

What is this decision? Also ID the place where they gathered.

Also, on this date, fans of a particular MELA franchise celebrate this day, in
such a way that you can figure the date out :)

ID franchise.

### Slide 4

ANSWER1. H

Decision: The Treaty of Versailles (Paris Peace Conference, 1919)
— the “Shandong Problem”, Articles 156–158

Place: Tiananmen Square, Beijing

Franchise: Star Wars

X = the May Fourth Movement — students marched on 4 May 1919 after
Germany’s Shandong concessions were handed to Japan instead of
returned to China.

Tiananmen is now better known for the 1989 protests and massacre.

4 May = Star Wars Day: “May the Fourth be with you.”

### Slide 5

2. E

The disease gets its name from Italian for ‘bad air’, as the term originally
denoted the unwholesome atmosphere caused by the exhalations of
marshes, to which the disease was formerly attributed.

The capital city on the other hand gets its name from Spanish for ‘good air’,
as the Spanish sailors were granted good winds by ‘Holy Mary of the Good
Winds’.

ID the disease and the city.

### Slide 6

ANSWER2. E

Malaria (Italian mala aria, “bad air”)

Buenos Aires (Spanish, “good airs”)

Miasma theory blamed malaria on marsh vapours until the mosquito–
Plasmodium link was established in the 1880s–90s.

The city’s founding name was Ciudad de la Santísima Trinidad y Puerto de
Santa María del Buen Ayre, after the sailors’ patroness Nuestra Señora del
Buen Ayre.

### Slide 7

3. L

A ‘double placename’ prominently features the names
of two or more constituents in double-barrelled form
rather than inventing a new name. There are 7
sovereign states with a ‘double placename’ derived
using a particular conjunction in their official titles.

ID both these countries with a double placename in its
official title:

a) The larger island was named after ‘The Father, Son,
and the Holy Spirit’ by Columbus while the smaller
one gets its name from the product pictured here.

b) The larger island was named by Columbus after his
own patron saint while the smaller one gets its name
from Spanish for snow.

### Slide 8

ANSWER3. L

a) Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad = the Holy Trinity; Tobago from tobacco (the product pictured).

b) Saint Kitts and Nevis

St Kitts = St Christopher (Columbus’s namesake saint); Nevis from Nuestra
Señora de las Nieves — the cloud-capped peak looked snowy.

The conjunction is “and” — the others: Antigua and Barbuda, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, São Tomé and Príncipe, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

### Slide 9

4. M

Although they are used synonymously the key distinction between the two
is that one refers to a complex branching multicursal puzzle with choices of
path and direction, while the other has an unambiguous route to the center
and back, and presents no navigational challenge.

The first word comes from a Middle English word meaning “to perplex” or
“to bewilder”, while the second is rooted in Greek mythology, where a hero
(later linked to a famous thought experiment about identity) navigated such
a structure with the help of a ball of thread.

ID both words

Also ID the word derived from the aforementioned ball of thread

### Slide 10

ANSWER4. M

Maze (multicursal) and Labyrinth (unicursal)

Clue ← clew, a ball of thread

Maze from Middle English masen, “to confuse/bewilder”.

Theseus navigated Daedalus’s Labyrinth with Ariadne’s thread to kill the
Minotaur — and gave his name to the Ship of Theseus paradox.

Because the clew led Theseus out, “clue” came to mean anything that
guides you to a solution.

### Slide 11

5. H

About this piece, George Wingfield Digby wrote in 1957: “It was designed to
tell a story to a largely illiterate public; it is like a strip cartoon, racy,
emphatic, colourful, with a good deal of blood and thunder and some
ribaldry.”

The Simpsons memorably parodied this, in their episode, “E Pluribus
Wiggum”, shown on the next slide.

WAITA? Give some context as well if you can

### Slide 12

5. H

### Slide 13

ANSWER5. H

The Bayeux Tapestry

A ~70 m embroidered cloth narrating the events leading to the Norman
Conquest of England — Harold’s oath, the invasion, and the Battle of
Hastings (1066).

Likely commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, William the Conqueror’s
half-brother; Harold is famously shown with an arrow in his eye.

The Simpsons used it as the episode’s couch gag: in tapestry style, the
Flanders family steal the Simpsons’ couch and the Simpsons win it back.

### Slide 14

6. E

After the Norman invasion of 1066 a new law was created, declaring that in
the cities at 8 o’clock fires had to be covered to prevent conflagration.

Soldiers would stand on the city walls shouting a French word that meant
“cover the fires”, but locals who did not understand French heard ‘X’
instead, and thus the word X was born.

At first it simply referred to the practice of having a set time for covering
fires and going to bed, before evolving into the present-day definition of X.

ID X.

### Slide 15

ANSWER6. E

Curfew

From Old French couvre-feu, “cover the fire”.

Originally the evening bell signalling hearths be banked for the night; it later
came to mean any order to stay indoors after a set hour.

### Slide 16

7. L

Due to certain linguistic characteristics shared by the following set of words,
what are they known as? (explanation works if you don’t know the exact
terms)

a) pentasyllabic, definable, unhyphenated, nonpalindromic, harmless,
nontrivial, unabbreviated, asexual (in English but not in French, Spanish, …)

b) chicken, inflammable, feasted, deteriorate, chariot, abnormality, action,
devilish, falsified, plagiarist, strives

c) Koala Bears, Panama Hats, Strawberry, Coconut, Bombay Duck, Isle of
Dogs, The Hundred Years’ War

### Slide 17

ANSWER7. L

a) Autological words (homological)

Each describes itself — “pentasyllabic” has five syllables, “unhyphenated” has no
hyphen, “asexual” has no gender (unlike in French/Spanish). Opposite:
heterological.

b) Kangaroo words

Each hides its own synonym (a “joey”) in order: chick·en, flammable, f·e·d, rot,
cart, anomaly, act, evil, lied, liar, tries.

c) Misnomers

Koalas are marsupials; Panama hats are from Ecuador; strawberries aren’t
berries; coconuts aren’t nuts; Bombay duck is a fish; the Isle of Dogs isn’t an
island; the war lasted 116 years.

### Slide 18

8. M

X originally belonged to the God Surya, who wore it around his neck. It was said
that whichever land possessed this would never encounter any calamities such
as droughts, floods, earthquakes or famines, and would always be full of
prosperity and plenitude.

When God Surya himself appeared before Satrajit, father-in-law of Y, in an
indistinct and fiery shape, Satrajit asked him to appear in a less blinding form.
For this, the sun god took off X from his neck, and Satrajit saw him possessing a
dwarfish stature, with a body like burnished copper, and slightly reddish eyes.
Satrajit got X as a boon.

Later this X played a major role in Y’s marriage to Jambavan’s daughter and
subsequently that of Satrajit’s daughter.

ID X and Y.

### Slide 19

ANSWER8. M

X = Syamantaka Mani (Syamantaka jewel)

Y = Krishna

Satrajit’s brother Prasena wore the gem hunting and was killed by a lion;
Jambavan slew the lion and took it. Accused of theft, Krishna tracked it
down and fought Jambavan.

Jambavan yielded and gave Krishna the gem and his daughter Jambavati; a
remorseful Satrajit then gave his daughter Satyabhama in marriage.

### Slide 20

9. H+E

S5E6 of Silicon Valley sees Dinesh mocking Gilfoyle with a series of puns.

Dinesh asks a coder reading a book if it is by Gilfoyle's favourite author
(6,5,6). What pun (6,5,6) does he make? A fantasy author's middle initials
are altered to indicate that he makes a lot of blunders.

He later asks a bunch of coders if they were talking about Toy Story
because Gilfoyle's favourite character is (4,9). What pun (4,9) does he
make? It alters the name of a central character to include a term (in plural)
for a common coding defect.

### Slide 21

ANSWER9. H+E

George Error Martin

George R. R. Martin → “R. R.” read aloud becomes “Error”.

Bugs Lightyear

Buzz Lightyear → “Bugs”, the plural of the coder’s favourite defect.

### Slide 22

10. M

Captain Hendrick Van der Decken was the captain of a ship that sailed
between Netherlands and East Indies. During one of the voyages to
Amsterdam, the captain thought of establishing a settlement near the Cape
of Good Hope as a respite from the rough waters.

When the ship neared the Cape, a heavy storm surrounded the ship.
Though the crew requested him to turn back, the captain ordered them to
go forward even if it meant sailing “until doomsday”. This angered the Gods,
who trapped his soul onto the ship where he sails it for eternity.

This serves as a legend for which famous entity, whose name contains a
nod to the captain’s origins?

### Slide 23

ANSWER10. M

The Flying Dutchman

A ghost ship doomed never to make port, said to haunt the Cape of Good
Hope; sighting it is an omen of doom.

“Dutchman” nods to the captain’s Dutch (VOC) origins. The legend inspired
Wagner’s opera Der fliegende Holländer and Davy Jones’s ship in Pirates of
the Caribbean.

### Slide 24

11. H

After Usain Bolt smashed both the 100m and 200m world records at the
2009 IAAF World Championships, the German capital city’s mayor marked
the occasion with an unconventional present.

Bolt was handed a ‘souvenir’ which stood almost 12 feet tall, 4 feet wide,
weighed almost 3 tonnes and was later shipped off to the Jamaican Military
Museum. Painted on its surface was Bolt sprinting on the event’s blue track,
alongside the words NEW WR.

What is this unusual souvenir?

### Slide 25

ANSWER11. H

A segment of the Berlin Wall

Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit presented the ~2.7-tonne slab after Bolt ran
9.58 s (100 m) and 19.19 s (200 m) at the 2009 Worlds in Berlin.

2009 also marked 20 years since the Wall fell — Bolt was “tearing down
barriers” of his own.

### Slide 26

12. M

“If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that
would be like the splendor of the mighty one …”

X recalled that this quote came to his mind upon witnessing a certain event.
Many years later, in a 1965 TV interview he mentioned a more famous
second quote, which he also thought of at the moment.

X is falsely attributed with having uttered these words, while his brother
claimed that all he said was, "It worked."

Who is X, and what was the quote?

### Slide 27

ANSWER12. M

X = J. Robert Oppenheimer

“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Both lines are from the Bhagavad Gita (Ch. 11), which Oppenheimer read in
Sanskrit; the event was the Trinity test, 16 July 1945.

He said in the 1965 NBC documentary The Decision to Drop the Bomb that
the verse came to mind; brother Frank recalled he only said “I guess it
worked.”

### Slide 28

13. H+E

‘The ------- Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural
Restitution’ is a 2020 book by Dan Hicks, Professor of Contemporary
Archaeology at the University of Oxford.

Fill the blanks with a pun on a place where “you will see the curated spoils
of Empire”, referring to the nature of how they sourced their stuff.

### Slide 29

ANSWER13. H+E

The Brutish Museums

British Museum → Brutish: the Benin Bronzes were looted in the 1897 British
punitive expedition against Benin City.

Hicks argues for their restitution to Nigeria; many institutions have since
begun returning pieces.

### Slide 30

14. H+E

K is an American educational technology company that produces learning
apps and provides language certification. K offers courses on 43 languages,
even constructed languages such as Klingon.

Very aptly for their species of company, their weekly, company-wide
meeting is called a “L”. Do not get confused with its tiered namesake,
extremely more significant on a larger scale.

Luis von Ahn, who founded K, also founded another company M (before K).
Now owned by Google, M has probably come really close to solving an
existential question, one that we all have to answer from time to time.

Give K, L and M.

### Slide 31

ANSWER14. H+E

K = Duolingo

L = Parliament

M = reCAPTCHA

Duolingo’s mascot is Duo the owl, and a group of owls is a parliament — not
to be confused with a (bicameral, “tiered”) national Parliament.

reCAPTCHA, acquired by Google in 2009, keeps asking us the existential
question: “Are you a robot?”

### Slide 32

15. L

Canting arms are heraldic symbols that
represent the bearer's name, often through a
visual pun or rebus.

Ex. A Scottish noble family (Bowes-Lyon …
bows and lions)

### Slide 33

15a. L

Which poet received the following canting
arms from their grandfather?

The coat of arms shows a connection with
the sea, where the figure met his tragic fate
later in life.

### Slide 34

ANSWER15a. L

Percy Bysshe Shelley

The arms carry whelk shells — “shell” for Shelley — inherited via his
grandfather, Sir Bysshe Shelley, 1st Baronet.

Shelley drowned in 1822 when his boat, the Don Juan, sank in a storm in the
Gulf of La Spezia.

### Slide 35

15b. L

Which writer had the following canting
arms, representing the family name which
came from a Gaelic word meaning "haste"?

The three deer running at full course were
used as a symbol of agility, appropriate for
the writer and his quick satirical wit and
maybe also his sojourns.

### Slide 36

ANSWER15b. L

Jonathan Swift

Swift = haste; the three bucks “courant” (running) cant on the name.

Fitting for the sharp satirist of A Modest Proposal — and the “sojourns” are
Gulliver’s Travels.

### Slide 37

16. M

There are many varieties of this story. Some say that the Jade Emperor, the
one who rules the heavens, called a 'race' on his birthday to create the
______. Others say that it was in fact the Buddha who did it. The Great Race
is a famous fable told to children across China every Chinese New Year.

The race involved crossing a great river, which would prove challenging for
many of the participants. But despite this, the first few participants crossed
the river using their intelligence, strength, swiftness, sensitivity,
graciousness, cleverness, friendliness and other traits. The emperor thus
honoured them, due to which they are still relevant even today.

How were these participants honored / how are they still relevant today?

### Slide 38

ANSWER16. M

The Chinese Zodiac — each of the first 12 animals got a year
named after it

Order of finish: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey,
Rooster, Dog, Pig — the 12-year cycle used to this day.

The Rat won by riding the Ox and leaping ahead at the end; the Cat, pushed
into the river by the Rat, never made it — hence cats chase rats.

### Slide 39

17. E+M

Often associated with the tree of life, the X of Kashmar is worshipped in
Zoroastrianism. It is regarded to be what coniferous tree that the Greeks
noticed grew in abundance on a Mediterranean island?

Yggdrasil is the central world tree in Norse cosmology. It is considered to be
what hardwood tree Y of the olive family whose twigs were carried by
children to school in parts of England on a particular holy day?

Give X and Y.

### Slide 40

ANSWER17. E+M

X = Cypress

The legendary Cypress of Kashmar, said to have been planted by Zoroaster;
the name traces to Cyprus, where the tree grew abundantly.

Y = Ash

Yggdrasil is described as an ash (Fraxinus, family Oleaceae). On Ash
Wednesday, English children carried ash twigs to school — those without
risked having their feet stamped.

### Slide 41

18a. Quad 1 (H+E)

Darkest Dungeon is a videogame that sees the player enlist the help of
various character classes.

What is the name of this class (8) that is a holy warrior fighting with
righteous fury against the forces of evil?

Although the game lacks a specific timeline, the class's real-life
counterparts could have been active in wars any time from 1096 to the
1300s.

### Slide 42

18a. Quad 1 (H+E)

### Slide 43

18b. Quad 1 (H+E)

Darkest Dungeon is a videogame that sees the player enlist the help of
various character classes.

What is the name of this class (6,6) from Darkest Dungeon that is a
mercenary targeting specific enemies to turn them in for a reward?

Historically, such private agents worked for bail bondsmen, capturing
fugitives and criminals for a commission.

### Slide 44

18b. Quad 1 (H+E)

### Slide 45

18c. Quad 1 (H+E)

Darkest Dungeon is a videogame that sees the player enlist the help of
various character classes.

What is the name of this class (5) from Darkest Dungeon that is defined by
the horrible disease ravaging the skin and nerves?

The class's name is often also used metaphorically for someone shunned
by society, with the face mask being a reference to a film depiction of King
Baldwin IV in Kingdom of Heaven.

### Slide 46

18c. Quad 1 (H+E)

### Slide 47

18d. Quad 1 (H+E)

Darkest Dungeon is a videogame that sees the player enlist the help of
various character classes.

What is the name of this class (9) from Darkest Dungeon that is a
competitive sharpshooter using a type of long gun?

If you knew the answers to all other questions in the quad, your answer for
this one should be right on target to join this class yourself. A small group of
these have also been featured elsewhere in pop culture.

### Slide 48

18d. Quad 1 (H+E)

### Slide 49

ANSWER18. Quad 1 (H+E)

a) Crusader · b) Bounty Hunter · c) Leper · d) Musketeer

Crusader — the Crusades ran from 1096 (First Crusade) into the 1300s.

Bounty Hunter — bail-enforcement agents chasing fugitives for a cut.

Leper — leprosy (Hansen’s disease); the mask echoes Edward Norton’s
Baldwin IV, the “Leper King”.

Musketeer — the Arbalest’s alternate skin; the quad’s four answers make
you one of The Three Musketeers… plus d’Artagnan.

### Slide 50

19a. Quad 2 (H)

Which language of the Indo-European
language family, originally spoken during
the Old Iranian period (c. 1500–400 BCE), is
named after the central text of a religion
whose adherents exalt the all-wise deity
Ahura Mazda?

### Slide 51

19b. Quad 2 (H)

Which Northwest Semitic language, that
originated in Ancient Syria, was the lingua
franca of the Near East from the 3rd century
BCE to the 7th century CE and used to write
the Talmud, the central text of Rabbinic
Judaism?

### Slide 52

19c. Quad 2 (H)

Which classical Middle Indo-Aryan
language of the Indian subcontinent was
used to compose several religious texts of a
particular religion, including a namesake
canon which is also referred to as the
Tipitaka ("Triple Basket")?

### Slide 53

19d. Quad 2 (H)

Which Austronesian language with about
3.5 million speakers is used for the
traditional performances and rituals
associated with a form of Hinduism
practiced at the namesake island whose
holiest site is the Besakih Temple?

### Slide 54

ANSWER19. Quad 2 (H)

a) Avestan · b) Aramaic · c) Pali · d) Balinese

Avestan — language of the Avesta, scripture of Zoroastrianism.

Aramaic — Jewish Babylonian Aramaic is the main language of the
Babylonian Talmud.

Pali — language of the Pali Canon (Tipitaka) of Theravada Buddhism.

Balinese — used in the rituals and performances of Balinese Hinduism; Pura
Besakih is its “Mother Temple”.

Link: each is a liturgical language tied to a religion’s sacred texts or rites.

### Slide 55

20a. Quad 3 (H/E/L)

Deriving from an Old Turkic word meaning "elder brother", what title was
reserved in the Ottoman era for senior military officers, such as the
commander of the Janissaries?

It appears today as part of the title of the imam of Nizari Ismailism, one of
whom started a coveted award for architecture.

### Slide 56

20b. Quad 3 (H/E/L)

Deriving from a Persian word meaning "master", what title was often used
for teachers or professors during the Ottoman period?

The title is associated with a wise character who appears in a number of
humorous Muslim folktales, and the Persian cognate of the title is used for
Sufi masters.

### Slide 57

20c. Quad 3 (H/E/L)

Deriving from Turkish for "head" or "chief", what title was a high rank in
the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors
and generals?

Aside from being associated with the dictatorial Young Turk triumvirate, the
title was also assumed in the past by rulers of Egypt and Morocco.

### Slide 58

20d. Quad 3 (H/E/L)

Deriving from an Arabic word meaning “burden bearer", what title was
given to the de facto prime minister of the sultan in the Ottoman Empire?

The honorific was also bestowed upon high-ranking ministers, governors,
and political advisors in many kingdoms and empires of the Near East.

### Slide 59

ANSWER20. Quad 3 (H/E/L)

a) Agha · b) Hodja (Hoca) · c) Pasha · d) Vizier

Agha — the Janissary Agha; today in Aga Khan, whose Aga Khan IV
founded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (1977).

Hodja — Nasreddin Hodja of the folktales; Persian cognate Khwaja, used
for Sufi masters (e.g., Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti).

Pasha — the “Three Pashas” Talaat, Enver and Djemal; also a title of rulers
of Egypt and Morocco.

Vizier — from Arabic wazīr; the Grand Vizier was the sultan’s chief minister.

### Slide 60

21a. L

ChattyFeet has a line of sock designs
dedicated to literary authors, with word plays
on their names.

a) Which writer inspired this sock design,
which aptly represents both the author and
one of his most famous works? (5)

### Slide 61

21b. L

b) Described as being so comfortable that
every woman must have a pair of her own.
The design's name is a wordplay that
removes a letter from the author's name to
refer to the sock's material.

ID the design’s title. (5)

### Slide 62

21c. L

c) Which writer inspired this sock design by
ChattyFeet, that may give one the feeling of
being under constant surveillance?

Reviews describe it as an appropriate gift for
one's elder sibling. (5)

### Slide 63

21d. L

d) Which writer inspired this sock design,
with the macabre design depicting a corvid
at a windowsill?

The design's name is a wordplay that
replaces the author's last name with the part
of the foot that the sock snugly wraps
around. (5)

### Slide 64

ANSWER21. L

a) Ernest Hemingway — sold as “Ernestoe Hemingway”

Grey beard plus fish on a sea-blue sock: The Old Man and the Sea.

b) “Virginia Wool”

Virginia Woolf minus the f = wool; “a pair of her own” riffs on A Room of One’s
Own.

c) George Orwell

The all-seeing eyes are Big Brother from Nineteen Eighty-Four — hence the
“elder sibling” gift.

d) Edgar Allan Poe — “Edgar Allan Toe”

The raven at the window is The Raven.