Are you as smart as your kids?

Try new book’s questions to test your family’s brainpower

COMPREHENSION

Pick the correct definition of the following words 1. SAMOVAR a) The church congregation bowed their heads as the samovar was read. b) On holiday in Moscow, Jim bought a samovar to take home to his mum. c) The car engine spluttered and Graeme knew that the samovar had broken. 2. DILETTANTE a) The dilettante is a small beetle which survives on cow manure. b) Hugo is a bit of a dilettante as

far as wine is concerned. c) Aunt Irene visited her local dilettante every week to buy cooked meats, cheeses and olives. 3. CHERVIL a) The blacksmith uses a chervil

to make horseshoes. b) The umpire checked the height of the net with his chervil. c) The award-winning chef added the herbs chervil and parsley to the dish before serving the food to his guests.

MENTAL MATHS

Multiplication 4. 85 x 9 = 5. 87 x 7 = 6. 83 x 8 = Addition 7. 58 + 15 + 26 + 90 = 8. 93 + 51 + 77 + 67 = 9. 82 + 43 + 85 + 16 = Subtraction 10. 990 - 93.9 = 11. 549 - 70.2 = 12. 629 - 87.3 = Division 13. 58.8 ÷ 6= 14. 44.4 ÷ 4= 15. 65.1 ÷ 7=

MENSA CHALLENGE

16. Famine is to food as drought is to: a) weather b) drinking c) water 17. Add one letter to complete one word and start the other: BEL (...) APE 18. If A = 1, B = 2, C = 3 and so on, what is the total value of the word BOW?

HISTORY

19. In which city was the Bastille, a fortress, stormed by the people

in July 1789? 20. Which general became a dictator in Spain as a result of the Spanish Civil War? 21. Senegal gained independence from which country in 1960? 22. The Holy League established by Pope Julius II was set up against which country? 23. Which independent candidate received 18.5 per cent of the vote in the 1992 American election?

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

24. From central Africa, which large bird lays the world’s biggest eggs? 25. What is the name of a giant ocean wave caused by a sudden movement of the ocean floor which can often trigger an earthquake? 26. What is the name of the Caribbean country whose capital city is Kingston? 27. What is the name of the hottest planet in our solar system? 28. From which UK city did Titanic leave on its maiden voyage to New York? 29. Which composer wrote the classical piece The Four Seasons?

SCIENCE

30. 96 per cent of the planet Saturn’s atmosphere is made up of which element? 31. A plant that grows again from the ground up each year is what sort of perennial? 32. Compared to microwaves, are the wavelengths of visible light shorter, the same or longer? 33. Carina, Dumbbell and Rosette are all examples of what sort of interstellar clouds? 34. Anadromous fish live in the sea but breed in rivers. What sort of fish do the opposite?

ADVANCED LANGUAGE

Solve the following five anagrams: 35. scichyp Sensitive to parapsychological forces or influences.

36. ionerqusteian A written or printed form used in gathering information on some subject or subjects. 37. honebapixo A strong and unreasonable dislike or fear of people from other countries.

38. cedquinata On terms of familiarity but not intimacy. 39. stopshamromie A complete change of physical form or substance

SUDDEN DEATH

40. 35 per cent of 300 = Are You Smarter Than Your Kid?: The Child Genius Family Book, published by Quercus on October 18 in hardback at £14.99.