Botticelli - April 2025

Continuing the discussion from Botticelli March 2025:

Thanks @Elendil_s_Heir ! Great subject, btw.

Here’s a periodic repost of the rules of the game for anyone interested in joining:

How does this work?

One person, the host, is thinking of someone and gives an initial (“I am B.”). Could be a real person, could be fictional, initial could start the first name, initial could start the last name, whatever. Everyone else is trying to figure out who it is. Players first ask indirect questions, usually three per post, about people with that initial (“Did you paint a picture of Venus on a giant clamshell?”) and the host answers them (“I am not Botticelli.”).

What if the host is correct?
Nothing happens.

What if the host doesn’t know the answer?
The player gets to ask a direct yes-or-no question (“Real?” “First name begins with B?” etc.). Note that direct questions can be reserved, and asked later.

Does a correct answer have to be who the player was thinking of?
If the host answers with a person who was not who the player had in mind but who still correctly fits the question–e.g. thinking of Beethoven, asking “Were you a German classical composer,” and getting the response “I am not Bach”–the question has been correctly answered and again nothing happens.

How long does this go on?
Until twenty direct questions have been answered (usually it’s best for the host to continually post an updated list.). Then players get any other earned direct questions in and people can get in one final direct guess at who it is (“Are you…”).

Whoever guesses the person correctly (whether by indirect question or final guess) gets to host the next round.

Where does the name of the game come from?
Because the person has to be reasonably notable, as least as well-known as Botticelli. That being said…

What if nobody guesses who the person is?
If it’s someone players have heard of, the host goes again. If none of the players have heard of the person, the previous host goes again.

Ooh, ooh! If I’m the host, can I go with, for example, Madonna but say “I am C” because, y’know, her last name is Ciccone…

No. We’re going by the names people are best known by to the general public, not birth names. Unless, of course, the birth name is as well-known as the stage or other current name.

What about middle names?
Middle names (and middle initials) count if the person is always referred to as such (e.g. if the letter is P then you can ask about John Philip Sousa).

How does the guy who drives the snow plow get to work?
He comes in early when the forecast is made.

Got that? OK, new subject: I am

Y

Bring on the IQs!

Great guess, SunUp! I thought it had to do with Lech and Solidarity but couldn’t recall Poland’s leader at the time.

IQs:

  1. Were you one of the biggest standup comedians of the 50s and 60s?
  2. Were you best known for playing opposite to Fred Gwynne?
  3. Were you unable to get out of the army during WWII because of a labyrinth of arcane rules and regulations, no matter what you did or did not do?

IQs:

Were you a folk singer pardoned by President Carter?
Was a military spacecraft named after you in Heinlein’s Starship Troopers?
Did you say “It is a puzzlement” many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many times?

Congrats!

  1. Did you star on the TV series Werewolf on Fox?
  2. Did you accidentally turn your king into a llama?
  3. Did you play Sarah on Chuck ?

I am not Henny Youngman.
I am not Yvonne DeCarlo.
I am not Yossarian.

I am not Peter Yarrow.
I am not Rodger Young.
I am puzzled. Take a DQ

Take a DQ.
I am not Yzma.
I am not Yvonne Strahovski.

Sweep x3!

  1. Were you the adopted son of Sir Guy Grand?
  2. Are you a leader in your genre of music, considered by most to be unsuitable for commercial radio?
  3. Are you a trusted colleague of Hari Seldon?

Previous IQs:

Were you a folk singer pardoned by President Carter? - Yes, Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary
Was a military spacecraft named after you in Heinlein’s Starship Troopers? - Yes, Rodger Young (whose grave I’ve seen in Clyde, Ohio)
Did you say “It is a puzzlement” many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many times? - Yul Brynner, who played the monarch in The King and I onstage for decades

DQ:

Real?

IQs:

In a movie, did a disguised king have sex with you while still in a suit of armor?
Did you fly aboard the space shuttle Columbia on its first mission into orbit?
Did the Pittsburgh Pirates liken Phil Garner to you in team promotions?

I typed up the rules as a Google Doc for future reference here.

Take a DQ.
I am not… Yma Sumac?
I am not Yugo Amaryl.

I am not Ygraine.
Take 2 DQs.

Thanks, D_L_R!

Y

  1. Real
  1. Youngman Grand (Ringo Starr, The Magic Christian)
  2. Yanni (Yiannis Chryssomallis) although your answer could be true; I’ll leave it up to you or someone else to decide.
  3. Correct

DQs:

Alive?

1 DQ reserved, pending decision

Y

  1. Real
  2. Alive

Take another DQ, @knoodler.

Thanks!

DQ: Male?

IQs:

  1. Did you perform a duet with Condoleezza Rice in 2001?
  2. Is your face painted on the facade of a 20-story building in Odintsovo, Russia?
  3. Were you a victim of dioxin poisoning in 2004?

I am not Yitzhak Perelman.
I am not… Boris Yeltsin?
Take a DQ.

Y

  1. Real
  2. Alive
  3. Male

Yes, thanks, DLR!

Previous IQs:

In a movie, did a disguised king have sex with you while still in a suit of armor? - Yes, Ygraine, thus ravished by King Uther Pendragon in Excalibur
Did you fly aboard the space shuttle Columbia on its first mission into orbit? - John W. Young, mission commander
Did the Pittsburgh Pirates liken Phil Garner to you in team promotions? - Yosemite Sam

DQs:

American?
Best known for politics/military?

IQs:

Does your picture hang prominently in the Taiwan legislature?
Did you play Rocky’s lowlife brother-in-law?
Did you star in Witchblade?

John J. York, correct, correct.

IQs:

  1. Were you a French fashion designer?
  2. Are you a former French male tennis player?
  3. Were you an actor best know for playing Cosmo Topper?

I am not… Sun Yat-Sen?
I am not Burt Young.
Take a DQ.

I am not Yves Saint-Laurent.
I am not Yannick Noah.
Take a DQ.

Y

  1. Real
  2. Alive
  3. Male
  4. American
  5. Best known for politics/military

@kitap , I believe you have 1 DQ reserved.