I recently came across an old book of math, logic and word puzzles. In one chapter, the author presents a number of questions purported to be modeled on a Mensa rest. Speaking of the test, its deviser, Max L. Fogel, PhD, “says with an almost straight face, ‘not particularly tough, although some of the questions may be confusing at first.’”
I can get most of the questions, but this one has me stymied:
- Fill in the blank spaces by selecting one of the four lettered alternatives.
¬
| Marlon | Ingrid | Ingmar | (1) | Igor |
| Brando | Bergman | Bergman | | Stravinsky|
||||||
| Sophia | (2) | Pablo | Charles | Richard |
| Loren | | Picasso | Ives | Burton |
||__________||||
| Luis | Jackson | Sergei | (3) | (4) |
| Bunuel | Pollock | Prokofiev | | |
||__________|||_____|
(a) (1) Paul Klee; (2) Rudolph Nureyev; (3) Vivien Leigh; (4) Joan Miro
(b) (1) Georges Braque; (2) Federico Fellini; (3) Dustin Hoffman; (4) Elizabeth Taylor
© (1) Jon Voigt; (2) Alfred Hitchcock; (3) Leontyne Price; (4) Richard Tucker
(d) (1) Aaron Copeland; (2) Paul Cezanne; (3) Helen Hayes; (4) John Wayne
(Sorry about the spacing on the grid.)
The book gives the answers to the questions, but not the rationale for the answers. For anyone who wants to figure it out for herself, I’ll bury the answer from the book in the next paragraph.
The book was published in 1972. I mention this because perhaps different names might be selected today. But then perhaps not. (The answer given was b. I assume there was no typo in listing the answer.) I have no idea of how come any of the presented answers would be right or wrong.
So what am I missing? Is the answer given correct and, more importantly, WHY is it the right answer?
I assume this is the grid the OP was going for:
______________________________________________________
| Marlon | Ingrid | Ingmar | (1) | Igor |
| Brando | Bergman | Bergman | | Stravinsky|
|________|_________|___________|_________|___________|
| Sophia | (2) | Pablo | Charles | Richard |
| Loren | | Picasso | Ives | Burton |
|________|_________|___________|_________|___________|
| Luis | Jackson | Sergei | (3) | (4) |
| Bunuel | Pollock | Prokofiev | | |
|________|_________|___________|_________|___________|
As far as I can tell, each row contains one each of the following (all 20th century, too):
- Actor
- Actress
- Filmmaker
- Composer
- Painter/Artist
If so, (A) can’t be right, since Nureyev was a dancer and not a filmmaker (also two artists in the last row, as a double check, since dancer is kind of an outlier).
© also can’t be right, since it puts 2 actors in the first row
(D) can’t be right, since it puts 2 composers in the first row.
(B) is the only option that puts each of the five categories listed above in each of the three rows.
Indeed, some different names could be chosen, especially since we might have a different concept of well known 20th century figures with an additional 40 years of hindsight. Certainly, the choice of filmmakers and perhaps of actors would be different.
ETA: Oh, and thanks to Indistinguishable for the grid.
One observation: Along upright/downleft diagonals, we have shared occupations (from topleft, to bottomright, we have actor, actress, film director, painter, composer, actor, ?).
This suggests that the answer has to be of the form painter, film director, actor, ?. The only answer which fits is b.
ETA: D’oh, beaten by Antibob! But synthesizing their answer and mine, I realize now: Each row (left to right) and each column (top to bottom) runs in the cyclic order “actor, actress, film director, painter, composer”. So the answer must be of the form “painter, film director, actor, actress”.
First, thanks to Indistinguishable for the good grid.
Secondly, thanks to both Great Antibob and Indistinguishable for the answer. Apparently I got too fixated on making both rows and columns right and didn’t see the pattern in the grid.