What sport most taxes an observer’s ability to stay interested?
Any sport that’s interrupted by commercials, or when the commercials are more entertaining than the game.
Richard Orlando, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
• Cricket. At the tail end of my teens I slipped away from an interminable match in which my true love was playing. When I returned from the delights of a bookshop it was to find that I had missed his match-saving six. And so ended that romance!
Ursula Nixon, Bodalla, NSW, Australia
• If I reply cricket, I am setting myself up for all kinds of trouble at home. However, I remember an English clergyman telling me that he did not need to explain the idea of eternity to his congregation. He just told them to watch a Test match right through to the end.
Margaret Wilkes, Perth, Western Australia
• American football. When the two-minute warning is called, you know you will still be hanging around for another 20 minutes.
Catherine Andreadis, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• American football, followed by car racing.
Philip Stigger, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
• Ludo and all the other bored games.
Dick Stamp, Ravenswood, Victoria, Australia
• Night-time orienteering.
David Tucker, Halle, Germany
• Tiddlywinks.
Norbert Hirschhorn, London, UK
• Snooker, as Steve “Interesting” Davis exemplified.
Peter Clayton, London, UK
• Netb ... zzzzzzzzz.
Stephen Saunders, Canberra, Australia
Prejudice goeth before too
Is a fall the necessary sequel to pride?
Life’s ups and downs don’t necessarily occur in alternate sequence.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia
• There’s also prejudice.
Nicholas Albrecht, Paris, France
• Definitely not. I always experience a fall as the beautiful sequel to summer and a warning precursor to the miseries of winter.
Terence Rowell, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
• Often, but trying to be positive about it, success is often the prequel to pride.
Pat Phillips, Adelaide, South Australia
• No, to a carelessly tied shoelace.
Stuart Powell, St Albans, UK
• Only if a rise prequels it.
R De Braganza, Kilifi, Kenya
Wisdom teeth? Not that smart
Pandas’ difficulty in breeding is nature’s oversight. Are there other design faults in nature?
As a female biped born into a world where comfortable bras and warm bidets are rare, I’m no believer in “intelligent design”. And don’t even get me started on the absurdities of wisdom teeth.
Donna Samoyloff, Toronto, Canada
• Three hands would be useful.
Joe Harvey, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• With regard to the black widow spider, the female’s habit of devouring her mate after he has performed his duty seems a threat to the survival of the species. Or is it the ultimate in contraception to avoid overpopulation?
Anthony Walter, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
• There are no design faults in nature for the simple reason that there is no design in nature. (If you think there is design, please explain why men have nipples.)
Norman Coe, Sant Cugat de Vallès, Spain
Any answers?
What’s your favourite riddle?
Annie March, West Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Has there ever been a case where one word is worth a thousand pictures?
Kit Andrews, Melbourne, Australia
Send answers to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com or Guardian Weekly, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, UK
