World Book Day Quizzes: the final rounds ...

 Thanks very much to all of you who had a stab at Mr Green's anagrams yesterday: we'll be revealing the answers in a moment ...

But first, it's the final day of quizzes, and today, there are TWO rounds. It's International Women's Day on Saturday, so to celebrate this, Round 6 - see here - brings you ten questions about women writers.  

And our final round is Mr Gardner's annual, fiendish cryptic crossword: be afraid - be very afraid ... 

He's asked us to publish a disclaimer, because this one is really difficult.  But perhaps he's under-estimating you - see if you can prove him wrong? Here's the grid: and you can find the clues here - good luck!

A quick reminder that it's also the final day to enter the Kayton Library's 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?' quiz, and win those fabulous Nando's vouchers. Visit the table outside the library, if you haven't already done so, to see if you can identify all the literary guests, or hop back to yesterday's post here and look at the photos. 

Meanwhile, those anagrams. We have to be honest: many of you were clearly baffled.  But come on - Mr Green helped you out with the publication dates, plus occasional clues in the anagrams themselves: so they weren't entirely impossible. Just challenging. Seriously challenging.  And here are the answers.

Anagram 1: FOREGONE ASTHMA (1996)

It was surprising how many struggled with this one. The first book might be nearly thirty years old, but the author still hasn't finished the series.  Asthma was (sort of) a clue: bronchial tubes tighten up in cold weather - you'll definitely need your inhaler when winter is coming ...  Yes, this was, of course

'I've never seen it'. 'Was it a book as well as a TV series?'  Well - if you're new to Westeros, you have a (blood-soaked, dragon-infested) treat in store.  

Anagram 2: DUAL CAR (1897)

Quizzers found this the easiest  anagram (perhaps because it was the shortest, with fewer words to confuse and distract?).  Switch the letters around, like coffins in the cargo of a ship on its way to Whitby, and you get

(Un)dead easy ...

Anagram 3: TO FRIGHTEN HOLDERS: HELLO THEFT OF WHISPERING (1954)

The longest anagram in the quiz, this took some thinking. But the clues helped. The colon, for a start, that suggested this was part of a series.  Plus the references to theft, and whispering, and the perils of being a 'holder' ... It was, of course 

and most of you eventually figured it out. Not all who wander are lost.  

Anagram 4: HEAL THAT HYDROELECTRIC COCOA FAN (1964)

This one was tricky - perhaps because you might not instinctively associate it with the fantasy/supernatural genre. But a factory staffed by squirrels and Oompa-Loompas? Children turned into blueberries and televisions? It's definitely 'fantastical'. This was, of course

And COCOA FAN was definitely a clue. 

Anagram 5: OH I TIE THE NETHERWORLD WATCHBAND (1950)

Most quizzers found this one straightforward: perhaps it was the reference to a NETHERWORLD that swung it, but pretty much everyone recognised this as 

Which was reassuring.

Anagram 6: OUR TIRED ATROPHYING FACE (1891)

This anagram came closest to summarising the plot of its book - but apparently that didn't help.  A painted face that decays, and atrophies in the attic, while its beautiful but cruel owner remains eternally young? This had to be

But only 9 of you recognised it.    

Anagram 7: A HELLISH THOUGHT IE NO FUN (1959)

The final anagram was also a tricky one, although you had no shortage of ideas: 'Monday mornings', quipped one quizzer.  With hindsight, if we'd noticed you could get GHOST out of the original, we could have made this easier. It's a deeply scary supernatural classic: 

And it twinned with Dorian Gray as toughest question of yesterday's quiz: again, only 9 of you knew it.  

So - let's have a look at our penultimate leaderboard, and see how things stand. As on Monday, we have a tie for first place: Max S and Theo are sharing the top spot, with Thomas H and Freddie in second, and Mr Carter in third.  And many many more of you - including Dr Druce, Mrs Pemberton, Max C, Austin, Henry and Adam - would have been higher, if you'd given the authors along with the correct titles (we did say that got you bonus points).  Thanks again to Mr Green for contributing such inventive anagrams, and good luck with today's questions!