Alphabet Soup

I• A was a professor of Anglo Saxon at Oxford

and a prominent expert on B, the oldest surviving long poem in Old English. The unnamed “ old night-scather” character in B was the primary inspiration for C, who is described as intelligent, fiery and capable of speech with an overwhelming personality. C was voiced by D, who is most popular for his portrayal of E, the character being based on a Victorian-era private investigator.

II• The same character is also said to have

inspired F to create his own sleuth based in mid-20th century Bengal. This character first made an appearance in the story G in 1932. G is also the name of the Sujoy Ghosh-starrer Bangla movie by the highly acclaimed director H. H directed actress I in his adaptation of J’s short story The Gift of The Magi.

III

• J was a 20th century American writer whose short stories are known for their wit, wordplay and twist endings. He is hailed as America’s answer to the French writer K, also known for plot twist endings. K went by names Guy de Valmont, Joseph Prunier, and Maufrigneuse. He was friends with another French author of his time, L, who shared his name with his more illustrious father. The father is credited with the more popular high-adventure French novels which have inspired numerous adaptations. One of them, M was adapted in a 3D adventure movie by Paul W. S. Anderson in 2011. N, who played the role of the Duke of Buckingham in M, also stars in the immensely popular movie franchise based on A’s writings, as O.

• Answers......

• A: JRR Tolkien• B: Beowulf• C: Smaug• D: Benedict Cumberbatch• E: Sherlock

• F: Sharadindu Bandopadhyay• G: Satyanweshi• H: Rituparno Ghosh• I: Aishwarya Rai• J: O. Henry

• K: Guy de Maupassant• L: Alexandre Dumas• M: The Three Muskeeters• N: Orlando Bloom• O: Legolas