Pints, Points and Puzzlers at Benji's Pub Quiz

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The radio version of this story opened with a clip from  the 'Inky Dinky' round of a recent Benji's Pub Quiz night in Mansons Hall, Cortes Island. An Inky Dinky is a two-word phrase. Both the words have two syllables, and they rhyme, like Inky Dinky.  "So what?" asked show host Benji Coey. "Well, I'm going to give you a riddle and you're going to come up with an Inky Dinky as the answer. For example, if I said to you, Riddle me this: A church tower made out of human beings." What might I be looking for?" A number of excited voices piped up: "People; steeple."  Benji: "A people steeple. Good job. The people are the human beings, they normally are, and a steeple is a church tower. Good. Now, this is a creative thinking round, teams. If it's a good answer, write it down, and as ever, we will talk about all of the answers together, like normal people on Cortes island."  What the audio does not show is that every table in the Hall is occupied. They are filled with beer, nachos and all the other treats associated with pubs, but more importantly each table belongs to a team. They aren't supposed to have more than 5 members, but some include children and have 7. The teams have given themselves names like A Brick in the Wall, The Troublemakers, and Maya.  Someone asked, "Do you get higher marks for novel answers?"  Benji: "If it's a novel answer, you'll be rewarded with laughter and  great admiration from your colleagues, which is better than points."  All conversation ceased as Benji continued: "Right, here we go: here's your first Inky Dinky tonight. Riddle me this one, teams: Sweaty relaxation for all of the animals? Sweaty relaxation for all of the animals?" That was just one of the many dozens of puzzlers participants sought to unravel. Benji's Pub Quiz has become quite the event here on Cortes and, it turns out, in a lot of other places as well. In today's interview we sat down with Benji Coey to find out why.