Arrested hydrocephalus and the Round Britain Quiz

When I was young and aspiring to be an intellectual I used to listen to the Round Britain Quiz on BBC Radio 4, whose formidable contestants were sent cryptic questions by listeners that required for an answer both encyclopaedic knowledge and the skills of a cryptographer. How do you connect an Italian prime minister, a palace in Venice, and the heart of the matter? The answer (I will refrain from adding “of course”) is the nitty gritty: Nitti having been a prime minister of Italy, the Gritti being a palace in Venice, and the nitty gritty being . . . well, need I go on?

Here’s a question, then, for the quiz: how do …