Discussion on:

Office challenge: What's the quickest way to copy the contents of the active cell to the other cells in the selected range?

In your example, with A1 being the active cell and A1:A5 selected, Ctrl-D copies from the top cell to all other selected cells. I use this shortcut all the time.

Ctrl-R does the same thing while copying to the right.

TEST

Ctrl-D and -R are definite winners here

other alternatives for similar situations:

If the cells are already filled in a column of data or are adjacent to such a column, you can double-click the fill handle of the top one to copy its contents down (ie no need to select the range first)
To copy a cell's contents to other (non-contiguous) selected cells, press F2 to edit the active cell then Ctrl-enter to apply this to all selected cells

cat-skinning can be achieved by a variety of methods

F2, Ctrl+Enter

F2 and then Ctrl+Enter

I would use either Ctrl + D for fill down, or F2 and then Ctrl + Enter. F2 and Ctrl + Enter works best of the range is non-contiguous whereas Ctrl + D would be the faster one in this case. Someone mentioned double clicking the fill handle. I don't believe this will work as it usually requires filled cells to the left of the entry to know how far to fill down.

i used to think so too until i accidentally discovered that if you do this in an already filled column it will fill down to the next blank cell, regardless of what's on either side
whichever method you choose depends on the situation and experience, sometimes a simple copy and paste is easiest (esp. when using the keyboard)