1. Originally, these outfits were made using frayed strings of substances like jute, but unsurprisingly it could get very hot (reaching 50°C easily) on the inside of them, so modern variants use fabric cuts resembling foliage to achieve that same effect with modest improvements in comfort. This term most directly comes from a Scots Gaelic word referring to a young man who acted as an assistant to a hunter - presumably by using camouflage like that shown below to better spot prey - with that term itself originating from the name of a male fairy in Scottish folklore, said to be a protector of the forest and clothed in leaves and moss. What is the name given to this suit, today probably best known for its use by snipers?

   

2. Both answers need to be identified with specificity. What are the names of the two men shown in the photo below? The one on the left won an award in 1906 for demonstrating that something was a certain kind of thing, while the one on the right won the same award in 1937 for showing that same something also could not be that certain kind of thing (got it?).

   

3. A person with this last name became notable for being the first person of Indian descent (as well as the first Hindu) to become the head of state of a country outside of the Indian subcontinent. Another person with this surname did something that neither Hillary Clinton nor Kamala Harris could accomplish, and in fact did so years before them anyhow. What is the shared last name?

4. One half of its title translates a term from art, exemplified by the painting shown below, into another language - partly to convey this work’s particular artistic flair, and partly to suggest a tension between life and death at play in its storyline. The other half of its name is a reference to how 67 previous attempts to stop the Gommage have failed. What award-winning work?

   

5. The first stand specializing in what was opened by Herta Heuwer on the corner of Kantstraße and Kaiser-Friedrich-Straße in the Charlottenburg district on September 4, 1949? Like that other postwar Berlin specialty, the döner kebab, foreign influences were crucial in this item’s creation, with the presence of British soldiers occupying the city being the crucial ingredient - because of the ingredients that they brought - in its invention.

6. A gam is a term from historical jargon for a particular kind of meeting, and a notable work features nine such gams as part of its plot. Each of these gams share a consistent member among them. The other halves of these gams are listed below, with one exception. What is the name of the missing member? Missing something herself, she is mentioned in the last line of the work in question.

   • The Goney

   • The Town-Ho

   • The Jeroboam

   • The Jungfrau

   • The Rose-Bud

   • The Samuel Enderby

   • The Bachelor

   • The Delight

7. This writer conceived of a drink, named for his most famous fictional character, that modified the martini by making it fifteen parts vodka, one part vermouth, and two parts cucumber juice. As noted in the rules contained in his collection Everyday Drinking, this man also felt that it was more important that an alcoholic drink be chilled, rather than being overly strong, with his recommendation being to pour some water into a glass, then freeze the glass, then pour the freshly made cocktail into that pre-chilled container. This man’s son, likely with an eye towards his father, suggested in works like the novel Money that alcoholism is part addiction and part choice, quipping later that making strict rules about drinking means that you must be an alcoholic. What writer/father/alcoholic is this?

8. Some of the other memes inspired by the video of this song include creators showing that its artist’s unusual dance style could fit the beat of any number of other songs. Another group of memes would place objects, like a tennis racket or a light saber, into that artist’s hands as he danced about in claustrophobic rooms painted in fluorescent colors and sometimes filmed at unusual angles. But the most famous memes of all to result from that video come from a sequence where the performer is wearing a red Moncler Maya jacket. What song?

9. Shown in the picture below is a mother carrying an infant in what kind of shawl? Associated with the indigenous women of Mexico, the name used today comes from a Spanish verb meaning to “wrap oneself,” as the shawl is used that way to keep warm, but also to carry anything from food to babies. The picture below, incidentally, is an unintended pun (I think) that makes me recall the financier, born with the first name Charles, who was the twelfth of twelve children of Cuban immigrants and would become notorious for his relationship with Richard Nixon - in fact, it was said that Nixon was swimming in that man’s pool when the President learned about the Watergate break-in.

   

10. I remember being confused as a child while playing games in the Civilization series about the “Combined Arms” advancement. Was it not obvious that you could use different methods of attack in sequence or together to make your assault more effective? Apparently not, as many scholars point toward what 1631 battle as being the first example of the implementation of that concept? During that battle, the victors made use of small groups of infantry, supported by well-trained musketeers, to protect the flanks of the calvary as those horsemen charged. Additionally, the opponent’s slow-moving tercios, grouped in their typical square formations, proved to be easy targets for the highly mobile artillery units under the command of Lennart Torstenson. Aside from the revolution that it triggered in military strategy (and its implications for my video game civilization), this battle also marked the first major victory for the Protestants in a war already in its thirteenth year.

Read more

Questions

1. Shown is a watch party for a soccer match that was a part of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This party was held in what world capital? FIFA, not being fans of trivia nor history, opted to have the national team in question play on the West Coast of the United States, foregoing the chance to have them play at a more fitting East Coast city.

   

2. Designed in collaboration with McLaren, this vehicle had a V6 engine, not the usual V8, and it could go zero to sixty in just 4.7 seconds. It was sold only in black, including all-black trim, with its black grill leading some to call it “Darth Vader’s Car.” Only 547 of them were ever sold, though its namesake sold at least 592 times that amount the week that it debuted. What variant of a more traditional model of Buick is so described?

3. Former slave William Dorsey Swann, arrested in 1896 in Washington D.C. for “keeping a disorderly house,” is thought to be the first person to use this word paired with a particular title. While the word has other meanings, the etymology contemplated here may have originated from the theatre, in reference to layered, difficult-to-move clothes worn by certain performers, with that use then picked up and preserved through Polari. What word?

4. In the film Citizen Kane, Charles Foster Kane, of course, was based on William Randolph Hearst. Continuing the analogy, Kane’s love interest, the reluctant opera singer Susan Alexander, would then be what actress, who had an affair with Hearst, who then used his control of the media to promote her career? Orson Welles later regretted how he portrayed Alexander as ultimately untalented, as this actress showed considerable range in films like the drama When Knighthood Was in Flower, the musical Going Hollywood, and the comedy Cain and Mabel.

   

5. The Christian Old Testament ends with the Book of Malachi and its promise of the appearance of an Elijah, who at the risk of a curse will come to preach the coming Kingdom of God. The Hebrew Bible by tradition is organized differently, concluding with the Book of Chronicles, and doing so on a less foreboding note, as it ends with a quotation made by what historical figure? It was this ruler’s Edict that allowed conquered peoples, including the Jews, to return to their homelands.

6. It is said that tungsten has the highest melting point of any element, and that is mostly true, but with the caveat that another element does not melt at standard atmospheric pressure. Instead, it sublimates at 3915 K, only becoming a liquid at pressures approaching 99 atmospheres - a reflection of the strong covalent bonds that it forms. What element?

7. Aside from her most famous job, the résumé of which person includes: two college national championships, eight Olympic medals, a cabinet appointment courtesy of Emmerson Mnangagwa, and a Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Management from Auburn University?

8. “It’s a long ferry ride, you don’t know exactly if the ferry comes from Massachusetts or Maine,” said Katie Dippold of what creation of hers? There are two major restaurants, Driftwood Diner and the Salty Whale, along with a dive bar called Barnabus Tavern. All those will have to be upgraded, along with the Breakwater Inn, if this titular place is ever to compete with Martha’s Vineyard.

9. The first of the three sets of bronze doors of the Florence Baptistry were not designed by Lorenzo Ghiberti, but by a man (1290-1348) from Pontedera with this surname. An unrelated man (1220?-1284) actually was from Apulia but, working with his son Giovanni, he created works like his pulpit for Siena Cathedral, as well as the pulpit (shown) for the city that he eventually would call home. Because of those accomplishments, some scholars call this latter man the “founder of modern sculpture.” What is the shared surname?

   

10. Had this formally been accepted, as per the recommendation of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, it is thought that Ontario’s Lake Crawford would have lent its name to its first subdivision, as its sediment was noted to have elevated levels of plutonium, carbon, and nitrates. What term, first given the meaning by which it is now discussed by Eugene F. Stoermer, is this?

11. The Battle on the Ice was an AD 1242 engagement in which the Teutonic Knights were defeated by Alexander Nevsky. It gets its name because it primarily was fought on the frozen surface of what lake? This lake is the fifth largest in Europe and, as it borders both Estonia and Russia, it is the largest lake on the continent that touches more than one country.

Tiebreaker

1. The Billboard Hot 100 debuted in August 1958. How many different songs have reached number one on that chart? This number is through the chart released on July 18, 2026, with “Choosin’ Texas” continuing its hold on the top.

Read more

Questions

1. The recent George Saunders novel Vigil tells the story of Boone, an oil company executive nearing his death, with various ghosts offering anything from comfort to condemnation to the man as he nears his passing. One ghost is unnamed, but his identity easily can be surmised, as this person regrets that he “had a hand in the invention of the beast” because what it produces is “poison.” The book is referencing what man, born in Belgium in 1822, whose work led to a 1860 article in Scientific American which proclaimed that the “Age of Steam” was over?

2. A work of music called Prince of Denmark’s March alternatively is called the Trumpet Voluntary, and it is a piece commonly played at weddings as a processional. It is almost certainly the most famous work of what composer?

3. Jacob Misiorowski has made headlines during the 2026 Major League Baseball season thanks to pitches that have topped 105 mph. While that feat means that he would be the fastest-tossing pitcher throwing in a starting role in MLB history, who still holds the record for throwing the fastest pitch in MLB history? This reliever, while playing for the Cincinnati Reds, threw a pitch that went 105.8 mph past Tony Gwynn Jr. of the Padres in 2010.

4. Half of the reason (from a certain point of view) that the Strait of Hormuz is such a problem is that what peninsula, projecting from Oman, points into the strait, helping to form its narrow chokepoint?

   

5. William Sealy Gosset, publishing under the name Student, revolutionized statistics by developing methods for analyzing small samples, including his development of the shown probability density function, which serves to generalize the standard normal distribution. The “distribution” that the shown function reflects is given what single letter name? This name could be viewed with some irony if said out loud, as “Student” came about his figures through his work experimenting with beer, as he was an employee of Guinness.

   

6. The following are clues that point towards specific words. What links these words? Your answer should have both a proper name and a thing as part of it.

   • A yellow one of these is a motif in How I Met Your Mother.

   • What replaced CQD.

   • A Rear Window-inspired film starring Shia LaBeouf.

   • The Cullinan, the Koh-i-Noor and the Orloff.

   • F • d • cos(ϴ)

7. What novel, set during World War One, won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction? Unlike this question, that novel was written as a single sentence.

8. Along with two friends, future congressman and lieutenant governor Joel Pritchard is credited with having invented what in his backyard in 1965? Despite the rumor that this was named for the family dog, Pritchard’s wife Joan has said that this hodgepodge creation took its name from the sport of crew, where a term there refers to a team that is thrown together from whatever leftover rowers happen to be available.

9. A certain word was coined in 1838 in a conversation by letter between Gerardus Johannes Mulder and Jöns Jacob Berzelius. Mulder had been studying organic matter and found that compounds like albumin and fibrin have similar empirical formulas, especially with regards to their proportions of nitrogen. In the mind of Berzelius, the consistency of that finding suggested a certain underlying primacy at work in these compounds, leading him to invent what term to describe these substances?

10. First and last name required - and spelling counts. What Is the Proper Way to Display a U.S. Flag, a 1989 work controversial enough that its treatment of the American flag eventually would result in a Supreme Court case, is probably the best-known conceptual art piece by what artist, born Scott W. Tyler? Tyler has given several reasons for assuming this name, including recalling a figure of resistance from American history, referencing a particular Rastafarian religious practice, and hinting at a feeling that he hoped to prompt in his audience.

11. What is the punning title of the board game from Ravensburger where you can assume roles like witches, who then are tasked with doing things like delivering potions to different colored towers on the game map? The game’s surprising complexity led to it winning the 2016 Kennerspiel des Jahres.

Tiebreaker

1. The Beyoncé-Jay-Z household has an impressive record at the Grammys. How many total Grammy nominations do members of that household have?

Read more

Questions

1. On August 5, we talked about how William Brown, once the Mayor of Baltimore, wound up imprisoned in Fort McHenry during the Civil War because of his pro-Confederate sympathies. There, he had some famous cellmates. Here are two questions about those cellmates, the first easier than the second. First, one of Brown’s cellmates was Frank Howard, a Baltimore newspaper editor who was arrested (ironically) because he was about to publish an editorial criticizing Lincoln’s suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. After being freed, Howard noted with further irony in his memoir Fourteen Months in American Bastiles that he was the grandson of what famous person?

2. Second, from a purely legal perspective, the most notable cellmate of Brown would have been what Maryland plantation owner, as his challenge to his detention set a (temporary) precedent during the American Civil War that forbid the President from suspending the writ of habeas corpus? The decision, written by Chief Justice Roger Taney acting as the presiding judge of the circuit, held that only Congress had the power to suspend the writ, and since they were not in session, Lincoln’s suspension of the writ was invalid. Congress later would pass a law that retroactively permitted this man’s arrest, but the central holding of the case - that only Congress can suspend the writ - never has been overturned formally (something to keep in mind…).

3. Another something mentioned as an aside in the August 5 post was the country of Latveria. Moviegoers will learn more about that fictional country (its flag is below) in December 2026, when Avengers: Doomsday premieres. The nation, ruled for most of its recent history by Victor von Doom, is said to be a small country situated just south of Hungary and just west of Romania, in a region of Europe historically called Banat. Based on its location and its smaller size, Latveria would correspond most closely to what modern day autonomous province? The flag of this region is shown second below. Continuing the analogy, Latveria’s capital of Doomstadt then would correspond to a city whose name means “new plantation” in its native language.

   

   

4. I am almost done with recalling August 5. As also touched upon in that post, Pandora was given the name Savage Beast Technologies when it was founded by Tim Westergren, Jon Kraft, and Will Glaser in 2000. That name recalls the saying, “music has charms to soothe a savage beast” - but the original saying actually was “music has charms to soothe a savage breast,” as its author was conveying how music can soothe a person’s sense of inner tumult, not tame a wild animal. What 1697 work is the source of the quote? This work was the only tragedy written by its author, who otherwise was known for writing Restoration comedies like The Way of the World. It is also likely the author’s most quotable work, as aside from the quote above, it is the source of another saying, likewise modified from the original: “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

5. At the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, Martin Scorsese led the screening of a restored print of what 1914 film (a still is shown below)? Scorsese’s enthusiasm for this film comes from his belief that its director Giovanni Pastrone invented the template for what would become the epic movie a year before D.W. Griffith released his own epic, The Birth of a Nation. Set during the Second Punic War, its Sicilian title character shares her name with the sex worker who is the title character of a 1957 film, also from Italy, and also praised by Scorsese, in its instance because it contributed to his own “spiritual rebirth.”

   

6. An article published last year on Mashable discussed “the theory that explains why robots suck at doing laundry.” By “theory,” the article actually meant what eponymous paradox, which observes that artificial intelligence has become very good very quickly at high-level reasoning like mathematics, but struggles to do behaviors that most humans consider reflexively self-evident - such as motor tasks like doing laundry, or recognizing a face, or walking? Named for a Carnegie Mellon computer scientist (though asserted by others as well), it is thought that this paradox is explained by the argument that such sensory and motor behavior is more ancient from an evolutionary standpoint, and thus so complex and deeply wired that such actions are more difficult to reverse engineer than more recent evolutionary developments like the abstract reasoning needed to perform math or to play chess.

7. Next week, the television channel AMC will show a concert featuring a performance by what person “One Night Only LIVE”? This “person” actually is a fictional glam rock frontman with the last name de Lioncourt, and he is portrayed by Sam Reid on a currently running AMC television series that ties into next week’s concert. The show is in its third season, where it has switched its story (and indeed its title) to focus on this particular character, as its plot has moved on to using the second book of a novel series as its source material.

8. On July 26, what American artist, a member of the Black Arts Movement, passed away at age 99? Known for specializing in assemblage and for her pointed commentary on racism in America, notable examples of her work include 1969’s Black Girl’s Window (first) and 1978’s Twilight Awakening (second). If you add the German word for “bridges” to her last name, you have the name of the capital of the smallest state of Germany as sorted by area, assuming that you exclude the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg.

   

   

9. A rapper (taps cane). An actor (taps-taps cane). Born Jacques (taps cane). Webster (tap-taps cane). Christopher Nolan cast the performer known professionally by what name to deliver the opening lines of the recent hit film The Odyssey? Portraying Phemius, this man began to chant the story of Odysseus to those would-be usurpers feasting in that king’s own palace. Back in the 21st century, this man is known as being the first person to have three songs debut at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 within a twelve-month period, partly thanks to the singles “Highest in the Room” and “Franchise.”

   

10. Who, famously, is missing in the photo shown below? This successor to Genrikh Yagoda has several nicknames, like the “Bloody Dwarf” (because he was under five feet tall and had an appetite for murder) and “The Vanishing Commissar” (as he was airbrushed from photos like that shown below), but only the real name of this secret policeman will suffice as the answer.

    

11. Shown is what extinct volcano, with its eroded crater at the middle making it seem like it is really two hills, creating the visual effect that explains how this landform got its distinctive name? The slopes of this volcano served as the setting of an AD 1187 battle that completely devastated the losing forces, after that army became trapped on the volcano’s slope following the attacking army setting a fire to the grassy plain nearby. Already undersupplied and dehydrated, the losers panicked and attempted to flee, leading to a rout. The result was that their king was captured, their kingdom soon would be conquered, and a famous relic would become lost to history.

    

Read more

Questions

1. What word unites the following? First, Animotion’s highest-charting song, originally written as a reference to its writer’s heroin habit. Second, the title, in translation, of Luchino Visconti’s adaptation of The Postman Always Rings Twice. Third, the 2026 film featuring a breakthrough performance by Inde Navarrette. Fourth, the product whose initial version won a Fifi Award in 1986, with a version “for Men” winning its own Fifi Award the following year.

2. A 2020 song by the Bellamy Brothers (with help from John Anderson) had them complaining about the direction that their genre had taken, singing “now there’s posers and losers and would-be outlaws who only know how to pretend.” The title that they chose for that song adds a single word to a phrase found near the beginning of “Sailing to Byzantium” by W.B. Yeats, though you likely know that phrase from elsewhere, too. What is the title of this song by the Bellamy Brothers?

3. A variant of common internet meme is shown below. The meme’s origin is a television show that aired on Adult Swim beginning in 2012. In the foreground is what man, that show’s namesake?

   

4. The men’s national soccer team for Brazil has played 91 different countries over the years. Out of all those countries, there is only one national team that Brazil has never beaten, as they have drawn twice and lost three times to this nation. What country is this?

5. Shown is part of the cover for the first paperback edition of what book, initially published in 1970?

   

6. Much of Elon Musk’s early fortune can be attributed to the $175 million in proceeds that he received from the sale of PayPal to what company in 2002? The company eventually spun off PayPal, and lately they have become a target of acquisition themselves, as it was announced in May 2026 that perpetual meme-stock GameStop sought to buy this company, hoping to combine its online presence with GameStop’s bricks-and-mortar model.

7. Obscured by a red box is the location of a town that has just over 4,000 people. The town is just over a mile north-to-south, though it has a namesake that is thought to be about 120 times that size in terms of diameter. What is the shared name?

   

8. We have scientists like Jean-Pierre Raufman and John Eng to thank for the existence of medications like Ozempic, but also what animal, as this was the creature that they were studying when they discovered the peptide that would be the basis for these modern drugs? This animal, Heloderma suspectum, has an enzyme found in its venom called exendin-4 that slows digestion as well as the metabolism of glucose - features that it very much could use, as this animal typically feeds only five to ten times a year.

9. This phrase is not meant to be another way of saying what the song “Baby Got Back” provides. Instead, what two-word term actually was coined by philosopher Gilbert Ryle, though it is much more associated with the interpretative anthropological work of Clifford Geertz? Geertz’s essay “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight” may be the most famous example of this approach, as in that work he attempted to detail the context behind why the Balinese engaged in certain cultural practices.

10. According to its most famous depiction, the City of Dis is moated by what river?

11. The Walt Disney Concert Hall served as the fitting location for the memorial concert, held on January 20, 2026, for what person? Among the pieces performed were the Goldberg Variations, which not only were a favorite work of this person, but also a nod to this man’s birth name: Ephraim Owen Goldberg.

Tiebreaker

1. The Trans-Siberian Railway is the world’s longest railway line, with a nonstop trip along its full length taking about seven days to complete. How many miles does the main line of the railway, going from Moscow to Vladivostok, run?

Round Four - Answers

1. Obsession, as in the name of the 1984 song, the film 1943 Ossessione, the 2026 film Obsession, and the perfume/eau de toilette from Calvin Klein.

2. “No Country Music for Old Men,” a reference to the line “No country for old men,” which names the Cormac McCarthy novel upon which the Coen Brothers based their Oscar-winning film.

3. Eric Andre

4. Norway, who eliminated Brazil in this year’s FIFA World Cup.

5. The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer.

6. eBay

7. Chicxulub, the name given to the crater formed by the asteroid thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs.

8. the Gila monster

9. A “thick description,” which is contrasted with a “thin description,” where an anthropologist merely describes the actions that they observe.

10. The river Styx, as the City of Dis is the walled city that contains the sixth through ninth circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno

11. Frank Gehry, the architect who designed Disney Hall

Tiebreaker: 5,772 miles

Questions

1. While the April 1861 Battle of Fort Sumter was momentous in that it marked the first open hostilities of the American Civil War, there were no fatalities from the bombardment itself, and indeed the only soldiers to die somehow related to that standoff were two U.S. Army soldiers who were killed when a gun exploded during the ceremony that handed the fort over to Confederate forces on April 14. If one maintained that war deaths must result from violent intent, then a reasonable argument could be made that the first true fatalities of the war actually occurred five days later, during the Pratt Street Riots, which happened in what city? Two state militias, called up to defend the nation’s capital, were passing through this city when a confrontation with pro-Confederate locals occurred. It is thought that the city’s mayor, William Brown, may have encouraged the hostilities, and indeed later in the war he would be imprisoned by Union soldiers in the city’s fort. Five Union soldiers and twelve civilians died as a result of the incident.

   

2. What was the name of the ship that pursued the mutineers of the HMS Bounty? It captured fourteen of the mutineers, but (as depicted on the etching shown below), it foundered on the Great Barrier Reef as it approached Australia, with its wreckage remaining there even today. This answer shares its name with several notable things, including: a previous answer on the blog that regarded two science fiction franchises (August, 2024); something that began life as Savage Beast Technologies in 2000; a figure from myth whose pithos was mistranslated into pyxis, leading to a persistent misnomer; and - recalling a subject matter from last time - an icy moon of Saturn that was discovered by Voyager 1 in 1980.

   

3. Speaking of subject matter from last time - we discussed the Masaki Kobayashi film Harakari, and how it is so well-regarded over at the website Letterboxd. Harakari actually is not the only film by Kobayashi highly rated on that website - in fact, two other films by him appear in the top ten. These films, No Greater Love (1959) and A Soldier’s Prayer (1961), join Road to Eternity (1960) to form a trilogy of films by Kobayashi that is given what name? This trilogy shares its name with a 1958 work of political theory published by Hannah Arendt where she contrasts the vita activa with the vita contemplativa. You may not be very familiar with the Arendt work, but because of its existence, the André Malraux novel set during Shanghai’s failed communist revolt of 1927 was given a certain title for its English translation because of that book, instead of the title that would have been the more obvious choice based on its original French language title.

4. The picture below is the spittin’ image of what spit, the largest such sandy landform in the United States? Extending into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, it sits about halfway between Port Townsend and Port Angeles. The bay that it forms lends its name to a crustacean greatly appreciated for its taste, with its culinary uses including its regular presence in the stew cioppino.

   

5. Tatyana Kim is Russia’s first self-made woman billionaire. Her fortune comes primarily from her work founding what company? While at home raising a newborn, she was inspired to start a business that made shopping from home easier for mothers. Apparently, the Russian military may be shopping for parts from home also, as warehouses belonging to this company have become the target of Ukrainian drone strikes, with some 23 of this company’s facilities having been struck since mid-July.

6. Charles Gaines died on July 21. Something of a modern day Renaissance man, he was known for his conservation work and his writing about nature, especially when it came to fishing. He previously was asked about on the blog because he co-invented the game paintball (originally called the “Survival Game”) with Hayes Noel. Gaines also wrote a novel called Stay Hungry which he adapted into a film. That film would result in a Golden Globe for Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture for what man? That film would not be the only collaboration between Gaines and this man, as Gaines would go on to narrate a documentary prominently featuring this performer. I should add, Stay Hungry actually was not this man’s first appearance on film - he had previously played a thug in Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye, with his actual film debut going all the way back to 1970, when he performed under the surname Strong.

7. First and last name required. Shown is one example of a work (First Morning, 2021) by what Irish painter? No, I do not expect you to know modern Irish photorealist painters, but I do expect you to know that, if you melded this man’s first and last names together to form a single word, you would get the term for a particular betting strategy - one that some would argue ignores the sunk cost fallacy - where you respond to losing a bet by doubling your bet for the next go round. The etymology of that word originates with a town in Provence, where inhabitants were known to ride horses using a particular kind of harness that outsiders considered to be risky, leading to the risky betting practice described becoming associated with that town as well.

   

8. In interviews, what musician has - rather appropriately - mentioned that his preferred musical instrument is the Jazzmaster, though he also has a white Stratocaster that he has nicknamed “Tina”? His most famous song initially appeared on his album People Watching, before a revamped version that added a female perspective was released in June 2025. That subsequent version recently surpassed a record in its home country set by Frankie Laine’s “I Believe” all the way back in 1953.

9. A dhampir is a hybrid creature from Slavic folklore, with the creature’s mother being human in most stories. At least in American popular culture, who is the most notable dhampir? Born Eric Cross Brooks in London, he grew up in a brothel, as his father was imprisoned in Latveria while his mother died as she gave birth to him. In film, this character originally appeared in a series for New Line Cinema before joining a larger franchise thanks to his appearance in a 2024 motion picture.

10. British runner Josh Kerr recently set the record in the mile when he completed it in 3 minutes, 42.66 seconds. That broke the record of 3 minutes, 43.13 seconds set in 1999 by what runner? This runner can comfort himself knowing that he still holds the world record in the 1500 meters, which he set in 1998 - though the gold medals that he won at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the 1500 meters and the 5000 meters probably are nice to have also.

Read more

Questions

1. What three words are a tagline for the apparel company that began its existence as the Van Doren Rubber Company as well as the title of an album that features songs like “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” and “Rock with You”?

2. What word, in the context of sushi, can denote the mackerel but, in the context of the Caribbean, names where you would find Mount Scenery - the highest point of the Kingdom of the Netherlands?

3. Who is the last American-born player to win the National Basketball Association’s Most Valuable Player Award, doing so in 2018? He is one of a handful of players to win that award who has never won an NBA title.

4. This molecule’s three hydroxyl groups make it miscible in water, though those three groups also can be the target of esterification. When that process happens to each of those three groups, this molecule is transformed into one of the key subtypes of compounds found in the human body. Its preferred IUPAC name is Propane-1,2,3-triol, but what is the common name of this molecule?

   

5. Though used for its intended purpose for only three decades, a domed structure built in 1915 for the “Prefectural Commercial Exhibition” and designed by Czech architect Jan Letzel very likely remains the most well-known building found in what city?

6. The Mexican folk song “Cielito Lindo” can be translated, roughly, as “Lovely Sweet One,” but it often is referred to by what repetition of syllables as its name? These four words precede “Canta y no llores” in the song, and they are meant to convey woe - so they are not a way that one might affirm acknowledgement to the world’s largest species of nocturnal primate.

7. Among English language television programs, the single most popular season for a streaming series all-time occurred with what program, which appropriately debuted on November 16, 2022? That initial season of that program amassed 252.1 million total views.

8. Shown below is the logo of South Africa’s men’s national soccer team. Prominently featured on it is the “King” species of what flower? While such flowers more colloquially can be called sugarbushes, they typically are called by their genus name - especially in the context of discussing how another one of South Africa’s national teams is faring.

   

9. Below is a quote, taken from Act 2, scene 3 of Macbeth by William Shakespeare. In the scene, a drunken porter talks to himself as he lets Macduff and Lennox into King Duncan’s castle. I have removed what four words from the start of the quote? These four words are a very common combination of words in the English language - though usually in a much different context - with Shakespeare’s use of them in Macbeth being the first known example of this word combination in printed English.

   [missing words], in th’other

   devil’s name? Faith, here’s an equivocator
   that could swear in both the scales against either
   scale, who committed treason enough for God’s
   sake yet could not equivocate to heaven. O, come in,
   equivocator.

10. Shown is Self-portrait with a Sunflower by what painter?

    

11. This woman organized the Silent Sentinels and was crucial in getting the 19th Amendment passed, but she also sought to “Finish the Fight” by passing the Equal Rights Amendment, which she co-authored. Shaina Taub, the author of the musical Suffs, thought so highly of this person that she portrayed this person herself in the original Broadway run of that musical. What historical figure?

Tiebreaker

1. Unsurprisingly, the 2025 Michelin Guide awarded more restaurants with one or more stars to its home country of France than to any other country. How many total restaurants in France were awarded one or more stars? Those designated with the also-regarded Bib Gourmand do not count.

Read more

Questions

1. A moon is considered to be irregular not because of its shape, but because of its orbit. One of Saturn’s moons (which also just so happens to be irregular in shape) is known for its very irregular orbit, as it moves at 175 degrees inclination relative to Saturn’s equator and in a retrograde manner. It is also unusually distant from Saturn, at some 8 million miles, placing it further out than the planet’s other major moons. What moon is this? Discovered in 1899, this moon was named for a sister of Cronus - meaning that, as we continue to discover satellites orbiting Uranus, one less character name from As You Like It will be available for astronomers to use for moons of that planet.

   

2. Remove an “S” and you have a word that denotes Nicki Minaj’s ethnicity, as well as that of many other people from the Caribbean that have mixed African and South Asian ancestry. Add an “S” and you have the married name of Anna Murray, a laundress who crafted a sailor’s outfit to serve as a disguise so that a Maryland caulker could escape to freedom. Keep the word as it is, and you have the birth surname of actor Michael Keaton, who had to change it for understandable reasons. What word?

3. I have removed three instances from the excerpt below where the title of a certain television program appears. The excerpt is taken from a 1910 novel, with the “sermon” being delivered by Margaret Schlegel. What phrase has been removed?

   

   

4. Shown is a series of stills from various motion pictures. What in particular unites the scenes featured? The first instance of this actually occurred in the 1951 film Distant Drums, well before the films shown below, though it is better known for its presence in 1953’s The Charge at Feather River.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

5. The title of a 2022 documentary asks Who Is a particular athlete. The film contains interviews with John McEnroe, Pharrell Williams, Bud Collins, Arthur Ashe, Jam Master Jay, and Darryl McDaniels, among others. The documentary is about the career of what sportsman?

6. The film fandom website Letterboxd maintains a list of the top 500 films of all-time, as rated by its users. Consistently at the top of that list is what 1962 film? Set primarily in 1630, the film’s title references a practice usually accomplished with a tantō. Famous examples of that practice include a 1703 episode involving the entire entirety of a group - save Kira - and a 1970 episode involving the author of The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea and My Friend Hitler.

7. An organization whose name when translated means “Spear of the Nation” used the safe house shown below as a location where they could plan potential actions. Found at Liliesleaf Farm, it was at that building in 1963 where a raid by governmental authorities resulted in the capture of numerous organization members, including Walter Sisulu, Lionel Bernstein, Ahmed Kathrada, Elias Motsoaledi, and Govan Mbeki. Liliesleaf Farm is located in what town, a suburb of its country’s largest city?

   

8. As the Ottoman Empire expanded, it took on land but also financial obligations. That left it searching for ways to maintain order, with one way being to recruit soldiers and to arm them - but then not pay them. The intent was to have these irregulars live off whatever loot that they could take for themselves in battle, but in practice it meant that they sometimes had the opportunity, as well as the need, to turn their weapons on the citizens that they supposedly were guarding, with massacres in Batak in Bulgaria and Candia in Crete being notable examples of that tragic turn. Their name colloquially is translated from Ottoman Turkish to mean “leaderless,” but more literally, as well as appropriately, it means “one who is crazy in the head.” What is the term for these irregular soldiers, with one example being depicted below in an 1881 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme?

   

9. Researchers at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology recently announced that they had synthesized a dress made out of… a fungus. The fungus is treated with glycerol to help make it firm, allowing it then to be formed into sheets, with that process also triggering a kind of dormancy in the life form. Dyes then can be added to make that product presentable, with one result shown below. What is intriguing is that, if the material develops a tear, it can be treated with water and nutrients (in the form of pellets) that trigger fungal growth, leading to the clothing repairing itself. One downside is that the material biodegrades in about six weeks. I would submit that another potential downside would be a zombie outbreak, as the fungus used by these researchers belongs to the same genus as the dangerous fungus responsible for the world featured in The Last of Us video game franchise and television series. What genus gives us the fungus that is the source of this unusual technology?

   

10. We have remarks made by Chief Justice Surya Kant on May 15, 2026, to thank indirectly for providing us the name of what? The next day, Boston University graduate Adhijeet Dipke took to Instagram and other social media platforms to formally coin this term, describing it as “a political front of the youth, by the youth, for the youth: secular, socialist, democratic, and lazy,” with membership available to many groups, including those online “at least 11 hours daily, including bathroom breaks.” Whether actual members of order Blattodea can join remains unclear.

Read more

I made today a free post - spread the word.

Questions

1. Fatefully, what person (along with her wicker basket) was upgraded to business class on a 1981 Air France flight flying to Paris from London? Though a short flight, it afforded this person the opportunity to talk with Jean-Louis Dumas, the then-Executive Chairman of Hermès.

2. It is the two-letter designation for the chromosomal system used for sex determination in birds, most reptiles, some insects, some crustaceans, and some fish. In another context, Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meer won the 1984 Nobel Prize in Physics for confirming the existence of particles with these names. What are the shared pair of letters?

3. What is the term for the area highlighted, taken from a schematic of the side wall of a Gothic cathedral? The etymology for this term reflects how this feature was designed to allow light (and sometimes fresh air) to enter the church.

   

4. Below is a (slightly redacted) quote from an award-winning work. Fill in the blank with the correct four words.

   “Do you know? When he died - and by the way he died the [blank], in his green velvet slippers in the smoker of the New York, New Haven and Hartford, going into Boston - when he died, hundreds… were at his funeral. Things were sad on a lotta trains for months after that.”

5. It means “shaded” in another language, and it is used to describe the blending of one color into another, usually by transitioning from light hues to dark hues - as with the gentleman’s shirt shown below. What one tough word is being described?

   

6. Michael Phelps has the most Olympic medals among those competing for the United States of America all time, with an astounding 28, including 23 gold medals. What woman is second on that list of Americans? This person has fourteen total medals, including nine gold.

7. Shown is one of the members of a group of carpet sharks from family Orectolobidae. What is the name given to these bottom-dwelling fish? While the example below does look a bit forlorn there at the bottom of the ocean, these fish actually get their name from an Australian aboriginal word meaning “shaggy beard.”

   

8. Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake in the world by volume (as opposed to surface area), as well as the world’s deepest lake. What lake, located in Africa and superlative in another regard, is second on both of those lists?

9. From a practical standpoint, the effective independence day for this country is July 4… 1946. However, this nation recognizes June 12 as its annual official commemoration of independence, as it was on that date decades years earlier at Kawit that revolutionaries made such a declaration of self-rule. What country?

10. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are not the first couple to hold an event wedding at Madison Square Garden. What musician married Kathy Silva on June 5, 1974 at that venue? The couple wore gold-sequined outfits designed by Halston as they said their vows in front of a crowd of greater than 20,000 fans. Once the ceremony was finished, this man led his band in a performance that included such hits “Family Affair,” “Dance to the Music,” and “I Want to Take You Higher.”

11. Winning an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2025, who is the performer shown?

Tiebreaker

1. The nation of Switzerland recently held a referendum to cap their population at a certain number (it didn’t pass). According to the Swiss government’s real-time population counter (located on the https://www.bfs.admin.ch website), what was the population of Switzerland as of July 2, 2026, at 7:40 p.m. Swiss time?

Answers

1. Jane Birkin. The difficulties with her wicker basket led to a discussion that prompted the creation of the Birkin bag.

2. W and Z, as in the ZZ/ZW sex-determination system and the W and Z bosons.

3. the clerestory (also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey). Yes, it means “clear story.”

4. “death of a salesman,” with the line taken from the Arthur Miller play of the same name.

5. ombré

6. Kathleen “Katie” Ledecky, who also happens to be the most decorated female swimmer at the Olympic Games from any country.

7. the wobbegong - not the “woebegone.”

8. Lake Tanganyika, which also is the longest lake in the world, with a length of 418 miles measured north-to-south.

9. The Philippines

10. Sylvester “Sly” Stone of Sly and the Family Stone. The marriage lasted about two years - good luck, Taylor and Travis!

11. From “Higher” to… Britt Lower, who portrayed Helly R. on Severance.

Tiebreaker: The population of Switzerland on that date was 9,158,071. The vote asked if the country should cap its population at ten million.

Questions

1. A small city with a population of 20,000 goes by a name in its native language that means “cape” and by a name in the language of the people who colonized it that means “good hope.” So, of course, this city is located about 7,750 miles away from the Cape of Good Hope. What city, increasingly in the news, is this?

2. According to Broadway, it is the location where there are laws mandating that “the winter is forbidden till December” and “summer lingers through September.” In American history, this word could be applied to connote the era where laws like the Equal Pay Act and the Community Mental Health Act were passed. What shared word?

3. What theme best links the following things, each described by their own clue? Your answer should mention both a proper place name and a thing.

   • Any single member of order Phoenicopteriformes.

   • The 1977 film whose “Theme” was written by Kander and Ebb.

   • What Bedivere was asked by its owner to return.

   • The city opposite the Theban Necropolis.

   • “O mio babbino caro,” among many examples.

   • According to a 2008 film, what Carrie stopped drinking, “because everyone else started.”

   • The location where one can find Foremast, Mainmast, and Mizzenmast Hills running north to south.

4. Shown on the cover of the album below is a 14-fret National Style “O” Resonator. Such resonator guitars are called by what name, a now generic term derived from the name of the company founded by Slovak immigrant John (along with his brothers Rudy, Emile, Robert, and Louis) in 1928?

   

5. A May 2025 article in La Stampa, playfully titled “Il Peccatore e il Santo Padre,” talked about the meeting that occurred between Pope Leo XIV and what professional athlete?

6. A nod to the neighboring Los Cabos vacation homes of Rande Gerber, Mike Meldman, and George Clooney is how we got the name of what company?

7. Also notable about Michael B. Jordan winning the Academy Award for Best Actor at the ceremony held in 2026 is how Jordan became the first person since what performer to win an Oscar for acting while playing two different characters in the same film? That actor won for portraying characters named Kid Shelleen and Tim Strawn, with that film’s title role being played by Jane Fonda.

8. The following tweet, posted during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, is an amusing reference to two battles in English history that occurred three weeks apart from each other in the year 1066. One battle, of course, was the Battle of Hastings, where Harold Godwinson lost to French Norman invaders. Prior to that, Harold was victorious, leading his forces in defeating King Harald Hardrada of Norway at a battle named for what location? In keeping with the soccer theme, this location today found in East Yorkshire shares its name with an otherwise unrelated stadium located elsewhere in England.

   

9. Through the summer of 2026, there have been eleven elections in the United States for the office of governor where both major party candidates were women. The first instance occurred in Nebraska in 1986. The most recent instance occurred last year, when what Henrico County native defeated Winsome Earle-Sears in their race for governor?

10. This artist had his breakthrough with songs like “Back to Friends” and “Undressed,” though it has been noted that his 2026 hit “Homewrecker” seems more poppy and even upbeat, belying his stage name. Who is this musician, born Shane Michael Boose?

11. Shown is The Two Sisters, painted by what artist? It’s a fitting subject for this man, as the painting depicts twins, and this artist is himself a twin, with a first name that can be translated from Yoruba to mean “the one who appears last” - a reference to him being the younger sibling.

Read more

I also tossed an eleventh question in today. It’s about something that I asked about long ago, but I felt an approach that paired it with another question here was too irresistible for me to ignore.

Questions

1. The map below has two locations highlighted. The lefthand location is where one person was born on March 10, 1936, while the righthand location shows where another person was born on March 23, 1970. The younger person succeeded the older person in a notable position, but they are not related. What two people are being discussed?

   

2. Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus made the news in July 2026 with their staged marriage proposal atop the Empire State Building (shown). After scaling the building’s spire, these “rooftoppers” unfurled a flag that read, “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace.” The couple have a long history of urban daredevil stunts, such as a 2022 ascent of Kuala Lumpur’s Merdeka 118, as previously chronicled in what 2024 documentary? Despite the film’s one word title, Shmi and Luke do not make an appearance in it.

   

3. “Place any number of dots on a flat surface. How many pairs of dots can be exactly one unit apart from each other?” is a succinct way of asking what is called the planar unit distance problem. Its author, when he proposed it in 1946, thought that a specific kind of grid - like the one shown below - would create the most pairs, as opposed to alternatives like a lattice. Which mathematician proposed the planar unit distance problem, along with that solution? For years, other mathematicians deferred to his judgment, in part because few were willing to start with the assumption that this man could be wrong, and in part because much potentially fruitless work was required to investigate the question. In May 2026, OpenAI announced that they had disproved this man’s conjecture, determining that a lattice derived from algebraic number theory satisfied his question better. Aside from the astounding achievement of using artificial intelligence to create a new mathematical proof, the news was a vindication for OpenAI for other reasons, as the previous year they had announced that their GPT-5 had solved ten of this person’s problems, when in actuality it had just recompiled proofs previously developed by human mathematicians.

   

4. Normandy for a brief time was united with the English crown, but that was not because William the Conqueror necessarily wanted it to be that way. While Normandy would be under control of the English crown during the reign of rulers like King Henry II, when William died, he actually assigned the Duchy of Normandy to his eldest son, while giving his English lands to William Rufus, his second oldest son. Unsurprisingly, the arrangement did not last very long, as this eldest son attempted to war with William Rufus to secure lands that he thought should have been his in the first place. This eldest son is known by what name? It is thought that his byname was meant to be derogatory - possibly given to him by his father - so it not a reference to a particular style of legwear that he favored. That epithet should be part of your answer.

5. The clip below (audio credit: CBS/Columbia), taken from the Adam Ant song “Strip,” cuts off just before what four words are said? In a literary context, these words become a phrase that titles a 1967 farce featuring adultery, cross-dressing, and Winston Churchill’s bronze penis. But the phrase had a popular use well before that, as it also titled a voyeuristic “mutoscopic reel” from the early 20th century. That early work of filmed erotica depicted a woman undressing, with you the viewer watching her do so as if looking through a keyhole. Going back even further, that film took that title from an infamous divorce trial from 1886 that hinged on whether a particular person plausibly could have spied through the keyhole to witness the adulterous affair that Gertrude Blood, Lady Campbell was said to be conducting with a firefighter.

6. While we are finding literary references in British New Wave hits: what four words finish the line below, taken from “West End Girls” by the Pet Shop Boys (audio credit: Parlophone)? The phrase is known to students of literature thanks to a work of literary criticism published in 1940 - which was poor timing “for a book whose hero is Vladimir Lenin.” The directionality implied by the title of that work was meant to suggest not only the completion of a real life journey, but also how a particular arrival represented the culmination of revolutionary Marxist thought in the West.

7. While this character - or really, the actor portraying him - has been in the news as of late, he doesn’t even appear in Homer’s Odyssey. What character does Elliot Page portray in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey? Different authors provide different stories for this character, but they generally agree that this person was left behind when the Greeks pretended to leave the coast of Ilium. Virgil, in the Aeneid, provides the most famous recounting, as he says that this man told the Trojans that he had deserted the Greeks, with the Trojan Horse having been left behind incidentally, as a gift to the gods so as to ensure safe passage home. The Trojans took this man at his word and… well, go see the movie.

   

8. Online wags have used programs such as Pangram to argue that significant portions of what work, ironically, are AI-generated? Daniel Filan, for example, has argued that several stylistic choices - like the use of the em dash and the multiple instances of the word “genuine” - indicate that AI generated this text, with Filan proffering a section of the introduction that begins the analogy of comparing the construction of the Tower of Babel to Nehemiah’s project to rebuild Jerusalem as one such example. Its official author has stated that he consulted with certain experts, like Anthropic’s Chris Olah, while compiling this work, but ultimately the work is a creation of his own hand with the help of his researchers.

9. Last time we discussed the painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. The story behind its creation is interesting in itself, as among the influences that went into the final work was a then-unregarded painting owned by one of Picasso’s friends. This painting, found today at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was purchased by Ignacio Zuloaga in 1897 for all of 1000 pesetas. What work of art is this? It is thought that the painting inspired Picasso’s finished work in at least three ways: first, through its themes, which included balancing the sacred with the profane; second, through the sense of drama that it conveyed, albeit in a more apocalyptic context in its case; and third, through its figurative structure, as the shown work sketched by Picasso as he was beginning to create Les Demoiselles would indicate.

   

10. Next time you are in Okinawa, keep your eyes open for something like the bottle shown below (and feel free to bring me back one as a souvenir). The liquid, which is the supposed draw, is awamori, a rice-based alcoholic beverage distilled with a particular local fungus called kōji that is thought to give the drink its distinctive flavor. Perhaps also contributing to that flavor is the pit viper, a species also local to the island and known by what common name? Part of genus Protobothrops, this snake has a venom which is rarely fatal (if a one percent fatality rate is something that you are comfortable with), but it can cause hypotension and potentially disabling bleeding. Venom aside, the concoction is said to have a terrible smell, but locals are willing to risk it anyhow, since it is said that these snakes can mate for over a day at time, and legend has it that if you consume the snake’s venom, you’ll take on those powers of virility.

    

11. A promising area of pharmaceutical research involves a group of medications called ASOs. These medications work by targeting mRNAs that express problematic proteins, such as in the case of superoxide dismutase 1 in ALS (the medication tofersen) or as in the case of the SMN protein in spinal muscular atrophy (the medication nusinersen). If the “O” stands for oligonucleotide, then “AS” represents what (and quite reasonably, actually)? This single word is common in genetics, used in reference to DNA for the noncoding strand opposite to the gene, and in the instance here to reference the nucleotide sequence complementary to the coding mRNA strand. A common example of an ASO is a medication called a gapmer, which partly is comprised of the mirror strand, so that it will bind to the target mRNA, with another portion containing a sequence that attracts the intracellular enzyme RNAse H, which interacts with the complex to cleave the target mRNA.

Read more

Questions

1. Give the shared name. From history, something called this is now on display at the Cantor Arts Center of Stanford University, where you can see that it was signed “Presented by David Hewes San Francisco,” as Hewes was the person who made this in 1869. In geology, this is the figurative name given to an actual reference point which, according to the International Union of Geological Sciences, defines the lower boundary of a stratigraphic section of geologic time. Shown below is one such example of this, found in Ediacara, South Australia, though in its instance it is made of bronze. What phrase?

   

2. The attached clip is taken from a concerto grosso for strings quite modern in origin, having debuted in 1996. Even before its public debut, this piece had been snatched up by the De Beers Group, as they famously featured it in a series of commercials where silhouetted figures interacted, usually culminating in the male silhouette giving the female silhouette a diamond (image below). The composer of this piece had less flashy inspirations, as he wrote that he was inspired by the “mathematical harmony and architectural elements borrowed from classical antiquity” seen in the work of a particular architect, going on to name this piece in that man’s honor. Others inspired in a different way by that particular architect would include Claude Nicolas Ledoux, Inigo Jones, and Thomas Jefferson. What is the name of this piece, composed by Karl Jenkins?

   

3. The continent of Africa has not had much luck producing Grand Slam tennis champions. The only native-born person from Africa to win a Grand Slam singles title was Johan Kriek (mentioned here previously), who won the Australian Open in 1981 and ‘82 - and then promptly became an American citizen. Some similarities with that situation can be found with the case of what player, who won the French Open in 1951 and ‘52 and Wimbledon in 1954 as a citizen of Egypt, only to leave that country and become a citizen of the United Kingdom in 1959? Egyptians today might not be too possessive of this man’s legacy, as before those victories he had been a citizen of Czechoslovakia, having defected from that country to Egypt in 1949 because of increasing travel restrictions placed on him by the Communist regime.

4. The image below is from 1911. The gentleman featured is not soaking his limbs in icy water after an intense sporting competition, but instead undergoing what procedure? At the time, the participant had to soak both arms and their left leg in a saline solution that was attached to an apparatus that required six people to operate it. The three chosen extremities were positioned such that something called “Einthoven’s triangle” could be created and then viewed. In later years, this procedure became much more detailed, fortunately ditching the bath in the process.

   

5. The shown creature gets its name from a less obvious feature that it has, and not that very obvious, impressive shell that covers not only the main portion of its body, but also its tale. This creature was the first fossil of its kind to be discovered, making it the first discovered cingulate, and thus an ancient predecessor to the modern-day armadillos. Being that first of its kind, it also lends its name to a larger clade of extinct, armadillo-like creatures. What is the genus name given to the animal shown?

   

6. This word loosely can be translated into English as meaning “fandom” or “clique,” but that does not convey the fullness of the commitment of such fandom, since arguably the word otaku could be translated that same way. What distinguishes this as a word is that members of this kind of clique engage in creative activity as well, with those who enjoy manga, as one example, publishing their own fan fiction, often gathering at conventions like Tokyo’s Comiket to trade and sell their work. What is this Japanese term for fans of a genre who self-publish the genre-based works that they create?

7. Penthrox is the trade name of methoxyflurane, a pain reliever sometimes called the green this. Minnie Riperton’s “Lovin’ You” is notable for how its bridge makes use of a technique that incorporates this word in its name. In Indian cooking, it is said that one unit called this is enough to cook rice, but cooking beans requires five or six of these. A hit song titled this asks a woman to “put your lips together / And you come real close,” while a book titled this finishes a thematic trilogy by James Jones that also included From Here to Eternity and The Thin Red Line. What is the shared word, which also can describe Silbo Gomero, an unusual language “spoke” in the Canary Islands?

8. The shown painting takes its title from a line found in “L’Invitation au voyage,” part of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du mal. Its painter found additional inspiration working with Paul Signac, as he was visiting Signac at Saint-Tropez during the summer of 1904 when he conceived this work. While that painter started with a work that seems Pointillist in approach, his dots are more irregular, and the colors that he chose were meant to convey intense feeling, not a reality that he meant to depict, in the hope of conveying a sense of “luxury, peace, and pleasure.” What resulted is the first work now viewed as Fauvist, and an important break with paintings up to that point because of how this work so prioritized emotion. Today found at the Musée d’Orsay, what is this name (almost always rendered in French) of this 1904 work by Henri Matisse?

   

9. A particular men’s national football team has the nickname the “Lions of Teranga,” with teranga being not a place, but a concept. It is a word that, one writer learned, means “generosity of spirit and sharing of material possessions in all encounters – even with strangers,” with one example that she noted being how a planned dinner (below) always will have an extra plate ready, in case a guest happens to present. Roughly meaning “hospitality” in Wolof, in what country should you expect teranga if you happen to visit it?

   

10. Born with the unpromising name of Theophylact of Tusculum, this man was the relative of at least five previous popes, including his immediate predecessor John XIX. With that said, it seems to have been the bribery conducted by his father, and not outright nepotism, that explains how this man was elected to the Papacy at the unusually young age of twenty - which made this man probably the youngest person to be elected Pope. But he was not done setting records: it was not this man’s inexperience, but his scandalous behavior, that led to his deposition in 1044 - only for him to return for a second pontificate the following year. Feeling that his position was unstable, he then would resign that same year - only to return for a third pontificate two years later. Who was this man, the only person to hold the office of the Papacy more than once?

Read more

Questions

1. Plovdiv, Bulgaria is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe, with settlement there dated back to 6000 BC. I’ve seen that asked elsewhere before, so I hardly can ask you that here. So, what’s the oldest continuously inhabited city in Western Europe? Founded as Gadir by the Phoenicians around 1100 BC, in turn it would become a major launching point for another people’s colonies elsewhere in the world. This city’s beautiful cathedral, shown below, is known in full as the Cathedral of the Holy Cross over the Waters, and it has a yellow-tiled dome designed to shimmer like gold - an ongoing reminder of this city’s golden age during the height of an empire. As the picture below shows, the city has no appreciable beard, so any singeing of that beard purely would have been metaphorical.

   

2. The image below was taken from a 1955 film directed by one man, with him playing in a supporting role in the work as a mustachioed safe-cracking expert. The film is well-regarded even today because of a 30-minute sequence of a heist, taking place at a jewelry store on the Rue de la Paix, that was filmed in complete silence, outside of whatever incidental sounds were created by the actors as they went about their mock criminality. This man’s son went a different direction in his career, as can be heard below, with him quite audibly endorsing the charms of another street in Paris. Give the name of both the filmmaking father and the musician son behind the works just discussed.

   

3. Not only does this quote never actually appear in its supposed source film, but it originated on Twitter in November 2021, months before that film even debuted. It was then that user rhidaneelolivaw, in a probable nod to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchise - or possibly to the Fantastic Four - proposed this as a saying. When its purported source film debuted in April 2022, another Twitter user, Rank10YGO, commented that “the best part of” that film was this line - and few people questioned him, as few people actually had seen the motion picture. Yet now the line is in some sense canonical, as it would appear in 2024’s comic issue Amazing Spider-Man – Blood Hunt #2. What phrase, certainly more popular than its related motion picture?

4. This phrase lends its name to album titles by 21 Savage, LCD Soundsystem, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, as well as to the title of a 1960 play by Edward Albee. Dusty Rhodes made this phrase his nickname, and pluralized it becomes the title of a Philadelphia-set television series that aired on NBC from 2002 to 2005. In its better known, more historical context, it was popularized by James Truslow Adams in his 1931 book The Epic of America, where he wrote of “a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.” What phrase?

5. This stadium has held the least attended Super Bowl, with only 25,000 attendees, as well as the first Super Bowl where one of the competing teams had the opportunity to play the game on their usual home field. In fact, both those facts regarded the same edition of the Super Bowl, suggesting that the home field advantage would have been minimal - but that “home” team won anyway. What stadium is this?

6. Water turning green despite the best efforts otherwise to prevent that outcome has been in the news lately. Prior to the current fiasco with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, probably the most notable example of such an ill-timed greening occurred at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where - stop me if you have heard this before - someone poured hydrogen peroxide in a pool, causing a reaction that triggered an algal bloom that not only gave the pool a green hue, but a smell “like someone had farted.” The unfortunate pool, shown below, is part of the Aquatic Centre named for what woman (second below)? In 1932, this woman became the first woman from South America to compete at the Olympic Games, and it is felt that she likely would have been the first South American woman to win a gold medal, too, had ensuing Olympic Games not been cancelled due to World War Two.

   

   

7. The shown molecule is an antibiotic sold under the name Macrobid. That antibiotic commonly is used to treat uncomplicated urinary tract infections and rarely is prescribed for anything else. At the center of the molecule (as highlighted in red) - and, indeed, at the center of the generic name given to the antibiotic - is a heterocyclic organic compound where a single oxygen atom joins four carbon atoms to form a five-membered aromatic ring. What five-letter name is given to such a five-membered ring structure?

   

8. Antipater of Sidon wrote the following couplet about a work of art:

   Paris, Adonis, and Anchises saw me naked,

   Those are all I know of, but how did Praxiteles contrive it?

   Great question that I often ask myself! - and apparently a controversial one in ancient times, as the town of Kos was offered the first opportunity to receive this work, but declined, opting for a clothed alternative instead. This work is notable in the history of art as being the first known life-sized statue of a naked female figure in Greek art - and perhaps anywhere in the world at all - as up to that point we only have evidence of life-sized nudes of males in statuary form. What sculpture is this?

9. This food (shown) probably is the product of Chinese traders who lived in the southeastern part of that country, which would explain how it is popular both in the Philippines and Indonesia, with the thought being that its name comes from Hokkien words meaning “soft cake.” That “cake” is more of thin, crepe-like pastry, with the filling depending on where you are eating it. In the Philippines, a common variety is the Shanghai, and it usually has pork, carrots, and onions, while braver palates can opt for the dinamita, containing a whole chili pepper. In Indonesia, the most famous version is the Semarang, which avoids pork in favor of chicken or shrimp, with bamboo shoots and scrambled eggs added for extra flavor. What is the shared name for this kind of spring roll common to both nations?

   

10. The range of this bird goes across most of Central Asia, with populations also found in Turkey, the Lower Nile, and India. More formally known as Grus virgo, the common name by which this bird is known today goes back to at least 1750, and it is meant to reference how elegant and light this bird is, as it is the smallest member of the crane family. So, any connections to those working in establishments frequented by Picasso and located along Barcelona’s Carrer d'Avinyó is unlikely. What bird?

Read more

Questions

1. Give the shared phrase. In one instance, this phrase could be used to describe the action taken by Jerry (shown) at the end of a March 1993 episode of the television series Seinfeld. That episode, titled “The Junior Mint,” concluded with him realizing that someone that he thought was called “Mulva” was not called “Mulva.” In a very different context, something more formally known by this phrase occurred over 180 years before that episode. In that older instance, the action likely was spontaneous in nature, which is why what exactly was said is subject to ongoing dispute, though there is thought that it began with, “My children: a new dispensation comes to us today. Will you receive it? Will you free yourselves?” and included comments like “Will you be slaves of Napoleon?” and “Death to the Gachupines!”

   

2. (holds envelope to head) A local legend has it that Merlin the Wizard turned a legion of Roman soldiers into stone at the location known by what name? If that is the case, Merlin may have missed some, as a typical Roman legion would have had around 5,000 soldiers, and just over 3,000 menhirs are to be found amongst the Ménec, Kermario, and Kerlescan alignments located at this site.

3. What is the name given to the official match ball, made by Adidas, used for the 2026 FIFA World Cup? Its name would be a misnomer if it was meant to refer to the fact that it is made of four panels thermally bonded together (a new record for that kind of economy). But, instead, that name is meant as a reference to the host countries, combined with a Spanish word meaning “wave.” Aside from that innovative four-panel design, the ball is notable for containing a chip that acts as a sensor to assist officials with matters such as offsides decisions.

   

4. Recalling the subject of the 2026 Met Gala, with its theme of “Costume Art” - another splashy offering by Prabal Gurung was the design shown below, worn by Rachel Zegler. Zegler’s dress, combined with her blindfold, is meant to recall The Execution of Lady Jane Grey (second), an 1833 work by what Romantic painter? Aside from his particular fascination with depicting events from British history, this painter may be best known for the Raphael-inspired Hémicycle that he created for the École des Beaux Arts.

   

   

5. During Spain’s 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Lamine Yamal scored what likely will be the first of many goals that he will score in a World Cup game. Following that goal, he kneeled down in an act where he brought seven parts of his body to the ground, literally “touching grass”: his forehead (along with his nose), both palms, both knees, and both feet. This act of prostration is part of the Islamic prayer ritual (salah) and is known by what name? I was not able to cross-reference Yamal’s position relative to Mecca during his action, but it seems that, for his purposes, performing this act at the corner flag nearest to his goal served as a reasonable makeshift qibla.

   

6. A long-standing question in atmosphere science is how the world came to have the oxygen that it does, since evidence suggests that until 2.4 billion years ago, there were not amounts significant enough to support life as we know it - perhaps thankfully so, as oxygen’s reactivity would have been harmful to such early life. Research by Jingming Shi at Jiangsu Normal University in China has suggested that oxides of what transition metal could have been the source of our oxygen? These oxides, buried deep in the Earth at high pressure, would have made their way upward towards Archaen seas, where bacteria slowly became accustomed to the presence of such oxygen in free form. One irony is that it is thought that early photosynthesis was dependent on this element, as cyanobacteria used sunlight to extract electrons from this element, with those electrons acting as an energy source to power downstream chemical reactions. In today’s plants, this element has been demoted to serving as a cofactor in the Oxygen-Evolving Complex of Photosystem II, with another, similar sounding element playing a more central role in photosynthesis.

7. “Ducks” versus “decorated sheds” is the central argumentative conceit in what 1972 book? The “duck” in this instance refers to a structure not in the titular location, but instead refers to the “Big Duck,” a shop in Long Island built in 1931 where a local farmer could sell ducks and duck eggs. Citing the Big Duck, this book’s authors quoted Augustus Pugin in stating that it is “all right to decorate construction but never to construct decoration.”

8. While the company that makes this is based in Colorado, this product’s famous design originates with Quebec native Andrew Reddyhoff, who as President of Foam Creations, Inc. came up with an object featuring “slip resistance that could float, making it suitable for various water activities.” A true urban legend is that the makers of the film Idiocracy purchased these products in large amounts, as not only they were inexpensive, but they also were viewed as “stupid” and “plastic” - perfect for the world where that film is set. Ominously, then, the parent company of this product reported $4 billion in global revenue in 2025. What product?

9. While there is no doubt that his connections to his cousin, Kendrick Lamar, helped with his career - his breakthrough work came with 2018’s soundtrack to the film Black Panther, and he worked with Lamar on Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers as well as the song “The Hillbillies” - this man has gone on to build his own impressive body of work. That work includes his 2019 hit “Orange Soda,” his 2021 debut studio album The Melodic Blue (featuring the song “family ties”), and his recently released, critically acclaimed album Casino. Which musician (shown)?

   

10. Read my mind. What theme links the following clues?

    • Once famously paired with the Turner Joy, in its second life, it belonged to Taiwan, operating under the name ROCS Po Yang.

    • In humans, there are nine genes known by this name, each with some role in regulating the embryonic development of different body systems (the first, for example, regulates development of the vertebral column). This name comes from earlier studies in Drosophila, as errors in similar homeobox genes were associated with abnormalities in how different body systems in that genus of fly were paired.

    • The Afro-soul musician, born Bulelwa Mkutukana, with hit albums including Loliwe, Phendula, and Mgodi. She passed awy from complications of alcoholic liver disease in 2023, at age 36.

    • Better known today through its connection to the American Civil War, a location with this name served as the religious capital for the ancient Israelites, as it was at that location where both the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant were found prior to the building of the First Temple.

    • If you wanted to find this person between 1974 and 1976, there was a good chance she was at SEX on 430 King’s Road - with Malcolm probably nearby.

    • A corporate attorney turned politician, as Secretary of State this man would be the architect of William Taft’s policy of “dollar diplomacy.”

Answers

1. Jerry knew - but not really - that the woman that he was dating had a name which rhymed with a female body part. He realized right after she dumped him that her rhyming name was Dolores, yelling that name out from his apartment as she walked away. The historically more important “Cry of Dolores” (Grito de Dolores) occurred in the early morning of September 16, 1810, when Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla assembled a group of supporters outside his church in Dolores (today called Dolores Hidalgo in his honor) to join him in revolt. The revolt nominally only opposed the government of Joseph Bonaparte, who was named ruler of Spain by his brother Napoleon, but it eventually ballooned into a larger movement in favor of total independence from Spain. Following the Grito, tens of thousands of supporters marched on Mexico City. They ultimately were defeated by a smaller but far better trained group of loyalist soldiers at the Battle of Calderón Bridge, with Hidalgo subsequently being betrayed, captured, and executed by firing squad.

2. Sorry - I seemed to have been inspired a bit too much by dated (but once popular) television this week! While Stonehenge gets all the attention, the largest collection of menhirs (prehistoric standing stones) is located at Carnac, in Brittany, France. The Le Ménec Alignment (shown below) may be the most noteworthy collection there, as it has eleven rows of stones (many well over three meters tall) covering a total distance of a kilometer. One of the recurring skits on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson featured Carson (second below) dressed as a “mystic from the East” named Carnac. Carnac used his psychic powers to offer answers to questions hidden in an envelope that he would hold against his head as an act of divination. As one example, he would divine the answer “UCLA,” opening the envelope to read, “What happens when the smog clears in Los Angeles?”

   

   

3. The Adidas Trionda. The “tri” of course references the three host countries, while a Spanish word for “wave” is onda.

4. Paul Delaroche

5. The sujud, which also can be spelled sujood, sajdah, sijda, and sejda.

6. It is thought that the oxygen bound to manganese is where much of our atmospheric oxygen originated, with that same element being crucial to early photosynthesis. Analogous to how hemoglobin has an atom of iron at the center of its porphyrin ring, the chlorophyll (below) crucial to plant photosynthesis today has an atom of magnesium at the center of its ring, which is a reduced form of porphyrin called chlorin.

   

7. Perhaps the book most central to postmodern theory in architecture is the 1972 book Learning from Las Vegas, written by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour. The book argues that buildings exist in city spaces where drivers pass by them, and sometime quickly, so it is important that these buildings convey what they are through signage - that is, that they act as decorated sheds, with Vegas being full of such “sheds.” These writers contrasted such buildings with more abstract “ducks,” like Long Island’s Big Duck (shown), which they felt are too abstract and - perhaps more crucially - not practical given the space considerations that modern buildings need.

   

8. Cheap and thought to look stupid, Crocs are shoes worn by many characters in the film Idiocracy. And yet today my son wears them also.

   

9. Baby Keem, born Hykeem Jamaal Carter Jr.

10. These are all reference children of Angelina Jolie (and, I suppose, Brad Pitt, though apparently not recently). The destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy were the alleged targets of the murky Gulf of Tonkin incident. The “paired homeobox” family of genes found in Drosophila would have their name shortened to the Pax family of genes. The singer Zahara may be obscure to you, but the theme demanded it, so there we are, and now you know. Shiloh was the early important Israelite religious center, and it lent its name to a Tennessee church that in turn would lend its name to the April 1862 Battle of Shiloh. Punk fashion arguably was born at SEX (below), the store run by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren. Finally, Philander Knox was Taft’s Secretary of State.

1. A visit to Japan means that it is very likely that you will encounter the shown kind of food - a ball of rice shaped into a form like a triangle, so as to make it portable, with various ingredients, such as vegetables and fish, then added. Derived from a Japanese verb meaning “to grasp,” what is the name of this food? While it seems uniquely suited to modern life (as the second photo, taken from a Japanese 7-Eleven, would suggest), archaeologists have uncovered evidence that people living during Japan’s Yayoi period (300 BC to AD 300) ate something similar.

   

   

2. First and last name required. Carolina Hurricane center Jordan Staal just had a very good week, with his team winning the Stanley Cup and with him being awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as part of that. Additionally, he set an interesting record when scored a goal in Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals. Prior to that goal, his last goal scored in a Stanley Cup Final came in Game Four of the 2009 Cup - some 6,202 days earlier, when Staal played for the Pittsburgh Penguins. With that goal, he broke the record for most elapsed time between two goals in the Stanley Cup Finals. Staal broke the record held by what person? A period of 6,198 days separates goals that this man scored in Stanley Cup Final games, with the first of those goals coming for the Hurricanes in the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals, and the last occurring while this man played for the Florida Panthers in the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals.

3. Stop me if you have heard this one before: a great power finds itself embroiled in a crisis in the Middle East, with control of a strait being a crucial issue of contention. Domestically, there is little support for the country to launch a major war, and there is even less support for the country to do so amongst its traditional allies. I am, of course, talking about what September 1922 crisis, where Great Britain found itself forced to make major concessions to the government of Turkey regarding what had been Greek-designated territory under international protection? While ultimately at issue was control of Istanbul, the crisis gets its name for a location on the Dardanelles where British troops were encamped, with the approach of Turkish forces upon that city prompting a call for the British to strike first to preserve what previously had been agreed upon in the Treaty of Sèvres. Instead, the British backed down, with the main consequence domestically being the collapse of David Lloyd George’s government, and the major consequences internationally being the confirmation of the previous Turkish conquest of Smyrna (today called Izmir, and shown), the Turkish seizure of Istanbul, and the expulsion (once again) of Greece from the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea.

   

4. Homing pigeons really do have the ability to navigate, but for many years, it was a mystery as to how they accomplished such a feat. In particular, they seemed to demonstrate the same skill despite overcast skies or other weather conditions that seemingly would prevent these birds from using some kind of point of reference to navigate. A May 2026 article in Science by Clivia Lisowski et al. provides important additional clues. In the article, it is noted that if particular cells are depleted from a pigeon’s liver, that pigeon loses the ability to navigate home. What are these cells called? Sometimes called stellate macrophages, they are named for the Baltic German anatomist who first isolated them in 1876. These particular macrophages are unique in that, while they can perform immune system functions like other macrophages do, they also engage in phagocytosis of iron residual from the breaking down of hemoglobin from the body’s degraded red blood cells. In the case of pigeons, the iron inside these cells crystalizes into an oxide with superparamagnetic qualities that will then align with the Earth’s magnetic field - which in conjunction with the well-innervated livers of these birds gives them a sense of their position in space, and thus their ability to home.

5. Many moons ago, I mentioned the bar-headed goose, which some argue is the highest-flying bird in the world, based on its ability to fly over the Himalayan mountains as part of its migration. Another contender for highest-flying bird is what bird of prey (shown), here found in the more terrestrial setting of the Masai Mara? A grisly example pointing toward this bird’s exceptional flying ability occurred in 1973, when one of these birds flew into the engine of an Air Ivory Coast commercial airliner flying at 37,000 feet - fortunately with only the bird being a fatality from that episode. The second photo does not show the typical prey of this bird, but a kind of namesake.

   

   

6. A performer born with the name William Michael Albert Broad needed a stage name, and fast, for purposes of an article to be written about him in a London magazine. He recalled a comment on a report card that his chemistry teacher Bill Price made about him, suggesting that this man was a lazy student. This man thought that might work as the basis of a stage name, but he also was worried that he would be confused with a member of a well-known comedy troupe if he kept the original spelling. What name did this man settle on, both for that magazine article and for the rest of his career?

7. The recent Met Gala’s theme was “Costume Art,” with the organizers prompting attendees to dress in a way to recall works of art that they admired. Below is Angela Bassett appearing in a Prabal Gurung-designed dress inspired by the painting Girl in Pink Dress, appropriately on display currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That painting (shown second) was created by what Philadelphia-based artist? She is probably best known for her portraits of figures from the Harlem Renaissance.

   

   

8. Shown is the skeletal structure of what polymer, created by treating its base substance with nitric acid and sulfuric acid? While other had experimented with something similar, this substance was first isolated in 1846, in a story beginning when Christian Friedrich Schönbein cleaned up a spill of those acids using his apron. He placed the apron on the door of his stove to dry - only to have the apron flash and catch fire as soon as it had finished drying. Not only does that story point toward what the primary practical application of this substance is, but it also hints at the common name by which this substance is regularly known today.

   

9. The Successor is a recent work of nonfiction (a portion of its cover is shown below) by journalist Mikhail Fishman. The book is about the life of what person (1959-2015)? Mathias Rust landed his plane very near the location where this man died.

   

10. The following quote is from what work?

    Before the Americans could go inside, their only English-speaking guard told them to memorize their simple address, in case they got lost in the big city. Their address was this: ‘Schlachthof-fünf.’

Read more

Questions

1. Which mathematician?

   • This man’s namesake “laws,” shown below, are useful in computer programming partly because they can transform AND statements to OR statements as well as OR statements to AND statements.

     

   • The whole unit known by this name is rarely used, since it would represent about 100 million base pairs in the human genome - an impractically large amount with which to work, and less useful when dealing with matters of probability anyhow.

2. Which actress?

   • The same year as her breakthrough movie role, this actress appeared in the music video for the song “Sara” by Starship (shown).

     

   • The man who was the Duke of this location at one point was so influential in the court of King Henry IV of France that he was called the “Huguenot pope,” though today he is remembered more because of the addition of cheese to something.

3. Which writer?

   • Among his contributions to science fiction include Lest Darkness Fall (one of the earliest works in alternate history) and Genus Homo (which likely inspired Planet of the Apes), but today this man may be better known for coining “E.T.” to mean “extraterrestrial.”

     

   • Redacted from the following is this word, the titular subject of a 1964 essay.

   

4. Which person?

   • The author of the 1938 novel Nausea dedicated that work “au Castor” - a punning reference to this person.

   • Some of the better views from this estate - best known today as Jefferson Davis’s home following the Civil War - include those of Oyster Bayou and the Gulf of Mexico, though several structures still yet to be repaired following damage from Hurricane Katrina are noted as well.

5. What inventor?

   • The kind of automobile suspension named for this man features his namesake tube that connects the wheel on the right to its opposite on the left, along with a differential that is mounted directly on the chassis, with the advantage of such a setup being less weight connected directly to the wheels, allowing for a smoother ride.

   • D’eux, released by a person with this surname, is the best-selling French language album of all time, with an estimated 12 million copies sold worldwide.

6. Who?

   • Tim Kuilmine, more colloquially called in English “the Big Hole,” is located on what once was farmland owned by two brothers - descendants of a soldier for the VOC originally from Finland by way of Lübeck - with this surname.

   • Skol, from Brazil; Bintang, from Indonesia; Belikin, from Belize; Efes, from Turkey; Mythos, from Greece; and Snow, from China and thought to be the best-selling of all, are all examples of these.

7. Which writer?

   • The following redacted image is taken from the cover of a best-selling work by this man.

     

     .

   • At a 2002 tribute to honor this man’s philanthropic work, Cher joined R.E.M. on stage to perform “I Got Your Babe.”

8. Which actress?

   • Her biggest film roles - such as her breakthrough as the title character in 1945’s Salome, Where She Danced and as Sephora, the wife of Moses, in The Ten Commandments - gave this actress a kind of dark exoticism that would lend itself to her most famous work, appearing on television for a 1960s sitcom.

   • The man with this first name was the father of, among others, a Princess and Duchess of Guastalla, a King of Westphalia, a Prince of Canino and Musignano, a Queen of Naples, and a Grand Duchess of Tuscany.

9. Which thinker?

   • This man’s essays, including “Criticism and Crisis” and “The Resistance to Theory,” are key works among deconstructionists, with the former beginning with the premise that literature inherently is not factual - perhaps a secret nod toward his own life, as this man reinvented himself when he moved from Belgium to America, covering up a past of a criminality, philandering, and advocacy for Nazism in doing so.

   • Future Bond henchman Richard Kiel got his breakthrough in the entertainment industry when he portrayed all of the members of a super-tall race of aliens called the Kanamits, as featured in a television episode that hinged on how those aliens actually intended to go about serving this.

10. Who?

    • Seized by authorities at one point, with what remained of it burned by his family after his death, a ten-volume novel to have been named The Days of Florbelle, or Nature Unveiled is the lost final work of this man.

    • This band behind albums like Diamond Life and Promise is named after their lead singer, who goes by a shortened version of a name that in Yoruba means “honor earning a crown” - I wonder if having five albums reach platinum status counts as such an honor?

11. Which performer?

    • This man (shown) won a Tony in 2019 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical following his portrayal of Hermes in the musical Hadestown.

      

    • A heater, which is triangular; a pavise, which was used by archers during medieval times; the ancient aspis, effective because its porpax allowed for a dual grip; and one named for the Nguni people (and appearing on the flag of one of the countries of the world) are all examples of these.

12. Which character?

    • In a 1938 novel, a person appears at a ball using the assumed name Caroline, and at one point remarks that a letter that she received spelled her first name correctly, suggesting it might be unusual - but otherwise her identity is unclear, as she is generally referred to by this phrase.

    • What, in theory, should be next in a series: Thrones, Kings, Swords, Crows, and Dragons.

13. Which economist?

    • This economist, known for his work studying the “informal economy” and even better known for his influence in spreading neoliberal economic ideas throughout South America (especially in his home country of Peru) apparently modified his surname as a young man to make it sound more aristocratic, and not out of an intentional homage to the explorer who is thought to have been buried near modern-day Ferriday, Lousiana.

    • To be persuaded to leave one team for their crosstown rival, this man signed a 15-year, $765 million dollar deal - a bonanza which remains the most valuable such contract in professional sports history.

Read more

1. Recalling a theme from last time - the major airport of Réunion is located at Sainte-Marie and it serves that island’s capital of Saint-Denis. File its existence away, as the regular flights between it and Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport are considered to be the longest domestic flights in the world, as the island is an overseas department of France. More to the original point, the airport is named for someone who died in a plane crash, though auspiciously that airport, as well as Réunion itself, had nothing to do with the events surrounding this man’s death. This man was born in Saint-Denis, but he would die in the Ardennes, and Réunion’s international airport is almost certainly not the most notable thing named for this man. Which person?

2. Shown is the chemical structure for what organic compound? Discovered in 1827 by German scientists Friedrich Tiedemann and Leopold Gmelin when they isolated it from the bile salts of a particular animal, it is better described as an amino-sulfonic acid, as it is not one of the amino acids used by the body to construct proteins. However, the body does make considerable use of it, especially as an antioxidant in high metabolism tissues like the heart and the brain. Because of that, there is an ongoing speculation, not quite confirmed, that this compound could act as an anti-aging agent, or that it boosts cognitive and athletic performance, with one notable commercial product containing 1000 mg of this substance per 8.4 fluid ounces.

   

3. It is that wonderful time of the year, when both the NBA Finals and the NHL Stanley Cup Finals occur contemporaneously. Leapfrogging from that, what are the only two cities to have played each other in the finals of the four major American professional sporting championships: the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup Finals, the MLB World Series, and the NFL’s Super Bowl? As things currently are situated, it would not be possible for these two cities to repeat that feat in the near future.

4. SpaceX is making the news as, it is anticipated, its initial public offering (IPO) will bring into the company some $75 billion in new investment. That amount is nearly three times the record held by the previous holder, when that company brought in $25.6 billion from its 2019 IPO. What company was that? This company was founded in 1933, with its breakthrough occurring in 1938, thanks at that time to Dammam No. 7.

   

5. Last month in the journal Antiquity it was reported that the remains of some 37 humans were found in a container located in what country? The container in question, more than six feet wide and four feet tall, is one of the larger - yet still representative - examples of a group of markers, with other examples shown below. Investigations into these artifacts began in the 1930s under the work of archaeologist Madeleine Colani, but decades of war, isolation, and leftover landmines pushed back that research to more recent years. The discovery of these bones would suggest that the purposes of these markers - previously unestablished - is funerary in nature, with the thought being that they were intended to act as multigenerational grave markers.

   

6. Consider the following. What do they most directly (and really that is to say, “most recently”) have in common?

   • An Arabic word meaning “my beloved.”

   • The nickname of the player who won the NBA regular season scoring title in 1977-78, as he averaged 27.2 points per game. That accomplishment came during his second season in the NBA - but during his fifth season with the particular basketball team for which he played.

   • The type of tart shown below, singularized. A puff pastry filled with cheese curds, its origination story dates back to the time of King Henry VIII, who is said to have found the attendants to Catherine of Aragon consuming such tarts. When he tried one for himself, he was so delighted that (it is said) he had their maker imprisoned - so that unfortunate person could continue to supply such tarts to him.

   

7. Below is a map showing the location of what speculated supercontinent, whose name, appropriately, comes from the Greek for “all south”? It is thought that this landmass formed around 600 million years ago, lasting just forty million years. While that is a relatively narrow window of time according to geologists, this landmass still existed long enough to where it would have been a part of both Precambrian and Cambrian times of our geologic history.

   

8. The discovery of methane is credited to what man, who isolated it when, out of curiosity, he decided to investigate the gas that he found bubbling from a marsh while he was on a fishing trip at Lake Maggiore in 1776? That discovery is very likely not the most famous thing associated with this person. Shown below is an excerpt of an article that is not really related to this person, but it still led me to spot an amusing coincidence that made me chuckle - make of it what you will.

   

9. Shown is a screenshot taken from the trailer of an upcoming film scheduled to be released on July 25 in China. The film is named for what 1683 battle? This naval battle was a tremendous victory for Shi Lang, an admiral of the Qing Dynasty, over the forces of the Kingdom of Tungning, situated in the southwestern part of Taiwan. The victory placed Taiwan under the direct control of the Qing Dynasty, with Ming Dynasty loyalists living on the island sent back to mainland China to be imprisoned. I am sure that the timing of the film in question is a complete coincidence, and there will be nothing ominous about it becoming a smashing popular success in the weeks to come.

   

10. This is the (redacted) emblem for what world city?

Read more

1. From what I can tell, there is only one major world airport named for a person who died at that airport (see the answer for an example of another airport, not nearly as important, that shares in that distinction). Shown is the memorial - located outside Gate 11 of Terminal One - to what man, who was assassinated at his now namesake airport moments after he set foot on the tarmac? The August 1983 murder of this man occurred after he had spent three years abroad in self-imposed exile, with his trip home taking several days, with the last, fateful leg being a flight on China Airlines Flight 811 out of Taipei.

   

2. The following obituary, published in The Guardian on March 19, 2026, has one word redacted. What is this word?

   

3. Photograph 51 is a play by Anna Ziegler that debuted on the West End of London in 2015. In its original run, it starred Nicole Kidman in an award-winning performance. Who did Kidman portray in that production? Also starring in the play was Josh Silver, who portrayed Raymond Gosling, the person who actually took the titular X-shaped photo.

4. The Harriet Lane Handbook is considered to be the premier short reference manual for pediatric medicine in the United States. Now in its 24th edition, it is produced by residents training in pediatrics at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Its namesake was a woman who married a wealthy Baltimore banker, using that fortune to become a philanthropist upon his death. Prior to that, she probably was most famous for holding an informal position working for what specific person? Others to serve in the same informal role, though at different points in time, include a trio of Marys: Mary Bliss, Mary McKee, and Mary McElroy, though in their cases someone had died previously prior to their taking on the role in question.

5. Last time I mentioned the film Perfect Days, as well as its soundtrack. Up until the end credits, which were accompanied by a piano cover of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day,” the music featured in that film was incorporated into its narration. That is, the characters in the film could hear the music that you heard as you watched the film, as for the most part those songs came in the form of cassette tape music played by Hirayama, the main character, as he drove to work. While such music is sometimes called “source music,” what is the typical term used for this kind of non-incidental music? This word is derived from the Greek word for “narration” and Aristotle used the term in his Poetics, but it was Claudia Gorbman in her 1987 work Unheard Melodies who first applied this term to the film context discussed here.

6. This practice was banned in Jamaica by the British following Tacky’s Rebellion of 1760, with a law at that time first legally defining this particular word, as up to that point there had been various words used for this practice. What is this broad term used to denote a range of spiritual practices, often associated with perceived supernatural powers of healing or the invocation of protection, still practiced among members of the African diaspora in the former (and current) British colonies of the Caribbean? In fact, colonial laws prohibiting this practice remain on the books in Jamaica today, though the most recent prosecution to receive any kind of widespread attention occurred in 1964, when a woman named Cindy Brooks was fined £25 because she had purchased a “holy oil” to ward off “spirits of the dead” that she said were tormenting her.

7. Winning a total of six medals, including golds in the pommel horse, rings, and floor exercise, who was the most successful male gymnast at the 1984 Summer Olympics? He - or, perhaps I should say, his company - has been in the news recently thanks to American basketball player Steph Curry.

   

8. A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder is a musical comedy that debuted on Broadway in 2013. It is based on the 1907 novel Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal, written by Roy Horniman. That same novel by Horniman was previously adapted into what 1949 film? Among the accolades for A Gentleman’s Guide included a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for Jefferson Mays, who played Lord Adalbert D’Ysquith; Lord Asquith D’Ysquith, Sr.; Reverend Lord Ezekiel D’Ysquith; Asquith D’Ysquith, Jr.; Henry D’Ysquith; Major Lord Bartholomew D’Ysquith; Lady Hyacinth D’Ysquith; Lady Salome D’Ysquith Pumphrey; and Chauncey D’Ysquith in that production.

9. Probably the most successful wrestler in WWE to hail from Australia is what Adelaide native (shown)? This wrestler has held all four main roster major titles available for women, including the Raw, SmackDown, Women’s World, and the WWE Women’s World Championship (very fine and important distinctions, I know), and she is the current WWE Women’s World Champion, having regained that title by defeating Jade Cargill at Wrestlemania 42. In comparison, her spouse, Buddy Matthews, most notably has a WWE Cruiserweight Championship.

   

10. This man began his career with the Ashcan School, studying under Robert Henri and exhibiting his work at the 1913 Armory Show, but he would move on to develop a style distinct from that group. That distinctive work would include still lifes, like 1924’s Lucky Strike, that seemingly foreshadow the pop art movement that would occur decades later. Beginning later in the 1920s, this man would develop a style sometimes called a “modified Cubism” that would be the focus of much of the rest of his career, with examples like 1938’s Impression of the New York World’s Fair and 1940’s Report from Rockport typifying it. Who is this modernist American painter?

Read more

Questions

1. Attached is an excerpt from the song “Balidan.” Among other things, the lyrics of the song criticize political corruption and ongoing inequality in a particular country. The song is performed by what superlative current head of government?

2. In one context, “Irma’s injection” was a combination of propyl, propionic acid and trimethylamine given to treat an oropharyngeal infection. It is also the name given by a thinker to something that occurred at Schloss Bellevue on the night of July 23, 1895. Four years later, it would become the first detailed example of a certain thing as discussed in what work?

3. Shown is a detail from William Hogarth’s 1751 print Gin Lane. The print demonstrates many examples of the asserted evils of consuming gin - including promoting fights, causing madness, and leading to child abandonment (when the children are not murdered by spear!). It is thought that the blind person shown in the detail below became so disabled because the gin that he drank was adulterated with what organic chemical? This chemical is not necessarily dangerous in itself, but it undergoes a dehydrogenation reaction in the human body that converts it into formaldehyde, followed by another reaction which then converts that product into formic acid. Formic acid then inhibits the mitochondrial enzyme cytochrome c oxidase, upon which the optic nerve particularly is dependent. The ultimate result is swelling and damage to that nerve, causing blurred vision followed by irreversible blindness.

   

4. Lillian Virginia Mountweazel, a photographer known for her work recording rural American mailboxes and New York City buses, who died on assignment attempting to take a photo of an explosion. Agloe, located in Delaware County, New York, before and after the time a general store of the same name was found there. Apopudobalia, an ancient Roman sport said to have anticipated modern day association football. Dag Henrik Esrum-Hellerup, a Danish composer for the flute, whose opera Alys og Elvertøj was said to have inspired Smetana. The above most notably have what in common? A more recent example of this phenomenon is seen with bixonimania, noted by a team of researchers from California’s Asteria Horizon University in an April 2024 post on Medium to be a disorder where sore eyes and “periorbital hyperpigmentation” develop following excessive screen time.

5. Last time we talked about the Villa Leopolda. While arguably the most expensive home in Europe, competition elsewhere certainly exceeds it in terms of luxuriousness. In particular, a palace some 2.1 million square feet in size has nearly 1,800 rooms, over 250 bathrooms, and 110 garages - the latter so that some 7000 cars can be stored. Its banquet hall holds 5000 people, and it has its own mosque. Shown below and named Istana Nurul Iman, it is the official residence of the man with what name? If you happen to be nearby the palace in the days after the conclusion of Ramadan, you can visit it for free, perhaps even getting to meet this particular person (unless you are female - then you will get to meet his wife).

   

6. She is the current record holder for the highest score in both the women’s short program and the free skate, so it is not surprising that she also holds the record for highest total score by a woman in a major skating competition, which she achieved with her 272.71 at the 2021 Rostelecom Cup. What is surprising is that she has these records despite serving a four-year doping suspension that ended in December 2025 - a suspension that wiped out performances at the 2022 European Figure Skating Championship and the 2022 Winter Olympics. Who is this figure skater?

7. Marie Anne de La Trémoille, princesse des Ursins (shown) was a courtier who acted as de facto ruler of Spain during the early years of that country’s Bourbon Dynasty, essentially acting as an agent of the French crown in that role. Before she became involved in such intrigue, she lived in Italy, with her husband, a duke named Orsini. While living in a castle outside of Rome, she gathered a reputation for opulence, as it was said that she would bathe herself in essence extracted from the Citrus × aurantium plant. This extract would go on to take its name from that castle, and today it still is one of the most important floral oils used in perfumes, as well as one of the rumored ingredients to the secret recipe for Coca-Cola. What is the name of this bitter orange extract?

   

8. Shown is what cave, found in the Altai mountains? This cave takes its name from a hermit belonging to the Old Believer Orthodox tradition who lived there in the 18th century. This cave became newsworthy in 2008 because of something found inside of it that later would be linked to the Harbin cranium.

   

9. The following two screenshots are from a certain film. Each clip is taken from a scene where a certain song is playing, with the second instance being a piano cover of the original version of song, which is featured in the first scene. What song is being played?

   

   

10. An August 2023 article in Current Biology has the self-evident title “Gadusol is a maternally provided sunscreen that protects [redacted] embryos from DNA damage.” The article details how the chemical gadusol acts as a transparent sunscreen that protects developing embryos of a certain animal from UV-B radiation while not interfering with their natural camouflage. Subsequent research out of China has indicated that gadusol feasibly might be created on an industrial level by genetically modifying E. coli bacteria to produce it. The biggest surprise from the article above may be that the discovery of gadusol only was found relatively recently in a particular animal, as for years that animal has served as a model organism in vertebrate research, especially in the field of developmental biology. Belonging to suborder Cyprinoidei and known more formally as Danio rerio, what is the common name of this animal?

    Steve’s Trivia Training is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Read more

1. Prior to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752, New Year’s Day in England occurred on March 25, not January 1. One relic of that practice still present today is that the tax year for the United Kingdom ends on April 5 - which is what March 25 became once the eleven-day adjustment needed to move from the Julian to Gregorian calendar occurred. March 25 is also an important date on the liturgical calendar, and the association with that feast day is how March 25 in the United Kingdom came to have another name - a kind of nickname - other than New Year’s Day. What is this two word alternative name for March 25? In another context, this phrase is a nickname that Lester Young gave to his long-time musical collaborator.

2. Moving forward one month - April 25, 1945 is known as “Elbe Day,” as on that date, just before noon, American soldiers crossed that river, shortly afterwards encountering a Soviet soldier patrolling on horseback. Later that day, additional American soldiers had a more intentional encounter with Soviet soldiers on the site of a destroyed bridge that crossed the Elbe (an almost certainly staged photo taken after that meeting is shown first). That bridge was located in what city, today recognized as the first meeting place between American and Soviet forces during World War II? A marker left by the Soviets to commemorate that meeting is shown second below. Outside of that event, this city in Saxony also is known for containing the grave of Katharina von Bora (Martin Luther’s wife) and for having a toy store, named for Carl Loebner, which claims to be the oldest store of that kind in the world.

   

   

3. This player was versatile in other ways as well, as he was capable of playing multiple positions on the pitch, but he is most famous for being one of the few football players truly to be ambipedal - that is, ambidextrous, but with his feet. So effective he was with that skill that his national team manager, Franz Beckenbauer, once said that he had known this player “for 20 years and I still don’t know if he is right or left-footed.” Little surprise, then, that this player also was a very effective taker of penalty kicks, as he most famously demonstrated in 1990. Who is this player, who converted such a penalty kick in the 85th minute to give West Germany a 1-0 win in that year’s FIFA World Cup final versus Argentina?

4. The “falling dominos guy” is itself a meme that goes back to Canadian physics professor Stephen Morris’s self-made video created to demonstrate the concept of geometric growth. Something of a meme within that meme is having the first domino be the 9/11 attack (as shown below), ending with any number of absurd occurrences nowhere near as momentous as that fateful event. In the image below, the “downfall of Ellen DeGeneres” was set in motion by a chain of prior events, with that “downfall” immediately being preceded by Dakota Johnson embarrassing DeGeneres on Ellen’s own show, which supposedly caused the public to turn on Ellen. That in turn was preceded by Johnson starring in Fifty Shades of Grey, which itself was preceded by E.L. James writing that popular novel. James originally wrote Fifty Shades as piece of erotic fan fiction titled Master of the Universe that was set in the Twilight universe. Before that, Stephenie Meyer wrote the Twilight series after being inspired by the music of a particular band. That band came into being because what frontman, working at the time as an intern for Cartoon Network, witnessed the 9/11 tragedy firsthand, with that experience triggering an epiphany that prompted his move into music? One specific work inspired by that attack was his song “Skylines and Turnstiles,” which would be featured on his band’s debut studio album, along with other songs like “Honey, This Mirror Isn’t Big Enough for the Two of Us” and (perhaps foreshadowing Ms. Meyer) “Vampires Will Never Hurt You.”

   

5. November 18, 1883 is the “Day of Two Noons,” as Canadian and American railroad companies came to an agreement to standardize the use of four time zones across the North American continent on the date. Part of the logistics needed to implement that change meant that many towns would experience 12:00 p.m. twice that day. Having to repeat just an hour probably would be met with amusement by Tara Selter, who is the protagonist of what novel series by author Solvej Balle? In those novels, Tara wakes up every morning to find out that she is repeating, yet again, the day of November 18 - in her situation, as an antiquarian bookseller living in France. Six of a total of seven planned novels have been published in Danish so far, with each expanding on the world that Tara discovers as she comes to term with having to live November 18 over and over again in perpetuity.

6. Though he painted during the Baroque era, aspects of this painter’s work do not fit easily in that era, including his emphasis of the “sublime” in nature - especially how he made those depictions of nature seem overbearing, even hostile to those humans that he depicted interacting with those landscapes. Over one hundred years after his death, interest in his work would revive and serve as an inspiration to painters in the Romantic movement. As an example of his style, Bandits on a Rocky Coast (1655) is shown first. As an example of the influence that he had on others, shown second is a work titled [This Man] Sketching the Banditi painted by Thomas Cole, followed by another work with that very same title, but painted by Thomas Moran. Who was this apparently quite influential Neapolitan artist?

   

   

   

7. What is the common term for cyclic esters? Shown below is the “γ” variety, named because three carbons (alpha, beta, and gamma) separate the hydroxyl group and the ester linkage on one side. Like their acyclic ester counterparts, they are known for their pleasant odors, with these compounds in particular often having smells likened to coconut or peaches.

   

8. A Belle Époque estate on the French Riviera is, according to some discussions, the most expensive private residence in Europe, with a value of at least $750 million - which may be why it persistently remains in the possession of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation, despite their best efforts to sell it. Featured in films like To Catch a Thief and The Red Shoes, the shown “Villa” gets its name from what monarch? This ruler did not build the current structure, but he did have the previous estate built on the property as a place where his mistress, Caroline Lacroix, could live. That original estate hardly was the most valuable piece of property once owned by this man, as at one point he personally held another property, over two million square kilometers in size, as his Domaine Privé.

   

9. One plant of this genus is sometimes referred to as an aloe, even though aloes have their own genus; that particular plant gets another one of its names because, being a monocarp, it flowers only once, in its case at the end of a long growing life. Another plant from this genus makes the product shown below, while decipiens, yet another plant from this genus, is known as the “false” variety of that previous plant. The heads of the murpheyi species of this genus historically have been cultivated by Hohokam to eat, while the roasted hearts of the shawii variety were used by people such as the Kumeyaay and the Tiipai as a food source. Probably the most famous member of this genus has a heavily cultivated cultivar that takes it name from its bluish hue and from the French botanist who classified it, Frédéric Albert Constantin Weber. The described plants all belong to what genus?

   

10. Clergyman John Michell designed one of these devices, but he died before he could use it. In the first third of the twentieth century, one of these devices named for Loránd von Eötvös was essential to oil and gas exploration, as such devices could be used to detect minute variations in a gravitational field - something that often suggested the presence of oil-containing salt domes. Prior to that, his namesake device of this sort was used in geodetics by other scientists, and by Eötvös himself (with the help of a mirror and a telescope) in an 1885 experiment that showed that inertial mass and gravitational mass were one and the same, thus confirming what is called the equivalence principle. However, that likely is not even the second-most famous use of this device in a physics experiment, as one of these would be used for an 1785 experiment, with the results reported in the paper “Premier mémoire sur l'électricité et le magnétisme,” while Michell’s model would be used by a friend of his in 1797 to perform one of the cornerstone experiments of classical physics. What device?

Read more