Quiz #58

What world-changing event occurred in the area now known as Chicxulub on Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula approximately 66 million years ago?

Question 2

Which country’s Prime Minister married his fiancé Jodie Haydon at the Prime Minister’s official residence, The Lodge, on November 29, thereby becoming the first Prime Minister of this country to marry while in office?

Question 3

Referenced in its longer name, the basil sauce pesto is most associated with which Italian city?

Question 4

What were Ditwah, Senyar, and Koto, which made the news last week after appearing in South East Asia?

Question 5

On what part of the body would one most likely feel a pain referred to as a charley horse?

Question 6

Which of the following precious metals currently has the highest price per kilogram: gold, silver, platinum, or palladium?

Question 7

What are the two pets – one cat, and one dog – owned by comic strip character Jon Arbuckle?

Question 8

Not including zero, what are the three ‘fourth powers’ – that is a number to the power of 4 – under 100?

Question 9

What are the four different flavours of crisps that appear in a Walkers ‘Classic’ 12 pack variety selection?

Question 10

Make the longest word possible from the following letters: AIINOPRTT

Round 1 points
(Maximum: 24)

Round 2

Question 1

Italian company Marcato is a leading manufacturer of what kitchen device, with its signature ranges including the Atlas and Ampia lines?

Question 2

Named for a road in London near their recording studio, what UK girl group was comprised of Shaznay Lewis, Melanie Blatt, and Simone Rainford, before Rainford left to be replaced by sisters Nicole and Natalie Appleton?

Question 3

Based on a popular series of books by Bernard Cornwell and following the heroic life of the titular British soldier, the television series Sharpe helped launch the career of which Sheffield-born actor and future portrayer of a villain in the James Bond film franchise, who only got the role because the original lead actor got hurt during a game of football?

Question 4

Although it has been grown as several cultivated varieties (cultivars), the plant Camellia sinensis is the basis of all true examples of what type of drink?

Question 5

Controls for luffing, slewing, hoisting, and trolley travel can be found in what widely seen object?

Question 6

What sport is overseen by the FIS governing body?

Question 7

With the exception of Margrethe II, who ruled from 1972 to 2024, monarchs of Denmark have alternated between which two regnal names since 1513?

Question 8

The Canadian equivalent of the UK’s HMRC and US’s IRS is the CRA. For what do the letters CRA stand?

Question 9

For the first time, the upcoming men’s FIFA World Cup will seed four teams so that, providing they win their groups, they won’t meet until the semi-final. Based on the current FIFA world ranking – which will also be the ranking when the draw occurs on December 5 – what are the four countries that have been seeded?

Question 10

What are the five objects in the solar system that are larger than Earth?

Round 2 points
(Maximum: 20)

Total points
(Maximum: 44)

Round 3

Question 1

Nigerian Seyi Oyesola and Englishman Alexander Bushell are the co-inventors of CompactOR, which is described as being what type of facility ‘in a box’?

Question 2

In the play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, what is the name of the unseen character that is Romeo’s original romantic interest before meeting Juliet?

Question 3

Shown to be impossible by Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler, the Prussian city of Königsberg is associated with a mathematical problem relating to seven of what type of structure?

Question 4

Cited as pivotal in the creation of the ‘lone genius’ mythology surrounding artists, Giorgio Vasari’s 1550 book The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects – updated and expanded in 1568 – included often exaggerated biographies of numerous Renaissance artists. To which Florentine artist were over 100 pages of Vasari’s book given, within which the writer recounts an anecdote of Florence’s Gonfalonier criticising the nose of a now-famous statue, prompting the artist to pretend to alter it by faking chisel work and then blowing left over dust from the statue’s nose, leading to the official declaring ‘”I like it better, you have given it life.”

Question 5

One of the continent’s most politically unstable nations, which African country last week fell under military rule after both candidates in its November 23 Presidential election claimed victory? Including temporary and acting leaders, the country has seen 16 leadership changes and four coups since ‘Nino’ Vieira was deposed – for the first time – in 1999, a ratio of change that becomes markedly worse when one considers two administrations accounted for 11 years of leadership in that time.

Question 6

In which television game show would the UK host tell you ‘you don’t get anything for a pair, not in this game’ but could allow you to win a ‘Brucie Bonus’, while the US host -presenting essentially the same show but under a different name – would ask ‘what’s your big bet?’?  

Question 7

NFL games played on Thanksgiving in the US traditionally include a game played in which northern city, whose team plays in the NFC North division, and which city in the south – albeit not considered a ‘southern’ city – whose team plays in the NFC East?

Question 8

All based in the US, what are the world’s three largest airlines if measured by revenue?

Question 9

Rather than the experimental dishes for which it is most famous, the 3-Michelin star Fat Duck restaurant in Berkshire is this year again offering customers its ‘Mindful Christmas Experience’ menu which includes a ‘King’s’ meat main course devised in ‘circa 1066’. What is the meat, eaten by nobility in the 11^th century, that customers will be served? And with what three traditional plant-based sides will it come?

Question 10

The US military uses ‘Mission Design Series’ codes in which letters identify the purpose of an aircraft, which then appear in aircraft names such as the F-15. Of the 14 basic mission aircraft – those being without any special modifications to the their purpose – for what military purposes do the letters A, B, C, F, O, R, and X stand?

Round 3 points
(Maximum: 22)

Total points
(Maximum: 66)

Round 4

Question 1

Since 1977, both the men’s and women’s volleyball World Cups have been played in which Asian country, which has also hosted every volleyball World Grand Champions Cup since 1993?

Question 2

Found in sharks, rays, and other cartilaginous fish, as well as some boned fish, what do Ampullae of Lorenzini detect?

Question 3

Not including internet memes, such as when Jackie Chan’s use of the word ‘duang’ to describe his hair in a shampoo advertisement was given an online character, the most recent official new characters in the Chinese language belong to what subject, with 鿭 (nǐ), 镆 (mò), 鿬 (tián), and 鿫 (ào) added in 2017?

Question 4

According to reports from media outlets including the BBC, Spanish newspaper El País, Turkish channel A Haber, and The Times of Israel, what skilled trade has recently seen a return to the streets of Gaza to help counter a currency circulation issue caused by the recent Israel-Palestine conflict? Long forgotten in developed countries due to the banks dealing with the matter, the need for the service in Gaza is particularly acute due to a blockade on cash entering the Palestinian territory, as well as two years of bombing leading to a lack of functioning banks and affordable digital infrastructure.

Question 5

Which 20^th-century German philosopher’s posthumously published book Aesthetic Theory defended modern art by stating that it’s distance from standard aesthetics increased its potential for artistic autonomy and social commentary, which through dialectics – opposing reasoned arguments – with counter works meant its ‘truth content’ was similar to philosophy?

Question 6

Rather than balancing directly on their toes, ballet dancers standing en pointe are provided support by pointe shoes that have a toe section reinforced by layered fabric, glue, and more recently plastic. Sometimes mistakenly believed to be constructed of wood due to their hard sound and that materials traditional role in shaping the shoe, what is the reinforced end of a pointe shoe called?

Question 7

What type species of seals have pups known as ‘whitecoats’ because of their fluffy white coats, the hunting for which has been banned by several nations since the 1970s and 1980s?

Question 8

Although an entire mythology was created with characters such as Guardian Prime, Zeta Prime, Sentinel Prime, and the creator scientist Alpha Trion, and the television series in Japan continued with successors including Fortress Maximus and God Ginrai, the most widely known leaders of the Autobots in the 1980s animated television series Transformers are which three characters that had both ‘Generation 1’ toys and appeared in the 1986 animated film?

Question 9

The officially recognised longest train to ever operate was a 7.3km test conducted in 2001 by a mining company in which Southern Hemisphere country? Additionally, what mining giant – headquartered in the country and the world’s largest by market capitalisation – ran the train and what was its metal-related cargo, despite the train being called Mt Goldsworthy?

Question 10

The largest trade unions by membership in the US are the NEA, SEIU, AFSCME, Teamsters, UFCW, UAW, and USW. Although most have diverse memberships, in what sectors do these unions primarily operate?

Round 4 points
(Maximum: 21)

Total points
(Maximum: 85)

Round 5

In Round 5, there is only one answer. The less clues you need to get it, the more points you receive. If you need only one clue, you receive 10 points; if you require two clues, you will receive 9 points, and so on.

However, you may only answer once. If you answer incorrectly, you receive zero points for the round.

The following are all studio albums by which band?

Clue 1

Clue 2

Clue 3

Clue 4

Clue 5

Clue 6

Clue 7

Clue 8

Clue 9

Clue 10

Round 5 points
(Maximum: 10)

Total points
(Maximum: 95)