Quiz #55
Open for quizness
Hello everyone. I trust all is going well.
Quiz time has arrived once more, so, like good times, five rounds of questions are here again.
This week there are a fair few questions based on the US, but hopefully it’s all manageable for those non-Stateside. Questions on Haribo and Italian football should help balance the scores.
Before getting to the point of the exercise, the questions, here is the link to the version with the answers:
Now, away we go, with the relatively simple stuff that comprises Round 1.
Round 1
Question 1
What is the given first name of royal Kate Middleton, actress Cate Blanchett, and television presenter Cat Deeley?
Answer:
1 point
Question 2
Which animated character claims to be ‘smarter than the average bear’?
Answer:
1 point
Question 3
In Latin American names such as Hernandez, Fernandez, Ramirez, and Chavez, what is the literal meaning of the names’ ‘ez’ ending?
Answer:
1 point
Question 4
In the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger, Bond plays arch villain Auric Goldfinger at what sport - with both players ultimately cheating?
Answer:
1 point
Question 5
Which Nobel Prize winning biologist, who helped deduce the double helix structure of DNA, passed away on November 6?
Answer:
1 point
Question 6
Derived from the name of a French-Swiss dish in which cheese is placed between pieces of bread or dough, covered with an egg and milk mixture, and then baked, what is the name of the circular ovenproof dish generally associated with single-serving desserts such as soufflé, crème brûlée, and chocolate pudding?
Answer:
1 point
Question 7
A common way for Neapolitans to use up their leftovers, what are the two main ingredients in the Naples dish frittata di maccheroni?
Answer:
2 points
Question 8
Translated into English, what does Paris’s nickname ‘la Ville Lumière’ mean? And which other major French city has an almost identical nickname, being known as ‘la Ville des Lumières’?
Answer:
2 points
Question 9
Disney’s 2004 direct-to-video animation The Three Musketeers was the first time which three of its popular cartoon characters had appeared together in a feature-length film?
Answer:
3 points
Question 10
Make the longest word possible from the following letters: AACEIRSST
Answer:
Up to 9 points
(*length of word equates to points awarded)
Round 1 points
(Maximum: 22)
Round 2
Question 1
How many bones are there in the neck of a human, as well as the neck of a mouse and a giraffe?
Answer:
1 point
Question 2
Offshore Energies UK, the trade association for UK offshore oil and gas production, has announced that oil and gas workers will now have to weigh less than 124.7kg - a move that will force approximately 2500 workers to lose weight or be barred from working offshore, with another 2500 people on the cusp of the weight limit. What safety procedure was given as the reason for setting the weight limit?
Answer:
1 point
Question 3
What common condition do companies Zbiotics and deFaire Medical claim that their ‘prebiotic’ supplements help cure due to their breaking down of acetaldehyde in the gut - although scientists have said that the positive effects from such supplements are generally minimal since much of this condition’s problems are actually made from reactions in the liver, brain, gastrointestinal tract, and pancreas?
Answer:
1 point
Question 4
Which team retained baseball’s World Series with a dramatic extra innings Game 7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on November 1?
Answer:
1 point
Question 5
In women’s tennis, which Kazakh former Wimbledon champion won the singles event at the end of season WTA Finals in Riyadh on November 8, played between the world’s top eight players, and claimed a record $5.235m in prize money by going undefeated through the group and knockout stages of the competition? Her path to victory included victories over Iga Świątek, Amanda Animisova, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Jessica Pegula, and Aryna Sabalenka.
Answer:
1 point
Question 6
What UK brand of soft toys, launched in 1999 but the popularity of which significantly rose during the Covid-19 pandemic, controversially announced in June that its ‘brand elevation strategy’ meant it would no longer supply toys to 100 stores, primarily small independent toy and children’s goods shops that had stocked the products for years?
Answer:
1 point
Question 7
Between which two major American cities does the 27-hour Cardinal train service run?
Answer:
2 points
Question 8
What are the names of the three members of the Finch family that appear in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird?
Answer:
3 point
Question 9
According to Q3 2025 data from the Nevada Gaming Control Board, which covers the major gambling areas of Las Vegas and Reno, what are the five table and card games that have the most public tables dedicated to them in the state’s casinos?
Answer:
5 points
Question 10
What are the five cities in South America with a population above 9 million?
Answer:
5 points
Round 2 points
(Maximum: 21)
Total points
(Maximum: 43)
Round 3
Question 1
What animal has the nickname ‘the grey ghost of the Himalayas’?
Answer:
1 point
Question 2
What alternative name is given to Channel Islands milk, sourced from the Jersey or Guernsey breeds of cattle, with the name referring to the colour of foil or cap traditionally placed on the bottle?
Answer:
1 point
Question 3
In the 2019 DCeased comic book mini series, which of Batman’s allies shoots him dead with a shotgun to stop him becoming a zombie?
Answer:
1 point
Question 4
The most recent disease outbreak emergency warning issued by the World Health Organisation was on November 5 for an outbreak of RVF in Mauritania and Senegal, with 404 confirmed cases and 42 deaths. Named for a geographical feature on the opposite side of Africa from Mauritania and Senegal, for what do the letters RVF stand?
Answer:
1 point
Question 5
American model and actress Kaia Gerber is the daughter of which supermodel, who rose to fame in the 1980s and 1990s?
Answer:
1 point
Question 6
Rarely eaten in western culture outside periods of famine, but appearing in various dishes in Asian cuisine, what is rock tripe?
Answer:
1 point
Question 7
Former US Vice President Dick Cheney passed away on November 3. Under which president did he serve as Vice President? And for which president did he serve as Chief of Staff?
Answer:
2 points
Question 8
All multiple nominees for the Academy Award for Best Director - two receiving three nominations, and one receiving two nominations and one win - who were the directors of the first three films in the Alien franchise?
Answer:
3 points
Question 9
What are the four different types of simple railway track piece that come in model railway company Hornby’s ‘Track Pack A’, the beginners model railway track pack?
Answer:
4 points
Question 10
What were the names of the seven main officers on the USS Enterprise in the original series of Star Trek, as played by William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, and George Takei?
Answer:
7 points
Round 3 points
(Maximum: 22)
Total points
(Maximum: 65)
Round 4
Question 1
Described by right-wing commentator Steve Bannon as ‘one of the biggest warning signs’ from the various US elections held on November 4 that the Republican Party may do badly in the 2026 mid-term elections, the Democrat Party won landslide victories for both available positions on the Public Service Commission of which generally conservative US state last week, in both cases winning over 62 per cent of the vote?
Answer:
1 point
Question 2
Sharing its name with a letter of the Greek alphabet, what is the name of the protein that exists in the axons of all brain cells and helps modulate cell stability and signals, but the ‘entanglement’ of which is - alongside an abundance of the amyloid protein - one of the main causes of dementia due to its killing of neurons, breaking of their connected signal chains, and ability to then move into other cells?
Answer:
1 point
Question 3
Going by the acronym INP, what is the name given to the particles around which ice forms, and without which liquids can supercool below their normal freezing point?
Answer:
1 point
Question 4
Typically given to ten cities, towns, or communities each year, and currently open for applications for its 2026 award, what quality does the All-America City Award celebrate?
Answer:
1 point
Question 5
Covering approximately 50 per cent of the island of Hawai’i, with submarine flanks that go 5km underwater, plus 8km of depressed crust pushed beneath it, what is the world’s largest active volcano based on mass?
Answer:
1 point
Question 6
The Agatha Christie characters Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple have been adapted into what popular illustrated children’s book series, with the first two books released on October 23?
Answer:
1 point
Question 7
Which two Italian football teams played the Derby della Mole on Saturday, so called for the Mole Antonelliana museum in their city’s downtown area?
Answer:
2 points
Question 8
What were the first names of the band members of the 1970s supergroup Emerson, Lake and Palmer, comprised of the keyboardist from The Nice, the guitarist from King Crimson, and the drummer from Atomic Rooster?
Answer:
3 points
Question 9
According to figures published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which country was the world’s largest weapons importer between 2020 and 2024, accounting for 8.8 per cent of the global total during these years, having only accounted for 0.1 per cent in the four years previous - a rise of 9627 per cent. And what three countries were the biggest suppliers of these weapons?
Answer:
4 points
Question 10
What are the five object shapes that appear in confectionery company Haribo’s Starmix fruit gums selection?
Answer:
5 points
Round 4 points
(Maximum: 20)
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 cities or towns in which country?
Clue 1
Belleville
10 points
Clue 2
Sarnia
9 points
Clue 3
Medicine Hat
8 points
Clue 4
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu
7 points
Clue 5
Guelph
6 points
Clue 6
Mississauga
5 points
Clue 7
Hamilton
4 points
Clue 8
Regina
3 points
Clue 9
Montreal
2 points
Clue 10
Toronto
Answer:
1 point
Round 5 points
(Maximum: 10)
Total points
(Maximum: 95)
That’s it. Quiz done.
If you liked it, want to share it, or just like pressing buttons, the share and subscribe links, along with the PDF version of the questions, will round matters off. Before that, however, a word to say thank you for playing, and the quiz will return very soon.
