Weekly Quiz #26
A free weekly 20-question general knowledge quiz
Welcome to the 26th weekly quiz!
26 weeks marks half a year of Quiz Notes! 60 quizzes, 1100+ quiz questions, and 270+ subscribers later, I’m having a blast writing and I hope you’re enjoying reading, learning and improving too. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, my aim here is that we all collectively improve as quizzers, learn something new and interesting, and have fun as we go along. Thanks for joining me!
Anyway, onto this week’s quiz. As always, we’re aiming for interesting questions that could come up in future quizzes across a range of difficulties and topic areas: new stuff, traditional quiz areas, “I should know this but I don’t” questions. Enjoy.
Questions
In the news
Expected to launch this week, which NASA mission will be the first crewed mission to visit the moon since 1972?
This month it was announced that Arnold Schwarzenegger will return to screen for a third time as which sword-wielding character, who first appeared on screen in 1982 seeking to avenge his parents’ death at the hands of Thulsa Doom?
“All you need is a profound inferiority complex, no training as a writer and growing up a victim of the English class system.” This is a 1993 quote from which British author, best known for his 1962 novel The IPCRESS File? He died this month, aged 97.
Last weekend, which Canadian singer won her third consecutive Artist of the Year award at Canada’s Juno Awards? Her song Sports Car also won Single of the Year.
Which woman, the 2023 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics, helped players in the WNBA achieve an almost 400% pay increase this week via her role as advisor in negotiations?
Premiering on Netflix in February, which Irish comedy thriller series created by Lisa McGee follows three friends who travel to County Donegal to pay respects to a member of their teenage friend group who has unexpectedly died?
Which 19-year-old Italian became the youngest person to ever lead the World Drivers’ Championship after his victory at the Japanese Grand Prix last weekend?
Mixed bag
In sporting contexts, the terms southpaw and goofy refer to what trait?
Niagara Falls is situated along the Niagara River, which sees water flow north from Lake Erie into which other Great Lake?
Similar to hibernation in winter, what term refers to a prolonged state of dormancy that takes place during periods of heat and dryness, typically in summer?
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984) and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988) are works by which English writer and humourist (1952-2001)?
What two-word French term is used to describe the period of European history that spanned from the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914?
Known for its technically difficult passages, the G minor violin sonata popularly known as the Devil’s Trill Sonata is the best-known work by which Italian composer? It was not published until 1799, almost 30 years after his death.
The Taiwanese drink known as bubble tea or boba tea is typically made with edible translucent “pearls” produced from what starch, made from the cassava root?
The subject of paintings by Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Titian, Gentileschi, and Goya, a story from the Book of Judith recounts how the titular woman enters the tent of which Assyrian general and decapitates him to prevent him from destroying her home city of Bethulia?
Pictures
This is a scene from which 1998 film, whose title is sometimes used to refer more generally to seemingly mundane but pivotal moments in the course of a person’s life?
The 1930 painting N’tabeni by Jacob Hendrik Pierneef is considered a masterpiece of landscape art, depicting a landscape in the Highveld of which country?
This is an image of which Australian-born mathematician and 2006 Fields Medal winner? Mathematics professor Charles Fefferman says of him, “If you’re stuck on a problem, then one way out is to interest [him]”.
This is a panel from which webcomic and humour website created in 2009 by Matthew Inman, who later co-developed the card game and TV series Exploding Kittens?
One of the oldest flags in Europe still used in the present, the Senyera is the flag of which Spanish autonomous community?
And that’s this week’s quiz! I hope you enjoyed it.
Answers
Artemis II. The second mission of the Artemis program, named after the Greek goddess of the moon, will see four astronauts conduct a flyby of the moon in the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Conan the Barbarian. The new film will be called King Conan, and will be written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who wrote and directed the last four Mission: Impossible films. At the Arnold Sports Expo, Schwarzenegger said of the film, “I’m still going in there to kick some ass, but it will be a little bit different… It’s a great story where Conan was 40 years king, he gets complacent, and now he gets forced out of the kingdom slowly, and then there’s conflict, of course.”
Len Deighton. Back in a November edition of Friday Footnotes I listed six people born in 1929 (the same year as Martin Luther King Jr. and Anne Frank) who were then all still alive, three of whom have since left us: Frank Gehry, Jürgen Habermas, and Len Deighton. Look out Imelda Marcos, Berry Gordy, and Yayoi Kusama, eep.
Tate McRae. Her Single of the Year award was also her third in a row, winning in 2024 for Greedy and in 2025 for Exes. This year, her album So Close to What also won Album of the Year and Pop Album of the Year.
Claudia Goldin. Goldin acted as a key strategic advisor and economic consultant to the Players Association during negotiations for their collective bargaining agreement, providing data-driven economic analysis, focusing ultimately on the fraction of WNBA league revenue that was allocated to player salaries and benefits. In 2023, Goldin was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labor market outcomes.”
How to Get to Heaven from Belfast. The eight-part series was created by Lisa McGee, who also created and wrote the hit comedy series Derry Girls (2018-2022). A mural in Derry depicting the main characters of Derry Girls also appears in an episode of How to Get to Heaven from Belfast.
Kimi Antonelli. The Mercedes driver claimed his second successive Grand Prix win after also winning the Chinese Grand Prix, and in doing so broke Lewis Hamilton’s 2007 record to become the youngest ever person to lead the World Drivers’ Championship standings.
Left-handedness/Left-footedness. In boxing and some other sports, a southpaw stance is the typical stance for a left-hander, where the right hand and right foot are forward. The equivalent term for right-handers is orthodox stance. In board sports such as surfing and snowboarding, the typical left-footed stance is known as goofy-footed, with the right foot leading on the board and the left foot pushing.
Lake Ontario. The 58km-long Niagara River connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, and forms part of the border between New York State and the Canadian province of Ontario.
Aestivation (or estivation). Aestivation helps animals conserve energy, retain water in the body and avoid damage from high heat or dryness. Animals that enter aestivation include some species of land snails, lungfish, crocodiles, and salamanders.
Douglas Adams. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is the fourth book in the deliberately misnamed “trilogy” of six books in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. Its title is the message left by the dolphins after they left Earth shortly before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul is the second book featuring private detective Dirk Gently. It takes its title from a phrase which appeared in the third Hitchhiker’s Guide book, Life, the Universe and Everything, referring to the time on Sunday around 4pm when the weekend had finished and the week had not yet begun.
The Belle Époque. The period was characterised by optimism, prosperity, regional peace, and technological and scientific innovation, and also of course nationalism and colonial expansion. The name Belle Époque (French for “Beautiful Era”) was named retrospectively.
Giuseppe Tartini. Tartini wrote to French astronomer Jérôme Lalande, telling him that he had dreamed that the devil appeared to him and asked to be his teacher, after which he handed the devil his violin: “How great was my astonishment on hearing a sonata so wonderful and so beautiful, played with such great art and intelligence, as I had never even conceived in my boldest flights of fantasy. I felt enraptured, transported, enchanted: my breath failed me, and I awoke. I immediately grasped my violin in order to retain, in part at least, the impression of my dream. In vain! The music which I at this time composed is indeed the best that I ever wrote, and I still call it the “Devil’s Trill”, but the difference between it and that which so moved me is so great that I would have destroyed my instrument and have said farewell to music forever if it had been possible for me to live without the enjoyment it affords me.”
Tapioca. Tapioca pearls can be made to vary in colour or texture by adding different ingredients, and they are commonly soaked in sugar syrup to make them sweet and chewy.
Holofernes. The story of Judith beheading Holofernes has been depicted many times in Renaissance and Baroque art and sculpture. In the story from the deuterocanonical Book of Judith, Judith enters the tent of Holofernes under the guise of seduction, as he was preparing to destroy her home city of Bethulia. He passes out intoxicated and she decapitates him, thereby saving her city.
Sliding Doors. The 1998 film starring Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah shows two alternate storylines based on the paths Paltrow’s character’s life could take depending on whether she misses or catches a train. The phrase “sliding doors moment” has been used in pop culture to refer to these seemingly inconsequential but pivotal moments.
South Africa. N’tabeni means “place of the mountain” in Zulu. Jacob Hendrik Pierneef (1886-1957) is considered one of the finest South African painters, whose distinctive style was heavily influenced by the South African landscape. Much of his work depicts landscapes, typically in the Highveld, an inland plateau mostly in the provinces of Free State and Gauteng. Pierneef was the only painter to feature in a 2004 public vote of the 100 Greatest South Africans, which aired as a TV series in the country.
Terence Tao. Tao remains the youngest ever medallist at the International Mathematical Olympiad, achieving a bronze aged 10 in 1986, and the youngest person promoted to full professor at UCLA, appointed in 1999 aged 24. He is known for his collaborative approach and novel contributions across a broad range of mathematical areas. Fellow Fields medallist Timothy Gowers said of him, “Tao’s mathematical knowledge has an extraordinary combination of breadth and depth…Some of these are areas to which he has made fundamental contributions. Others are areas that he appears to understand at the deep intuitive level of an expert despite not working in those areas. How he does all this, as well as writing papers and books at a prodigious rate, is a complete mystery.”
The Oatmeal. In 2010, The Oatmeal received more than 20 million page views per month, and the website was awarded the Eisner Award for Best Digital/Webcomic in 2014. Inman has also released 10 books featuring content from the website and new material. In 2015, he and two co-founders launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for their card-based game Exploding Kittens, which raised $8.8 million, becoming the most-funded card game on the platform. The success of the game led to a company of the same name which produced other games, including 2019’s Throw Throw Burrito, and a 2024 Netflix TV series Exploding Kittens.
Catalonia. The flag also appears on the coat of arms of Spain and Andorra, and is used in some form on the flags of Aragon, the Balearic Islands, and the Valencian Community. A variant of the flag known as the Estelada, with a white five-pointed star inside a blue triangle in the hoist, has been used as a symbol for Catalan independence from Spain.
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