Hi all—we remain on spring break, and so this post continues our run of guest posts. We’ll have one more guest post on Friday before we retake the reins for Trivia Newsletter CCXII on Tuesday, April 2nd.
Today's newsletter is written by Matt Straus, a long-time subscriber who is a fixture at or near the top of our Question #6 leaderboards.
If you are interested in writing a guest post, perhaps to promote some endeavor of yours, we would love to hear from you! We write the recaps, so all you have to do is write six questions with a hidden theme.
[For this edition, and also for all of the guest posts this month, the newsletter title of “Guest Post” is not a clue about the theme.]
Below are six trivia questions. If you’d like to participate, you can either reply to this e-mail or submit your answers via Google Forms by using the button below. You can find our rules and guidelines by following this link.
1) The court case of the century wrapped up in October 2023 when Taco Bell announced that Taco Tuesday “officially belongs to all who make, sell, eat and celebrate tacos now that” WHAT was relinquished? Two establishments—Taco John’s and Gregory’s Restaurant and Bar—lost their turn with “Taco Tuesday” in the legal proceedings.
2) After declaring war against Germany in 1917, the U.S. Congress created the “draft” to conscript men for military service. While the country has not involuntarily conscripted soldiers since the early 1970s, no one gets a free play: all biological male US citizens between 18 and 25 are still required to register with WHAT three-letter initialism?
3) Don’t say Jack: He may be most famous for his hairstyle (which he has said is inspired by Mandinka warriors in West Africa) or the catchphrase he coined as Clubber Lang. GIVE the name that this man, born Laurence, is most commonly known by; he chose his name to get instant respect.
4) There’s Blue, Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, Purple, Red, and Yellow (but no White) spanning 145 stations. NAME the American transit system that is centered around the Loop.
5) Give it a spin: NAME the symbol for the set of natural numbers {1, 2, 3, 4, 5…}, the symbol for the most abundant element in earth’s atmosphere, or the shorthand SI unit for force (named after the father of classical mechanics).
6) Can you solve the puzzle? Talk it out. WHAT single character completes the sequence alluded to by the answers to Questions #1 through #5?
Trivia Newsletter CCIX Recap
Thanks to Conor for writing these questions!
1) Having previously hosted in 1900 and 1924, WHAT city will become the second city to host the modern Olympic Games for a third time in 2024?
This is PARIS. We were extremely pleased to hear that Scott Hanson is part of the “Gold Zone” for NBC’s Olympics coverage.
2) The “Triple Crown of Acting” is a term applied to actors who have won an Oscar, Emmy, and Tony Award in the acting categories. British entertainment uses a similar distinction for actors who have won a BAFTA Film Award, BAFTA Television Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award. NAME the only person to have earned both distinctions.
This is HELEN MIRREN. Mirren won three consecutive BAFTA Television Awards for Best Actress for playing the character Jane Tennison in WHAT police procedural? The answer’s at the end of this newsletter.1
3) On September 12, 2023, the day after the New York Jets played their first game of the NFL season, searches for WHAT two-word calcaneal body part spiked, as suggested by the below image of a Google Trends chart for searches of the term?
This is an ACHILLES TENDON. Interest in the term surged after Aaron Rodgers, who is not having an awesome month, suffered an injury in the aforementioned game.
4) A biography written by Ron Chernow describes an 1877 visit to Windsor Castle as follows: “[Queen Victoria] considered Julia ‘civil & complimentary in her funny American way’ but griped that the upstart Jesse was ‘a very ill-mannered young Yankee.’ Meanwhile, the Earl of Derby shuddered at” WHAT American present at the meeting?
This is ULYSSES S. GRANT. Grant and his family went on a fascinating world tour right after his presidency ended.
5) Of the thirteen clubs that have won multiple UEFA Champions League titles, four come from England (Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest), three come from Italy (AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus), two from Spain (Real Madrid and Barcelona) and two from Portugal (Benfica and Porto). WHAT two countries are home to the remaining two clubs?
These countries are THE NETHERLANDS (Ajax) and GERMANY (Bayern Munich). We thought this tidbit about the UEFA Champions League trophy was interesting:
A rule introduced in 1968/69 stipulates that the cup becomes the property of any club who win the competition five times or three years in a row. The club then start a new cycle from zero. Real Madrid, Ajax, Bayern München, Milan and Liverpool all have a version in their trophy rooms. The rule was changed ahead of 2008/09, with the original trophy remaining with UEFA and the clubs awarded a replica.
6) The answers to Questions #1 through #5 above reference five individuals who are most famously associated with WHAT site?
These answers were, or were connected with, Paris, Helen, Achilles, Ulysses, and Ajax, which means we were asking about the ancient city of TROY. Read more about the search for the city of Troy here.
Our suggested piece of reading today is Jon Bois’s 2014 piece about working at Radio Shack.
Question #6 Leaderboard
The Question #6 leaderboard can be viewed at this link. (Updates to the leaderboard may occur irregularly until April.)
The Helen Mirren police procedural we asked about is PRIME SUSPECT.