Captains, capitals, and Cruise’s curry curiosity – take the Thursday quiz

There’s nothing quite like the Thursday quiz. Once described in the comments as “irritating, shrill and self-indulgent” it features 14 questions on general knowledge and topical trivia, a handful of silly jokes, a hidden Doctor Who reference to find, a picture of the lovely Kate Bush and random anagrams designed to infuriate. And you love it. Do let us know how you get on in the comments.

The Thursday quiz, No 18

1. UK NEWS: This bridge was meant to reopen last week after refurbishment, but got stuck fast and positively refused to swing. In which British city?

   1. Glasgow

   2. Belfast

   3. Newcastle

   4. Cardiff

2. GLOBAL NEWS: Following the resignation of Andrew Cuomo, this week New York state swore in a new governor. Who is she?

   1. Kathy Hochul

   2. Hillary Clinton

   3. Elise Stefanik

   4. Carolyn Maloney

3. WHAT THE HELL IS IT THIS TIME: That’s a Sparks song that imagines a busy god vexed every time someone prays to them because of something trivial like their dog has run away. But that’s not important right now. In which book of the Gospels does it say: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

   1. Mark

   2. Matthew

   3. Luke

   4. John

4. POETRY CORNER: Kathleen Jamie is Scotland’s national poet. What is the role called?

   1. Mauner

   2. Makar

   3. Mara

   4. Megrim

5. POETRY CORNER PART II: Which poem by Sylvia Plath opens with these lines: “I have done it again / One year in every ten / I manage it——”

   1. Lady Lazarus

   2. Daddy

   3. The Moon and the Yew Tree

   4. Morning Song

6. SCIENCE CORNER: Science corner is probably directly opposite poetry corner. Which of these common substances has the highest pH value?

   1. Lemon juice

   2. Beer

   3. Milk

   4. Toothpaste

7. MUSIC: Whose 2004 album Love Angel Music Baby was a Top 5 hit in both the US and the UK?

   1. Katie Melua

   2. Scissor Sisters

   3. Gwen Stefani

   4. Kate Bush

8. ENSEMBLE CASTS: Which US sitcom featured these actors in regularly recurring supporting roles? Peri Gilpin, John Mahoney and Moose

   1. Frasier

   2. Seinfield

   3. Cheers

   4. Golden Girls

9. EARLY SCI-FI: The captain of the Nautilus in Jules Verne’s 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was…?

   1. Captain Nero

   2. Captain Nemo

   3. Captain Dory

   4. Captain Haddock

10. GEOGRAPHY: San José is the capital city of which Central American country? Plot twist – it is anagram time.

    1. Dollar Vase

    2. Cat Is Orca

    3. Sand Hour

    4. Iguana Arc

11. CURRY ON CRUISING: Tom Cruise went to Birmingham in the UK, and according to restaurant Asha’s, he enjoyed eating his curry so much that he immediately ordered another one exactly the same. Which dish though?

    1. Lamb bhuna

    2. Vegan jackfruit massaman

    3. Chicken tikka masala

    4. Paneer jalfrezi

12. TRUE OR FALSE: From September Belgium is introducing a legal right to go and retrieve a lost ball or lost pet from a neighbour’s garden?

    1. True

    2. False

13. SYNTH-POP!: Which synth-pop duo had hits in the UK including Numbers, Torch and Bedsitter?

    1. Soft Cell

    2. Eurythmics

    3. Pet Shop Boys

    4. Erasure

14. AND FINALLY: An academic study recently found that what had happened to swearing in Britain between 1994 and 2014?

    1. It had increased by 10%

    2. It had stayed roughly the same

    3. It had decreased by 27%

    4. It had announced it was forming a European Super League and then had to back down a couple of days later

Solutions

1:C - Hundreds had gathered to witness the industrial wonder of the world’s largest hydraulic swinging bridge in operation for the first time for more than 18 months, but something deep within its remained jammed. The Port of Tyne authority, which is responsible for maintenance of the bridge, said the fault was “unforeseeable”, although presumably they could have given it a little shove first to see if it moved., 2:A - New York’s 57th governor, and first woman to hold the post, was formerly lieutenant governor, and has been rapidly propelled from relative obscurity to one of most the powerful and prominent leadership positions within the Democratic party., 3:D - It is John, chapter 14 verse 6. John’s Gospel is famously rather more esoteric about things than the other three, and you can tell by his face that Ron from Sparks thinks you should have known that., 4:B - The role of makar involves taking a leadership role in promoting poetry nationally, as well as producing work relating to significant national events. It lasts for three years. , 5:A - Dr Oliver Tearle, who runs the Interesting Literature website, says: “The poem is about resurrection – but implicit within its title, and Sylvia Plath’s reference to the man whom Jesus brought back from the dead, is the idea of annihilation or extinction, a theme that is never far away from us with a Plath poem. Another important aspect of Lady Lazarus – which is alluded to in Plath’s reference to the ‘peanut-crunching crowd’ – is the idea of suffering as spectacle, a theatre of cruelty to which people might pay to see.”, 6:D - Yes toothpaste is the only one of the four that falls into the higher alkaline or basic end of the scale, and scores about 9. The others are all acidic, ranging from lemon juice which is a 2, beer which is a 4 and milk which is a 6., 7:C - Love Angel Music Baby spawned hits including What You Waiting For?, Rich Girl and Hollaback Girl, and also eventually a cultural appropriation backlash for Stefani over the posse of Japanese Harajuku Girls who accompanied her during this period. Scissor Sisters and Katie Melua both released albums that were among the top-selling in the UK that year, but Kate Bush didn’t release any albums in 2004. Boo., 8:A - Gilpin was Roz Doyle, Mahoney was Martin Crane and Moose was Eddie the dog. Sadly I have to report that Moose passed away in 2006. He’d also played a dog called Skip in the imaginatively titled movie My Dog Skip., 9:B - It was indeed Captain Nemo, memorably played by James Mason in the 1954 Disney movie version of the book, and by Naseeruddin Shah in 2003’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film., 10:B - A nation who have, in the past, proudly embarrassed both England and Scotland at the Fifa World Cup. Your other options were, of course, El Salvador (Dollar Vase), Honduras (Sand Hour) and Nicaragua (Iguana Arc) , 11:C - It was the chicken tikka masala, often cited as Britain’s favourite curry dish, despite nobody quite ever agreeing on its origin story. Why Tom Cruise felt the need for two, perhaps we shall never know either., 12:A - It’s true – provided it ended up there by accident. In a sign that this legislation may not have been 100% thought through, Prof Vincent Sagaert, who helped write the new property law, said: “From 1 September, you have the right to go and get your ball or pet, provided it ended up there by accident. Just kicking the ball over the hedge to look around is not allowed. Of course, you must use your common sense. You have to ring the bell of the neighbour and ask first, but if they refuse or are not at home, you can still enter the garden to quickly get it back. But only to look for your ball or animal, not to take other things, because that is still just called theft.”, 13:A - Aside from their iconic version of Tainted Love the duo enjoyed eight other UK hit singles between 1981 and 1984., 14:C - Blue blistering barnacles, the study by Dr Robbie Love at Aston University analysed transcribed spoken conversations that took place in 1994 and in 2014 and looked at changing preferences for 16 different swearwords. He found there was a 27% drop in swearing in Britain over the 20-year period, down from 1,822 to a disappointingly half-hearted 1,320 swearwords per million. For shame.

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   We hope you had fun – let us know how you got on in the comments!

2. 6 and above.

   We hope you had fun – let us know how you got on in the comments!

• If you do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers, please feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com but remember, the quiz master’s word is always final, even if you reckon you can eat two curries in one sitting.