SPORTS
1. The New York Yankees have retired the number that is equal to the difference in Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth’s career home run totals including postseason games. Who wore it?
Elston Howard ((755+6)-(714+15), 761-729=32)
2. Which U.S. men’s national soccer team star was “denied again” seconds before Landon Donovan gave the Americans a spot in the round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup?
Clint Dempsey
3. Who won a 2010 mixed martial arts bout between a former UFC heavyweight champion and a former World’s Strongest Man?
Tim Sylvia
4. In what arena did Eva Longoria’s ex play his home games during the 2010-11 season?
AT&T Center
5. A Gene Hackman movie was filmed in the arena that houses the team that lost the 2011 NCAA men’s basketball championship game. In what state was it set?
Indiana
6. Which team was Terrell Owens purportedly the property of between the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles?
Baltimore Ravens
7. What is the only horse to finish second in all three Triple Crown races?
Alydar
8. Atlanta Braves second baseman Dan Uggla set a record by committing three errors in a nationally televised game in July 2008. What was his team’s opponent in that game?
American League All-Stars
9. What was the final non-qualifying NASCAR race completed by Dale Earnhardt?
2000 NAPA 500 2001 Budweiser Shootout.
10. The Red Sox franchise has existed since 1901. Why didn’t they win an AL East title until 1975?
The division system didn’t come into being until 1969.
POLITICS
1. What Foggy Bottom assistant was unwittingly pulled into a Twitter scandal?
Huma Abedin, assistant to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and wife to Rep. Anthony Weiner
2. At press time, how many children has Detective John Kimble admitted to?
5 — 4 with Maria Shriver, 1 love child
3. What movement started by the 37th president celebrated a milestone in June?
The War on Drugs
4. Where were the first post-shooting photos of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords released?
5. Why did Obama hug Patricia Smith?
The 11-year-old lost her mother on 9/11 and invited the President to speak at Ground Zero
6. As of June 23, how many people have declared their candidacy for president in 2012?
20
7. Who had to stifle a cough during a tense moment in May?
Hillary Clinton
8. What historic event did the pride of Sandpoint, Idaho get mixed up about in June?
Paul Revere’s ride
9. How many people live in President Obama’s great-great-great grandfather’s home town?
300, though it struck us later that Barack Obama has multiple great-great-great grandfathers. We’ve accepted answers for the home towns of any of them.
10. Which millionaire didn’t know why $7.35 was so important?
Denny Rehberg
MONEY AND FINANCE
1. What are the four porcine countries at the heart of the European debt crisis?
Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain (PIGS). We also accepted Italy.
2. What form of shoplifting that’s on the rise do some economists say is a sign of economic recovery?
Theft by retail employees
3. Billionaire Peter Thiel is paying wannabe entrepreneurs to drop of of college. Roughly how many years of tuition at the average private university is Thiel’s bounty worth?
Four, though we also awarded points to more accurate answers of around 3.6. ($100,000 / $27,000)
4. In 2008 Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss received a settlement from Facebook worth millions of dollars. If the Winklevii had used that money to pick up the production costs of the film “The Social Network,” how much would they have left over?
$25 million ($65 million minus $40 million)
5. Exchange-rate-wise, what was the worst day this year to be an American in Britain?
The exchange rate bottomed out the last weekend of April, though there are conflicting reports of the exact day it hit its nadir. We’ve awarded points to any answer between April 28 and May 2.
6. In March, a New York man attempted to sell one of these for $1 million, ignoring that fact that they routinely go for less than $100 on eBay. What is it?
A 212 area code
7. Which fictional character helped increase NBC-Universal’s theme park revenue by 16%?
Harry Potter
8. Which bright yellow morsels have seen their sales drop 18 percent since 2010?
Kellogg’s Corn Pops
9. What did the Washington Post recently say was the leading driver of income inequality in America?
Executive pay
10. Which hot media trend did The Onion name “a bold business move”?
Charging people for service
TELEVISION
1. Which PBS series that aired over 12 episodes in 1973 is often credited as the first example of a now-prevalent TV genre?
“An American Family”
2. On “The Simpsons,” the man who sold Springfield a monorail also sold them to other towns. What were they?
Lyle Lanley also sold monorails to Ogdenville, North Haverbrook and Brockway.
3. Which celebrity has his taxes prepared for free, for life, thanks to a famous blunder he made on television?
Ken Jennings, after answering a question about H&R Block incorrectly on “Jeopardy!”
4. Which HBO series’ theme song hit #2 on the Norwegian charts in 2009?
“True Blood” (Jace Everett’s “Bad Things”)
5. Which actor can credit his agent’s locker room dealings at a hockey game for helping him land a starring role in a recently canceled ABC series?
Christian Slater (“The Forgotten”)
6. Which actress has starred in 10 or more episodes of four different canceled shows since 2003, earning her the nickname “show killer”?
Lindsay Price, who starred in “Eastwick,” “Lipstick Jungle,” “Pepper Dennis” and “Coupling.”
7. What’s the name of the band — in real life — that plays at the punk show James Franco’s character attends in an episode of “Freaks and Geeks”?
Diesel Boy
8. Episodes of “I Love Lucy” were shot in color starting in the second season. During which season did the first “Lucy” episodes actually air in color?
Due to an editing error, Metro mistakenly printed the title “I Love Lucy,” in place of “The Lucy Show.” “I Love Lucy” aired in black and white. No points have been awarded for this question.
9. A comedian signed off of a popular series with these words: “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.” How many episodes of that series did he host?
Conan O’Brien was at the helm of the “Tonight Show” for 146 episodes. (As one did not air, we also accept the answer 145.)
10. Before his success with an influential HBO drama, which showrunner worked on a classic TV series whose anti-hero always charged his clients “$200 a day, plus expenses”?
David Chase, who worked on “The Rockford Files” before creating “The Sopranos.”
MOVIES
1. A race of strange blue creatures has a movie coming out on July. What is the name of their distinctive hats?
Phrygian cap
2. Kevin Bacon recently appeared in “X-Men: First Class.” Which of his co-stars on “X-Men” previously starred in a film with Kirsten Dunst, who co-starred with Brad Pitt in “Interview with a Vampire,” who co-starred with Kevin Bacon in “Sleepers”?
There are two acceptable answers: Rose Byrne and James MacAvoy.
3. “Disney’s Nine Old Men” was a group of core animators and directors of the first classic Disney films. Which director, who has an animated movie out this summer, studied under them?
“Cars 2” John Lasseter
4. Which actor/director recently mourned that fact that his project’s next sequel will be difficult to write because of another ensemble comic book film that’s already in production?
Jon Favreau regarding “Iron Man 3”
5. “Horrible Bosses” features the song “How You Like Me Now?” by The Heavy. In what other movie, coming out in August, does the song feature in the trailer?
“The Change-Up”
6. In the begging of the first “Back to the Future” film, Marty McFly wakes up to meet Doc at the Twin Pines Mall. What song is playing on his alarm clock when he wakes up to meet him?
“Time Bomb Town” by Lindsey Buckingham
7. In “Bad Teacher” Cameron Diaz holds a car wash to earn money for the school. What was the name of the imagined name of the character who washes cars in “Cool Hand Luke”?
Lucille
8. According to a classic film, what was the best field for college graduates in 1968?
Plastics
9. A new “Planet of the Apes” movie is coming out in August. Who has been in more “Planet of the Apes” movies than any other cast member?
James Bacon. We will also accept Roddy McDowall, who acted in four of the films and appeared in archival footage in a fifth.
10. Which close male friend of Elizabeth Taylor has two movies coming out this summer?
Colin Farrell, in “Horrible Bosses” and “Fright Night”
MUSIC
1. While no musician has taken a version of the “Star Spangled Banner” to No. 1 on the Billboard charts, which New Jersey native took it to No. 6, 10 years after recording it?
Whitney Houston
2. Which Orchestra has the longest-running record of playing a major free fireworks show on the Fourth of July?
The Boston Pops
3. Which outspoken musician recently suggested that Philadelphia could be the type of wild party destination on Fourth of July that New York City is on New Year’s Eve?
?uestlove of the Roots
4. Which classic rock band, with a high-flying patriotic name, had a guitarist who actually ran for President of the United States in 1980?
The Eagles (Joe Walsh)
5. What seemingly happy-go-lucky folk song was written as an angry response to the patriotic Irving Berlin song that occasionally replaces “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch in some baseball games?
“This Land is Your Land” by Woodie Guthrie
6. What was the first song with the word “America,” “American” or “U.S.A.” in the title to top the Billboard charts?
“American Woman” by the Guess Who (1970)
Can you name these three patriotic albums?
7. There’s A Riot Goin’ On” by Sly and the Family Stone
8. “Stankonia” by OutKast
9. Gold” by Ryan Adams
10. What classic American rock riff can be played by dialing 5-456-45 on your touch-tone telephone?
“Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen
CELEBRITIES
1. Two teen idols from today wore shirts emblazoned with teen idols from the ’80s to two recent awards shows. Name the two teen idols from today.
Justin Bieber and Willow Smith.
2. Which ex-wife of a disgraced former TV star briefly appeared on a newly-launched reality TV show?
Brooke Mueller, who appeared on “The World According to Paris”
3. When one reality TV star got engaged, there were equines there of a rather different variety to help mark the occasion. What made these ponies different?
There were “sparkle ponies” at the engagement of Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries
4. Who is January Jones’s baby daddy?
Trick question — it’s not been announced
5. One winning gossip rag fixture made the Guinness Book of World Records this year. For what?
Charlie Sheen was the fastest person to reach 1 million followers on Twitter.
6. This sister of a deceased singing superstar recently released a memoir. What was its name?
“Starting Over” by LaToya Jackson
7. One reality TV star wrote a New York Times bestselling novel this year. What was its protagonist’s name?
Giovanna “Gia” Spumanti, from Snooki’s “A Shore Thing.” We will also accept Jane Roberts from Lauren Conrad’s “L.A. Candy.”
8. Who is the US’s highest paid reality TV star?
When this quiz went to press, reports had just emerged that Donald Trump was our highest-paid reality star. However, that report was denied by NBC days later, so we will accept both Trump and the previous record-holder, Kim Kardashian.
9. One comedian was recently deported from Japan but lived to Tweet about it. What’s his Twitter handle?
@rustyrockets , the nom de plume of Russell Brand
10. Where did the female lead of “Love Happens” meet her current flame?
On the set of “Wanderlust”
NEWS
1. Which group of publicity hounds is disbanding because they say they are “bored”?
The hacker group LulzSec
2. In May, something did not happen. What day does the man who said that thing would happen now say we need to worry about something happening on?
October 21
3. Whose December 2010 suicide eventually overthrew his president?
Mohammed Bouazzi
4. Which former university president saw his brother’s California sojourn come to an unexpected end in June?
William Bulger
5. When the Duke of Cambridge kissed his Duchess in April, whose uniform did he wear?
The Irish Guards
6. Which chap with a repetitive name landed in some hot water over his choice of transportation?
Gov. Chris Christie
7. Which murder trial saw fistfights erupt between spectators trying to snag a hot courtroom ticket?
The Casey Anthony trial for the death of Caylee Anthony
8. What three-word euphemism did Defense Secretary Robert Gates use to describe the U.S. military action in Libya? (Adding that, to Moammar Gaddafi, it was probably just “war.”)
“Limited Kinetic Operation”
9. When a 110-year-old man died in a Paris suburb in May, which British woman became the last of her kind?
Florence Green
10. Which confessed tax evader designed one of the world’s largest nests?
Ai Weiwei
GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
1. The summer solstice was June 21. Which HBO show tagline describes our current state of affairs?
“Winter is Coming,” from Game of Thrones
2. With two deaths in the last three months, this is one of the most dangerous types of Guinness World Record to hold. What is it?
World’s oldest man/woman/person
3. Which metonymic New York street was the site of an important Buttonwood tree?
Wall Street
4. What do scientists believe the real-life animal Hydra has in common with the father of the man who killed the mythological Hydra?
They’re both immortal/don’t age. (We also accept that they reproduce by budding)
5. Three first cousins fought in a war, but only one stayed in his job long enough to pass it to his son. Which memory-addled actor played that son in an Oscar-winning film?
Guy Pierce, who played Edward VIII in “The King’s Speech”
6. Which 51-second Beatles song is one of the rare tunes credited to all four members of the group?
“Dig It”
7. Who was TIME’s Man of the Year the year the man who was Man of the Year the year the most recent Man of the Year was born, was born?
Chiang Kai-shek, who was MotY in 1937, the year that Peter Ueberroth was born. Ueberroth was MotY in 1984, the year that Mark Zuckerberg, the 2010 MotY, was born.
8. Who was the last man to be both the last President and the last Vice President of his political party?
Millard Fillmore (Whig). Andrew Johnson was the last President and Vice President of the “National Union Party,” but that was a short-term public-relations renaming of the Republic Party and it is not widely considered an actual political party.
9. Which fast-food chain’s interior design was a reaction to Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”?
White Castle
10. Which African nation’s borders are often erroneously said to have been determined by cannonball?
Gambia
PHOTO ROUND
Some of these photos are famous; others, less so.
1. Grace Van Cutsem
2. Audrey Tomason
3. Scott Jones and Alex Thomas
4. Bashar al-Assad (of Syria)
5. Anthony Weiner
6. Luis Urzua
7. Chris Lee
8. Laurent Gbagbo (of the Ivory Coast)
9. Hamad bin Ifa Al Khalifa (of Bahrain)
10. Jon Huntsman
