Parking signs, overdue books, and ill-advised decorations – take the Thursday quiz

A long exposure picture of the Long Room at Trinity College Dublin. But which book has just been returned to a school 113 years overdue? Photograph: Paul McErlane/The Guardian

Events, dear boy, events. A huge challenge for politicians, and also for people who write quizzes. The Thursday quiz would like to start by pointing out that last week there was a question about alleged cheating at the world conker championship. We would like to take this opportunity to clarify that “King Conker” David Jakins has subsequently been cleared of any alleged wrongdoing. There now follows 15 questions on news, topical silliness, general knowledge and pop culture, hopefully none of which we will have to retract or clarify next week. Enjoy!

The Thursday quiz, No 183

1. 

   A jokey parking limit sign at an airport has caused a stir among the joyless quibblers of the world after it said goodbye hugs were limited to three minutes. Where?

   1. Belfast international airport, Northern Ireland

   2. Canberra airport, Australia

   3. Dunedin airport, New Zealand

   4. Haverfordwest airport, Wales

2. 

   Which country this week narrowly voted in a referendum in favour of ultimately joining the European Union?

   1. Moldova

   2. Montenegro

   3. North Macedonia

   4. Syldavia

3. 

   Who earlier this week caused a rush of people saying they'd been onion-cutting after they discussed their grief for their mother with Elmo on Sesame Street?

   1. Neil Patrick Harris

   2. Tom Holland

   3. Tobey Maguire

   4. Andrew Garfield

4. 

   Which book has been returned to a Cumbria school library 113 years overdue?

   1. An edition of the 1910 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack

   2. A volume of poetry of Byron

   3. A copy of Peter and Wendy by J M Barrie, which is the original edition of the Peter Pan story

   4. The novel most beloved by absolute miserabilists, Wuthering Heights

5. 

   Which Eminem track did former US president Barack Obama rap at a rally in Wisconsin?

   1. Without Me

   2. Lose Yourself

   3. The Real Slim Shady

   4. This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us

6. 

   Who from Britain has Donald Trump's campaign accused of interfering in the US election?

   1. Nigel Farage

   2. Liz Truss

   3. Boris Johnson

   4. The Labour party

7. 

   Which fashion designer's limited edition collection for Marks & Spencer sold out in a day?

   1. Stella McCartney

   2. Dua Lipa

   3. Bella Freud

   4. Amelia Pond

8. 

   Defying critics and box office figures, the quiz master enjoyed Joker: Folie à Deux so much he went twice. Which Irish actor joins Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in the gloriously nerd-baiting musical, playing abusive prison guard Jackie Sullivan?

   1. Brendan Gleeson

   2. Gabriel Byrne

   3. Liam Cunningham

   4. Cillian Murphy

9. 

   Who has been named as the support act for the Oasis reunion tour dates in the UK?

   1. Ian Brown, formerly of the Stone Roses

   2. Richard Ashcroft, formerly of the Verve

   3. Gruff Rhys, formerly of Super Furry Animals

   4. Damon Albarn, of Blur and Gorillaz

10. 

    A publicity canny children's play centre in Cirencester hilariously had to remove Halloween decorations that appeared to be hanging bodybags after parents claimed their children were terrified. But what is the centre's name?

    1. Space Babies

    2. Ankle Biters

    3. Little Monsters

    4. Rugrats and Halfpints

11. 

    How much did then home secretary James Cleverly spend per head on catering on a charter flight to Rwanda to sign an agreement?

    1. £30-£50

    2. £255

    3. £455

    4. £655

12. 

    This week Willow, the official dog of the Guardian Thursday quiz, is curious about Uruguay. She wants to know where in Uruguay the capital, Montevideo, is …

    1. It is in the south of the country

    2. It is in the north of the country

    3. It is in the east of the country

    4. It is in the west of the country

13. 

    Which tech company announced that it had fired an intern for allegedly sabotaging one of its AI projects?

    1. TikTok's ByteDance

    2. Facebook's Meta

    3. Google's Alphabet

    4. Tom's MySpace

14. 

    A county in which US state has reclassified a Linda Coombs book on European colonisation of Native American land as fiction?

    1. Florida

    2. Texas

    3. California

    4. Arkansas

15. 

    Who last week won the outstanding contribution to music award at this year's Association of Independent Music (Aim) awards at Camden Roundhouse, London?

    1. Coldplay

    2. Taylor Swift

    3. Kate Bush

    4. Sparks

Solutions

1:C - A sign erected in the airport’s drop-off zone warns: “Max hug time 3 minutes. For fonder farewells please use the car park". “We’re trying to have fun with it," said chief executive Dan De Bono. One social media commenter, demonstrating a sound sense of proportion, said the sign was "inhumane", 2:A - Moldovans voted by a razor-thin majority of just 13,000 votes in favour of joining the EU. The country has a population of 2.5 million people, 3:D - There was not a dry eye in the house as the actor opened up about how much he missed his mum in the segment, saying "Sadness is kind of a gift. It’s a lovely thing to feel, in a way, because it means you really love somebody when you miss them. It makes me feel close to her when I miss her”, 4:B - It actually has quite a sad backstory, as the book in question had been loaned to a pupil subsequently killed in action at a young age during the first world war, 5:B - Obama rapped "His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti. He's nervous, but on the surface, he looks calm and ready," believed to have been written by Marshall Mathers about working himself up to take the Thursday quiz, 6:D - Funnily enough, not the other three, who have all backed Donald Trump in public, 7:C - The designer’s 27-piece collaboration launched last Thursday was gone by Friday, and has very possibly frustrated you a week later in the quiz, 8:A - He gets to do a bit of singing too, as well as some violence, 9:B - The former Verve frontman will appear at the 19 dates in Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh (and also in Dublin) between July and September, 10:D - In a masterful statement, a spokesperson said: "It wasn’t to cause distress and we apologise if this is how they have felt", 11:D - FoI requests reveal the former Conservative leadership hopeful spent £9,803.20 on catering for a flight to Kigali to sign Rishi Sunak's deportation deal that never forcibly deported a single person. But Taylor Swift tickets, eh?, 12:A - Montevideo is on Uruguay's southern coast, 13:A - ByteDance said it had dismissed the person in August after they “maliciously interfered” with the training of artificial intelligence (AI) models used in a research project, 14:B - Montgomery county, near Houston, after a decision by a citizens review panel at the behest of rightwing activists, has placed Colonization and the Wampanoag Story by Linda Coombs in the fiction section of its children’s libraries, 15:D - It was Ron and Russell, who used the occasion to announce they have a new album out in 2025!

Scores

1. 0 and above.

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

If you really do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers – and can show your working and are absolutely 100% positive you aren’t attempting to factcheck a joke – you can complain about it in the comments below. Why not watch Be Reasonable by somesurprises instead?

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