You wait 74 weeks for the 75th edition of the Guardian’s Thursday quiz to come along, and then it appears bang on time. Fantastic! There are questions about topical news. There are questions about general knowledge. There is also a question about a disturbing piece of AI art – and a few jokes along the way for good measure. There are no prizes, but let us know how you got on in the comments.

The Thursday quiz, No 75

1.THE CREATOR HAS A MASTER PLAN: We lost the incredibly influential free jazz and spiritual jazz musician Pharoah Sanders this week. But what instrument was he most famous for playing?

2.THE GIFT BLESSES THE GIVER: We also lost the author Hilary Mantel. She was, of course, famous for the Booker prize-winning Wolf Hall. But what was the name of its follow-up, which also won the Booker prize?

Hilary Mantel

3.HENRY THE VIII AND HIS WIVES AND ALL THAT: Mantel’s trilogy of books beginning with Wolf Hall was about the life of Thomas Cromwell. He was executed on 28 July 1540, the same day that Henry VIII married who?

Portrait of Henry VIII

4.BABY FACE: For some inexplicable reason, scientists kept feeding pregnant people stuff then looking at the faces of the babies in their wombs. Absolute weirdos. What did they discover is twice as likely to make babies grimace as carrots?

Grimacing child

5.ELECTION DAY: Giorgia Meloni headed the largest party of the rightwing bloc in Italy’s election at the weekend. Which party does she lead?

Giorgia Meloni

6.GCSE SCIENCE BUT WITH NENA: Nena had a huge international hit with 99 Red Balloons (some pictured), about the perils of nuclear war. But what name is given to the total kinetic energy and potential energy of all the particles of helium gas in a helium balloon?

Red balloons

7.BANG CRASH WALLOP: Nasa clearly decided it had too many spaceships on its hands and this week smashed its Dart probe into what for the LOLs?

A space scene

8.TAMMY’S TEASER: Tammy Wynette had a hit single with D-I-V-O-R-C-E in 1968. But which E was a single by the band REM that also featured Patti Smith on vocals?

Tammy Wynette

9.ON THIS DAY: On 29 September 1864 a treaty (not pictured) was signed that agreed the peaceful borders of Spain and Portugal (also not pictured), and abolished the microstate of Couto Misto. What was the treaty known as? It was named after the place where it was signed.

Some old document

10.HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN BRITISH TELEVISION LAND: It is Ian McShane’s birthday today. Happy birthday, Ian! What was the name of the long-running British TV series in which he played the titular character, a roguish antiques dealer?

An actor

11.1966 AND ALL THAT: A series of questions not related to football leading up to the 2022 Fifa World Cup awarded to Qatar, where migrant workers have been left in debt after being ordered home before it starts. The 1986 Fifa World Cup was held in Mexico, but was originally scheduled for Colombia. What is the capital of Colombia?

Maradona's falls

12.SPORT BUT WITH ADDED CONTROVERSY: India’s women completed an ODI sweep against England in the cricket, but they were booed by the English crowd because what happened to cause them to win the third and final match of the series?

India’s Renuka Thakur

13.ART FOR ART’S SAKE: Cleaning staff at which museum have been told to ignore the accumulation of spider webs in the building before an exhibition called Clara and Crawly Creatures?

A spider web

14.ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST: We also lost Louise Fletcher, who so brilliantly played Nurse Mildred Ratched in the film adaptation of Ken Kesey’s novel. But what year did she win best actress at the Academy Awards for the role?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

15.NEW FACE IN AI HELL: What prompt did the Thursday quiz give to an AI drawing robot to produce this masterpiece?

An image for the Thursday quiz

If you do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers, please feel free to email [email protected], but remember the quiz master’s word is final, and you wouldn’t want him to set the spiders on you.


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