Christmas Quiz XIX: Answers and Results
Congratulations to the Craven Family who came first with a score of 99.5!
Christmas Quiz XIX answers and results are out!
Congratulations to the Craven Family who came first with a score of 99.5!
The Honour Roll, questions analysis - and, of course, the answers - are below.
This year was a high-scoring year with three teams getting 99 or above - though none quite full marks. The threshold for the Honour Roll was therefore set at 90, with an impressive 16 teams scoring this high or above1. It was great to see some first-time appearances, including Cunliffe, Douglass & Co, Northern Lights and the Flint Family.
Congratulations to our winners, the Honour Roll and to everyone who took part - I’m glad you had another year of fun.
Before we move on to the answers, a reminder to subscribe so as not to miss next year’s Christmas Quiz - and to look out for the 2025 forecasting contest, opening Monday 13 January.
The Answers
What you’re all waiting for! Here they are:
Question Analysis
Every question was got by at least one team2 and 68 questions were answered correctly by all 16 teams on the Honour Roll. The most challenging questions were as follows (answer in brackets show how many Honour Roll teams didn’t get it):
Q73 (10): This was meant to be a stinker and so it proved. The One Ring, the balrog and Snowmane are all repeatedly described as banes - Isildur’s bane, Durin’s Bane3 and Theoden’s bane4 - while I is the Roman numeral for one; hence Baines.
Q36 (7): Juvenile Delinquency = YA (Young Adult) sin = Yasin.
Q51 (6): Forester loses the fifth letter, e5, to become Forster.
Q85 (6): Modus operandi = MO; a ‘hind Ra’ is a 'trailing sun god’, thus Mohindra.
Q95 (5): North-east is 45 degrees on a compass and to lean is to sway; hence Swayne.
I accepted a number of alternative answers to questions. I gave full credit to Gosling for Q10, Adam for Q49 and Smith for Q58, as these all seemed equally legitimate, and gave full credit to a long-time Yorkshire resident who answered Tice for Q97, at least partly because it made me laugh out loud. Half marks were given for Josan (Q3), Wood (Q27)6 and Rimmer (Q21)7 amongst others. I also gave full or partial credit for various answers to Q69 and Q81, which with hindsight were not the best questions. As always, the quizmaker’s decision is final.
And that's it for another year! Once again, thank you to everyone who takes part, whether they're aiming for the Honour Roll or just to have fun - it's always a pleasure to see so many happy Quizzers.
And before we go a reminder, the 2025 Forecasting Contest will open on 13 January8 - it’s a lot easier on the brain than the Christmas Quiz, so stay tuned and tell your friends!
Apologies to the several teams scoring in the high 80s, which is sometimes enough to place!
Always pleasing.
Also an elf-bane, ‘of all elf-banes the most deadly, save the One who sits in the Dark Tower.’
Faithful servant yet master’s bane / Lightfoot’s foal, swift Snowmane
Not *its* fifth letter.
I do think Lightwood is the clearly better answer, as balsa is very much known for this quality.
I feel you have to have a galactic empire before you start getting specific about precisely which part of the galaxy your space-elves come from.
Great quiz!
Lesson learned: I should double-check my answers and see if another answer would fit better. I thought I had 100 because I had an answer filled in for every question.
I did get Slinger in the end for David, but I still think Braverman works too (as in, he was a braver man than his compatriots, who were all too scared to fight Goliath)