Thursday news quiz: Liz Truss’s reign, origin apples and a bunch of boars

This squirrel is having a special birthday acorn. Illustration: Anaïs Mims/Guardian Design

Pop the champagne, fire the glitter cannons, let off some sky lanterns and then get castigated for the fire hazard and risk to wildlife they cause. Lo and behold it is the 250th Guardian Thursday news quiz, and a special bumper edition at that. Twenty-two questions await you on topical news, general knowledge, pop culture, and the re-appearance of every regular round we’ve previously had, and could remember, and which didn’t cause us legal problems. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 250

1. 

   Students in which country (not pictured) are up in arms over claims that a super-duper new computerised marking system has ended up giving them incorrect grades in vital exams?

   1. India

   2. Borduria

   3. South Korea

   4. Indonesia

2. 

   A tree, which is more than 200 years old and which produced the first ever example of which type of apples (not pictured, that is the Pokémon Applin), is under threat after the garden where it stands has been sold?

   1. Dunwich Russet

   2. Cox's Orange Pippin

   3. Bramley

   4. Braeburn

3. 

   Who recently said that backing Thursday quiz favourite Liz Truss (pictured) as the next leader of the Conservative party was his biggest political mistake?

   1. Sajid Javid

   2. Kwasi Kwarteng

   3. Michael Gove

   4. Mr Blobby

4. 

   Talking of the Tories, which Kemi Badenoch-backing (pictured) US rapper has said they are coming over to attend the Spectator's summer party in London?

   1. Nicki Minaj

   2. Amber Rose

   3. Azealia Banks

   4. Bobson Dugnutt

5. 

   A meteor (not the one pictured) crashing towards Earth exploded over which north-eastern US state on Saturday?

   1. Maine

   2. Michigan

   3. Massachusetts

   4. Minnesota

6. 

   Send Derren Brown today's collective noun. Use your psychic powers to let him know what the collective noun is for boars?

   1. An unruly of boars

   2. A plethora of boars

   3. A fit of boars

   4. A sounder of boars

7. 

   Lawyers advised who to remain completely silent during their appearance at Hay festival due to legal action by Meta?

   1. Frances Haugen

   2. Amelia Pond

   3. Christopher Wylie

   4. Sarah Wynn-Williams

8. 

   Scores on the doors with Swindon's Diana Dors! What was the score in the men's Uefa Champions League final?

   1. Arsenal 0-0p PSG

   2. Arsenal 1-1p PSG

   3. Arsenal 2-2p PSG

   4. Arsenal 3-3p PSG

9. 

   Farther or nearer with Geordie Alan Shearer! This week we imagine the England soccer legend wants to know, if he leaves his home town of Newcastle upon Tyne, which – as the crow flies and according to freemaptools.com – is farther or nearer – Gosport, England or Nairn, Scotland?

   1. Nairn, Scotland is nearer to Newcastle upon Tyne than Gosport, England

   2. Gosport, England is nearer to Newcastle upon Tyne than Nairn, Scotland

10. 

    Sterling Nasa had to step up and join the band when the keyboard player fell ill in Sydney at a live-scored performance of which musical?

    1. Strictly Ballroom

    2. Annette

    3. Moulin Rouge

    4. La La Land

11. 

    Who returned to the stage after the final bows to criticise an audience member for texting during the climax of her West End performance?

    1. Hayley Atwell

    2. Rosamund Pike

    3. Karen Gillan

    4. Gillian Anderson

12. 

    As well as the 250th edition of the Thursday news quiz, it is also Bradley Walsh's birthday today. Happy birthday Bradders! The Chase! What was the name of his character in Doctor Who?

    1. Dan Lewis

    2. Derek Ronald

    3. Graham O'Brien

    4. Wilfred Mott

13. 

    The Thursday quiz fondly remembers Keith Chegwin, so here is Cheggers plays population! According to Hergé's King Ottokar's Sceptre, what is the population of Syldavia? (Is this getting too self-indulgent? - Ed)

    1. 42,000

    2. 242,000

    3. 442,000

    4. 642,000

14. 

    On this day with Brian May! And his badger! 4 June is the anniversary of a suffragette being struck by King George V's horse Anmer at the 1913 Derby. She subsequently died. The Thursday quiz imagines Queen's legendary guitarist wants you to tell him – and his badger – what was her name …

    1. Christabel Pankhurst

    2. Susan Anthony

    3. Nancy Astor

    4. Emily Davison

15. 

    Cave boffins (the correct technical term) have decided that the walls of Bacon Hole, a cave near the Mumbles in south Wales, contains the oldest example of cave art in Britain (not pictured, that is just a cave). What does the art depict?

    1. A series of circles

    2. A series of horizontal lines

    3. A series of vertical stripes

    4. 30-50 feral hogs

16. 

    This week's guest avian is Spick, one half of Spick and Span, a pigeon couple that have apparently moved into the quiz master's balcony. Spick wants to know which rock artist's new art exhibition was described in the Guardian as 'at the intellectual level of a 12-year-old who has just visited Tate Modern for the first time'?

    1. Dave Grohl

    2. Courtney Love

    3. Jack White

    4. Kate Bush

17. 

    A brand new regular round! Here come the Bee Gees with the heebie-jeebies. This week the quiz imagines the harmonic trio want to know what herpetophobia is the fear of?

    1. Reptiles

    2. Shingles

    3. Soup

    4. Mining disasters

18. 

    Those of a certain age will remember the battle between VHS and Betamax for home video recording format superiority. Which company introduced VHS?

    1. JVC

    2. Sony

    3. Toshiba

    4. Magpie Electricals

19. 

    Willow is back for a guest appearance! The retired former official dog of the Guardian Thursday news quiz is doing well and being looked after, but today she is grumpy because which of her favourite artists was forced to speak about their 'deep sadness' after being body-shamed on social media after the BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend?

    1. Self Esteem

    2. Caroline Polachek

    3. CMAT

    4. Courtney Barnett

20. 

    While we are on the subject of misogyny, which fool of a Took at the French Open claimed his second-round match should not have been umpired by a woman?

    1. Corentin Moutet

    2. Adolfo Daniel Vallejo

    3. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina

    4. Valentin Vacherot

21. 

    Least or most with Liberace's ghost. This week the Thursday quiz imagines the ghost of Liberace would like to know which of these US artists has spent the most weeks in the official UK singles charts?

    1. Taylor Swift

    2. Madonna

    3. Eminem

    4. Elvis Presley

22. 

    And finally, the return of maths with Goths! If you take the number of teams in this summer's men's Fifa World Cup and add the number of MP constituencies in the UK's House of Commons then subtract the number of days Liz Truss was prime minister, what do you get, apart from a headache?

    1. 649

    2. 637

    3. 620

    4. 018118055

Solutions

1:A - A national outcry – including burning an effigy of the education minister – has erupted in India after more than 400,000 students requested copies of their answer sheets amid mounting complaints of errors in the marking of the country’s most important school-leaving examination, 2:C - The Bramley apple has become one of Britain’s most popular cooking apples, with more than 300 Bramley growers in England and about 83,000 tonnes grown annually in the UK, 3:A - We won't mention how long Truss’s premiership lasted because that might be a spoiler for a later puzzle, 4:C - In April, Banks shared a clip of the Conservative leader speaking in the House of Commons on X, with the message: 'Kemi Badenoch is f**king iconic', which is certainly a take, 5:C - The fireball broke up over northeastern Massachusetts and south-eastern New Hampshire just after 2pm with a blast equivalent to 300 tonnes of TNT, 6:D - It is indeed, according to Grammar Monster, a sounder of boars. Odds Bodkins!, 7:D - [REDACTED BY LAWYERS], 8:B - The match finished 1-1 after 120 minutes and PSG triumphed on penalties, 9:A - Nairn, Scotland is only about 321km away from Newcastle upon Tyne, whereas Gosport, England is about 466km away, a difference of about 304,500 ancient Sumerian cubits. Top bins!, 10:D - Nasa, who plays piano and organ and is the bagpipes tutor at his old school, Scots College, answered the plea and had to sight-read a score he had never rehearsed, 11:B - Cynthia Erivo and Andrew Scott have similarly admonished the audience in recent times, 12:C - He appeared opposite Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor, 13:D - That suggests the fictional country which often features as an incorrect option in the Thursday news quiz is about the same size as modern Montenegro, 14:D - A militant fighter for her just cause, she was arrested on multiple occasions, went on hunger strike several times and was force-fed by authorities nearly 50 times while in custody, an abuse of her human rights, 15:B - The painted lines are arranged horizontally and are equidistant from one another, indicating a deliberate and structured pattern, and the paint was also applied by finger, the boffins have decided, 16:C - Jonathan Jones declared that 'White may be a talented musician but as a visual artist, he’s a nonstarter'. Ouch, 17:A - It is reptiles! Get that right? You win again!, 18:A - RIP the Philips VCR system that nobody remembers, 19:C - The Irish singer-songwriter CMAT said she had felt 'compelled to wade in and speak for myself' after learning of the abuse being directed at photos taken of her on stage at the Sunderland festival, 20:B - French Open organisers said: 'The competence of an umpire is not determined by their gender, but by their professionalism and ability to officiate at the highest level. The tournament organisers will impose a significant sanction on Adolfo Vallejo in the form of a fine.', 21:D - 'The King' still holds the record, although Taylor Swift is chasing hard. Ed Sheeran is top overall though, but he isn't from the US, 22:A - That is correct! 48 teams at the World Cup, 650 MPs, and Liz was 'in office but not in power' for 49 days. If you picked 018118055 we assume you wanted to talk to Noel Edmunds. Bela Lugosi's dead!

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. Since the Thursday quiz has always done it its own way, why not watch Do Things My Own Way by Sparks instead?

Do Things My Own Way by Sparks