Today’s Atlantic Trivia
NEWS | 11 October 2025
Updated with new questions at 4:40 p.m. ET on October 10, 2025. Welcome back for another week of The Atlantic’s un-trivial trivia, drawn from recently published stories. Without a trifle in the bunch, maybe what we’re really dealing with here is—hmm—“significa”? “Consequentia”? Whatever butchered bit of Latin you prefer, read on for today’s questions. (Last week’s questions can be found here.) To get Atlantic Trivia in your inbox every day, sign up for The Atlantic Daily. Friday, October 10, 2025 Today’s questions come from articles in “The Unfinished Revolution,” a project exploring 250 years of the American experiment. What Virginia attraction—for decades an uncomplicated celebration of America’s earliest years—was once referred to as “Republican Disneyland”? — From Clint Smith’s “What Is [REDACTED] For?” What Revolutionary-era woman outlived her husband—a Founder killed in an 1804 duel—long enough to witness the 1848 laying of the Washington Monument’s cornerstone (and open a New York orphanage)? — From Jane Kamensky’s “The Many Lives of [REDACTED]?” The Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora peoples of North America are organized as a centralized political entity under what name, for the nations’ shared languages? — From Ned Blackhawk’s “How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution” And by the way, somehow every fun fact this week had to do with Sweden in one way or another—so, fitting today’s theme, did you know that Sweden was the first nonparticipant country in the Revolutionary War to recognize American sovereignty? Of course, King Gustav III was no fonder of antimonarchist rebellion than King George III was. But once the colonists won, he made a decision in his own country’s commercial interest: The United States gets recognized thanks to—and I’ll quote Sweden’s ABBA one more time—“money, money, money.” Answers: Colonial Williamsburg. The nation’s largest living-history museum has since worked toward more thoughtful depictions of the bad in U.S. history as well as the good, notably regarding slavery. Clint visited to examine how the site is engaging with the question of race now, as choices about how to convey the past are ever more politicized. Read more. Eliza Schuyler. That’s a lot of life after the death of her husband, Alexander Hamilton, but in Ron Chernow’s blockbuster biography, Eliza gets only nine pages for it. Kamensky sketches in some of the rest, along with stories of other Revolutionary women mostly left out of grand histories. Read more. Iroquois Confederacy. The confederacy (also called the Haudenosaunee) had already existed for centuries by the time of the Revolution; as Ben Franklin wrote, it “has subsisted Ages, and appears indissoluble.” Blackhawk explores how Native self-governance was an inspiration to the Founders—and a frustration to colonists intent on unchallenged dominion. Read more. How did you do? And how are you liking trivia? Let me know—or simply share a striking fact—at [email protected]. Thursday, October 9, 2025 From the edition of The Atlantic Daily by Will Gottsegen: The biblical figure Saul’s transformation along the way to a certain ancient (and still existing) city is the source of what idiom meaning a dramatic inflection point? — From Elias Wachtel’s “Can Gen Z Get Rid of Their iPhones?” At a recent comedy festival, the comic Louis C.K. delivered a stand-up set that mentions jury duty, rain, and elderly women in tube tops—topics that might not be the most relatable in what country that hosted the controversial event? — From Hanna Rosin’s Radio Atlantic episode “[REDACTED] Gets the Last Laugh” Along with grog, toddy, punch, and port, what fortified wine named for a Portuguese island was one of colonial America’s favorite alcoholic drinks? — From Victoria Flexner’s “So Much [REDACTED]” And by the way, did you know that whereas every other category of Nobel Prize is awarded in Stockholm by Swedish institutes (including the literature honor awarded today—congrats, László Krasznahorkai!), the Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo by a committee chosen by the Norwegian Parliament? I am sure the reason for this division is fascinating; unfortunately, we don’t know it. Answers: Road to Damascus. Elias’s road-to-Damascus moment was the realization that his smartphone was indisputably worsening his life, and that, to break his addiction, he would need to give the device up entirely for a “dumbphone.” He promises that there is life on the other side. Read more. Saudi Arabia. Hanna chats with Vivian Salama about the state of freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia and with Helen Lewis, who attended the headliner-heavy Riyadh Comedy Festival. The three of them discuss the event as one small part of the Gulf state’s grand plan for a branding refresh. Read more. Madeira. Flexner, a food historian, explains what the Founding Fathers likely would have eaten (and drunk) at the United States’ first birthday party. At a time when people rarely imbibed water, the celebration probably involved a lot of alcohol; imagine 522 bottles of Madeira. Read more. Wednesday, October 8, 2025 From the edition of The Atlantic Daily by Tom Nichols: What is the name of Iran’s currency, which—like Oman’s, Yemen’s, Qatar’s, Saudi Arabia’s, and Brazil’s—comes from a word meaning “royal”? — From Arash Azizi and Graeme Wood’s “Anything Could Happen in Iran” To speed up game-play, Major League Baseball incorporated a 15-second countdown clock in 2023 that primarily affected what position? — From Mark Leibovich’s “What Not to Fix About Baseball” What British monarch ruled from the Seven Years’ War to Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo (with a particularly notable military difficulty in the middle)? — From Rick Atkinson’s “The Myth of Mad [REDACTED]” And by the way, did you know that despite what ABBA sings, Napoleon actually delayed his official surrender for another month after Waterloo? Perhaps if it had been recording today, the Swedish supergroup would have hewn closer to the facts; Napoleon’s futile delay is a pretty perfect metaphor for one of modern love’s most ubiquitous problems: the dead-end situationship. Answers: Rial. The coin of the realm won’t be feeling very kingly now, though, as the United Nations’ new “snapback” sanctions have pushed the rial to a historic low. Arash and Graeme see a desperate Iran that could do just about anything, from rushing to build a nuke to abandoning its anti-West crusade altogether. Read more. Pitcher. Mark writes that the quicker clip of games that resulted from the pitch clock was enough to bring him back to the action. Does the game really need yet more revitalizing? Read more. King George III. The Seven Years’ War ended in 1763, and Napoleon faced Waterloo in 1815, which puts the geopolitically juicy years surrounding 1776 smack-dab in that reign. Atkinson writes that although Americans remember King George, the antagonist of the Revolution, as a “reactionary dolt,” he was really far more complex than that. Read more. Tuesday, October 7, 2025 From the edition of The Atlantic Daily by Tom Nichols: President Lyndon B. Johnson’s investments in education, health care, and the fight against poverty were elements of his agenda known by what optimistic, two-word phrase? — From Beth Macy’s “What Happened to My Hometown?” Players in what professional sports league—where the average salary is about $120,000—wore T-shirts that read Pay Us What You Owe Us before their most recent all-star game? — From Jemele Hill’s “A [REDACTED] Star Goes Scorched-Earth” Avi Schiffmann’s AI company became widely reviled after plastering ads all over the New York City subway with phrases such as I’ll never bail on our dinner plans . What is the one-word name of the company—which is also what it promises lonely users, in the form of a $129 wearable plastic disk? — From Matteo Wong’s “The Most Reviled Tech CEO in New York Confronts His Haters” And by the way, did you know that Stockholm syndrome was originally known within Sweden as Norrmalmstorgssyndromet? That’s for Norrmalmstorg square, which was the site of the bank where in 1973 four employees who ended up being unusually amiable about the situation were taken hostage. I love the specificity—an admirable attempt to keep the rest of Stockholm out of the psychodrama. Perhaps Paris syndrome, the underwhelming sensation that many tourists feel upon a first visit, paints with too broad a brush; “overcrowded–Mona Lisa-room syndrome” should do the trick. Answers: Great Society. LBJ’s big promises were just getting started as Macy was growing up in small-town Ohio, where opportunity felt within reach and people generally looked out for one another. During Macy’s visits in the decades since, greatness feels ever further off. Read more. The WNBA. Jemele reports that the league is more popular than ever and that players are sticking up for their own worth, not simply “thanking their lucky stars,” as their antagonistic commissioner would have them do. Read more. Friend. The CEO told Matteo that the backlash was all part of the plan, actually. So does that mean he recognizes the fallibility of his AI-friend tech? He did say it wouldn’t replace human friends—but possibly because it’s more akin to “talking to a god.” Read more. Monday, October 6, 2025 From the edition of The Atlantic Daily by Will Gottsegen: Teenager Muhammad Gazawi this year became the youngest winner ever in his category of Israel’s Ophir Awards, equivalent to what U.S. prizes? (Gazawi’s American counterpart in the distinction would be Adrien Brody.) — From Gershom Gorenberg’s “The Reason Not to Boycott Israeli [REDACTED]” In 1945, Robert Jackson took a leave of absence from his job as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court to serve as chief prosecutor during proceedings in what German city? — From Philippe Sands’s “How Far Does Trump’s Immunity Go?” Finish this quote from the self-driving-car expert Bryant Walker Smith: “I like to tell people that if” this AI-powered ride-hailing service “worked as well as ChatGPT, they’d be dead.” — From Saahil Desai’s “Move Fast and Break Nothing” And by the way, did you know that a single town on an island in Sweden gives its name to four elements of the periodic table? From Ytterby in the Stockholm archipelago come yttrium, terbium, erbium, and ytterbium. (Holmium, scandium, thulium, tantalum, and gadolinium were also discovered there, but to be fair, you can only do so much with Y’s, T’s, and a B.) Answers:
Author: Drew Goins.
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