1 In 396 BC, Cynisca became the first woman to win where? 2 Which composer had “lovely moments but awful quarters of an hour”? 3 What prize was founded in 1968 by Sweden’s central bank? 4 Which bird was the closest relative of the Rodrigues solitaire? 5 Mercosur is which continent’s trading bloc? 6 Which British literary magazine was funded by the CIA? 7 Jeu provençal is a form of which game? 8 Steiff made black mourning teddies after what event? What links: 9 Sluys (1340) and Castillon (1453)? 10 Peter Pan; God Bless America; Take Five; Dorothy Parker’s works? 11 Lut; Kavir; Thar; Karakum; Negev? 12 Sybil; Savrola; Seventy-Two Virgins? 13 Aeolian; Allegri; Amadeus; Balanescu; Brodsky? 14 Angry Farmer; Angles; Wizard of Wishaw; Jester from Leicester? 15 Turkey; Panama; Burundi; New Zealand; China; Australia (ascending order)?
Galata Bridge, Istanbul; what links Turkey with Panama, Burundi, New Zealand, China, Australia? Photograph: Getty Images
The answers
1 Olympic Games (chariot race, as an owner/trainer). 2 Wagner (according to Rossini). 3 Nobel prize in economics. 4 Dodo. 5 South America. 6 Encounter (established 1953). 7 Boules. 8 Sinking of the Titanic. 9 First and last major battles of the hundred years war. 10 Works whose copyright/royalties donated to charity: Great Ormond Street hospital; Scouts; Red Cross; NAACP. 11 Asian deserts (Iran (x 2); India/Pakistan; Turkmenistan; Israel). 12 Novels by prime ministers: Disraeli; Churchill; Johnson. 13 String quartets. 14 Snooker nicknames: David Gilbert; Alan McManus; John Higgins; Mark Selby. 15 Stars on national flag (from 1 to 6).