Today’s Atlantic Trivia: On, Yes, the Gay Hockey Show

Updated with new questions at 2:45 p.m. ET on January 13, 2026.

Welcome back to Atlantic Trivia! Are you hungry for more?

I hope that while I’ve been away, you have been enjoying plenty of food for thought—literally. Research shows that berries help improve memory and that a walnut-heavy diet is associated with higher cognitive performance. Fatty fish and leafy greens are linked to slower cognitive decline. Caffeine is a brain boost too.

A challenge: Combine all these ingredients, Chopped-style, into the perfect pre-trivia meal.

Meanwhile, I have been away these past few weeks thinking mostly about chicken parmigiana. It’s not brain food per se, but I reckon we can call it creativity fuel—so long as it’s eaten for breakfast. That is the suggestion in the first edition of my new newsletter, Better With Time, an eight-week course of ways to add oomph to various parts of the day. Sign up for it here.

But first—at last—trivia!

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Tuesday, January 13, 2025

1. What geographic line passes through eight countries (including Mali), three continents (including Antarctica), and a royal observatory?
   — From Alexandra Petri’s list of things on the globe that Donald Trump might want to buy in addition to Greenland
2. One of the stars of TV’s ice-hockey romance Heated Rivalry cautioned straitlaced viewers that “you miss the story” by skipping over what parts of the show?
   — From Faith Hill’s article on what Heated Rivalry understands better than most romances
3. Living in exile since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, former Crown Prince Reza is a member of what dynasty that had ruled Iran since 1925?
   — From Karim Sadjadpour and Jack A. Goldstone’s analysis of the conditions necessary for Iran’s regime to collapse

And by the way, did you know that when the aforementioned dynasty took power in 1925, its country was still known to the world as Persia? It wasn’t until 1935 that the shah asked the international community to start calling the place Iran, to better reflect its makeup (not all Iranians are ethnically Persian).

This was generally accommodated. Then Winston Churchill got involved; the British premier worried that the new name was too close to Iraq’s and would cause confusion during World War II, when both countries were occupied by the Allies. He requested a temporary swap back, and the Iranians—or Persians?—amazingly agreed.

Until tomorrow!

Answers:

1. The Prime Meridian. The spot for 0° longitude was picked to pass through the observatory in London’s borough of Greenwich, but the imaginary line traverses so much of the world that perhaps it “could be useful for spycraft,” Alexandra muses in her latest satire. Read more.
2. Sex scenes. Faith agrees with the Heated Rivalry actor, writing that a “frank sex scene” reveals so much more about characters than the mere implication—say, with a cutaway to breeze-ruffled curtains—that they have been intimate. Yet sex, Faith reports, is vanishing from our TV and movie screens. Read more.
3. Pahlavi. The exiled royal is a leader of the opposition to the Islamic Republic regime in Iran—a diverse coalition that Sadjadpour and Goldstone count as a precondition for counterrevolution. Their essay names four more boxes to tick, and they write that Iran is very close to doing so. Read more.

How did you do? Come back tomorrow for more questions, and if you think up a great question after reading an Atlantic story—or simply want to share a fact—send it my way at trivia@theatlantic.com.

Monday, January 12, 2025

1. What 19th-century statesman and fighter is known as El Libertador for his independence campaign in northern South America (including in the country that now bears his name)?
   — From Vivian Salama’s article on the chance of a domino effect after Nicolás Maduro’s capture
2. English settlers who came to colonial America were thrilled to hunt the continent’s bountiful deer; the animals back in Britain could not be freely shot, because they legally belonged to what person?
   — From Yasmin Tayag’s essay on venison consumption in the United States
3. A Dostoyevsky tale about a character who faces a more talented, more popular look-alike at work is an inspiration for what 2010 psychological thriller that centers on the performance of a different Russian’s work?
   — From Faith Hill’s article on the movie’s theme of women navigating hyper-competition

And by the way, did you know that venison, which comes from the Latin for “to hunt,” once referred to any wild game? That meant deer, but also hare, boar, some goats, and elk and their ilk.

That catchall spirit lives on today in South Africa. Because the country’s continent has no native deer species, venison there means meat from eland, kudu, gemsbok, springbok, or impala—which, to save you a search, are all species of antelope.

Answers:

1. Simón Bolívar. El Libertador’s dream of a united Latin America was one shared by Venezuela’s and Cuba’s socialist leaders, particularly regarding the relationship between their two countries. However linked the states are, Vivian does not think that Donald Trump’s blow to Venezuela will bring about the regime’s demise in Cuba. Read more.
2. The King. The English hunted down the colonies’ deer population to about 1 percent what it had been in precolonial days, but the animals bounded back in a big way and are now often a nuisance. Yasmin’s solution: Eat them. Read more.
3. Black Swan. That other Russian’s work is Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake, which—no spoilers—takes a toll on Natalie Portman’s character, especially once a fellow dancer played by Mila Kunis starts breathing down her neck. Faith writes that Black Swan’s story is eminently recognizable well beyond the ballet world. Read more.