An Exercise in Mediocracy — Answers

Today’s Answers

Today’s questions: an exercise in mediocracy.

One

What month is mentioned in the opening sentence of Chapter One of The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan?

Answer: May.

I returned from the City about three o’clock on that May afternoon pretty disgusted with life.

— The Thirty-nine Steps, John Buchan.

The Thirty-Nine Steps, a 1915 adventure novel by John Buchan, introduced Richard Hannay and was serialised before publication. It has been adapted repeatedly and featured in the BBC’s Big Read.

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Two

What national park of the United States is in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico?

Answer: Carlsbad Caverns.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, established in 1930 and a 1995 World Heritage Site, features the Big Room, North America’s largest chamber. Visitors access Carlsbad Cavern via natural entrance or lift; two-thirds is wilderness.

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Three

What religious organisation was founded by Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás?

Answer: Opus Dei.

Founded in Spain by Josemaría Escrivá, Opus Dei is a personal prelature approved by Pope Pius XII and affirmed by Pope John Paul II. Laypeople form most members; others are secular priests. Known as ‘the Work’, it trains members in Catholic spirituality across over 90 countries.

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Four

What was the largest city in the world in the year AD 1, and what was its population?

Answer: Rome, I million.

Rome held this position for several centuries before the honour was claimed by Constantinople.

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Five

Which part of a newt is a potion ingredient mentioned by the second witch in Macbeth?

Answer: Eye.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the caldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,

Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Act 4, Scene 1 Macbeth by William Shakespeare

— Poetry Foundation

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Mediocracy

The answers provides us with all the letters from the title:

1. May gives us three letters from our title word — MAY
2. Carlsbad Caverns supplies the initials CC
3. Initials again: Opus Dei = OD
4. Rome, the R and I (one in Roman numerals)
5. Eye of newt gives the E
   This results in M A Y C C O D R I E which is an anagram of the post title, mediocracy.

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