(with grateful thanks to Andrew Chaikin for the idea and inspiration!)
Each trivia clue contains blanks which can be filled in with words that start with the same letter, and the 25 sets of blanks include all of the alphabet except for the letter G.
Answers to the trivia can be sorted alphabetically by these clue blank letters, and the initital letters of these answers, in this order, spell a final clue. Three of the answers are the word “BLANK”, and these indicate a blank ( ________ ) in the final clue.
Blank letter |
Clue | Answer word | Answer start |
---|---|---|---|
A | John Cusak’s title character in the film directed by George ARMITAGE, co-starring ALAN ARKIN AND Dan ACKROYD | [BLANK] | _ |
B | Cartridge that goes “BANG!”, BUT contains no BULLET | [BLANK] | _ |
C | State whose largest CITIES are, in order, COLUMBUS (its CAPITAL), CLEVELAND and CINCINNATI | OHIO | O |
D | DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Starter Set monster created from a DEAD wizard | FLAMESKULL | F |
E | ELIA who directed EAST of EDEN in 1955 | KAZAN | K |
F | FOUNDING FATHER whose FACE is on the ten | HAMILTON | H |
G | |||
H | HE succeeded HUBERT HORATIO HUMPHREY as Vice President | AGNEW | A |
I | IRVING Howe IS one of the people INTERVIEWED IN this mockumentary from the director of INTERIORS and IRRATIONAL Man | ZELIG | Z |
J | The primary followers of JESUS, this group includes JOHN, his brother JAMES, another JAMES, and JUDAS | APOSTLES | A |
K | First name of the brother of KHLOE, KIM, and KOURNTEY KARDASHIAN (and step-brother to KENDALL and KYLIE) | ROBERT | R |
L | State whose slogan is “LAND of LINCOLN” | ILLINOIS | I |
M | The MOST abundant METALLIC element in the earth’s crust, it follows MAGNESIUM in the periodic table | ALUMINUM | A |
N | NINE-letter adjective describing the square root of any NEGATIVE NUMBER | IMAGINARY | I |
O | In part an account of the OLD ONES, this book is said to have been translated into Latin by OLAUS Wormius | NECRONOMICON | N |
P | He PAINTED the PORTRAIT of POPE PAUL III in 1543 | TITIAN | T |
Q | First name shared by the author who created Captain QUEEG and the one who created the harpooner QUEEQUEG | HERMAN | H |
R | Fictional RHODE Island town in the title of two novels by the author of RABBIT, RUN, RABBIT REDUX, RABBIT is RICH, and RABBIT at REST | EASTWICK | E |
S | Tile in SCRABBLE that can STAND for any other, but SCORES zero | [BLANK] | _ |
T | AL division in which each TEAM, including THE TWINS and THE TIGERS, has won at least TWO championship TITLES | CENTRAL | C |
U | UNIT of length USED in the UNITED States whose name comes from the Latin “UNCIA” | INCH | I |
V | Ghostbuster who delivered a humorous paraphrase of the classical quote “VENI, VIDI, VICI” | VENKMAN | V |
W | Group of undead led by Sylvanas WINDRUNNER in WORLD of WARCRAFT | FORSAKEN | F |
X | Modern-day name of the country formerly ruled by XERXES I and II, Arsaces X, Arsaces XI, Arsaces XII, . . . , and many others | IRAN | I |
Y | State with a former governor who received his BA degree from YALE University in Connecticut and his MD from YESHIVA University in New YORK | VERMONT | V |
Z | Direction in which the ZAMBEZI River, which forms part of the border between ZAMBIA and ZIMBABWE, flows | EAST | E |
Reading the first letters of the answer words, plus the blanks, gives the final clue:
________ ________ OF KHAZARIA IN THE ________ CIV FIVE
Using the hitherto unused G, solvers need to fill this final clue in to get:
GREAT GENERAL OF KHAZARIA IN THE GAME CIV FIVE
(Searching for “Khazaria” and “Civilization V” will reveal the existence of a user-created mod to the game, in which this is the only alliterative GG phrase.) The puzzle’s answer is KHAGAN BEK.