As we speak’s Atlantic Trivia Questions and Solutions

Up to date with new questions at 4:05 p.m. ET on October 17, 2025.

1. Within the sci-fi novel The Hitchhiker’s Information to the Galaxy, vacationers can instantaneously perceive any language by inserting into their ear a fictional species of fish named after what biblical construction?
   — From Matteo Wong’s “Adiós, AirPods”
2. What D.C.-area constructing is legendary for, amongst different issues, its 17.5 miles of hallways?
   — From Nancy A. Youssef’s “The Final Days of the [REDACTED] Press Corps”
3. The remark “simply one of many prime 5 films about taxes” is a viral micro-review on the web site Letterboxd for what 2022 movie that’s about, effectively, loads of different issues too?
   — From Spencer Kornhaber’s “Conventional Criticism Is in Bother. Right here’s What’s Changing It.”

1. The Tower of Babel. The fantastical Babel Fish works like a allure, however Matteo says the Apple AirPods’ promise of seamless Stay Translation stays far off. As he writes, his try and navigate New York utilizing the beta characteristic made him look “stiff and bumbling at greatest, terribly impolite at worst.” Learn extra.
2. The Pentagon. Nancy, who has reported on the Protection Division for 18 years, shall be seeing considerably much less of these hallways after management evicted many of the press corps from the constructing. The largest loser right here, nevertheless, is the general public, she writes. Learn extra.
3. Every little thing In every single place All at As soon as. The author of that overview—one in all Letterboxd’s hottest customers—instructed Spencer that he favors a sensibility of “the very first thing that involves thoughts.” Cultural commentary is much less polished and extra democratic than ever, Spencer writes, which isn’t essentially for the most effective. Learn extra.

1. The U.S. army command generally known as STRATCOM is most notably liable for what responsibility—which one would definitely hope includes the cautious considering urged by the command’s title?
   — From Tom Nichols’s “Kathryn Bigelow’s Warning to America”
2. Humbert Humbert is the protagonist of what novel, named after the a lot youthful lady to whom he’s attracted?
   — From Vauhini Vara’s “Why So Many Individuals Are Seduced by ChatGPT”
3. What director, whose 2019 film was the primary of its variety to win Finest Image on the Oscars, mentioned, “When you overcome the one-inch tall barrier … you may be launched to so many extra superb movies”?
   — From Stephanie Bai’s “A [REDACTED]-Movie Starter Pack”

1. Nuclear deterrence. Tom just lately watched Kathryn Bigelow’s new film, A Home of Dynamite, a nuclear-disaster flick he says fairly precisely depicts STRATCOM and its individuals—and can hopefully knock a bit terror right into a populace inured to the potential of Armageddon. Learn extra.
2. Lolita. Vara remarks on how Humbert Humbert beguiles readers in Vladimir Nabokov’s novel, regardless of his predilections, and on how Ishmael retains Moby-Dick readers by all of the spermaceti speak. That is what good fictional characters do, she writes—and why it’s so harmful that ChatGPT is one with out an creator. Learn extra.
3. Bong Joon Ho. The South Korean director’s Parasite was the primary foreign-language movie to win Finest Image, and his quote refers to subtitles. Stephanie requested a number of Atlantic staffers the place somebody occupied with exploring overseas movies ought to get began. Learn extra.

1. A phrase from historical Rome that describes superficial appeasements meant to maintain the general public from turning into too dissatisfied with its authorities refers to what two choices?
   — From Sally Jenkins’s “The MAGA-fication of Sports activities Continues”
2. Across the flip of the twentieth century, a U.S. senator from Wisconsin—the Dairy State—described what meals product invented a couple of many years prior as “matured underneath the coolness of loss of life, blended with vegetable oils and flavored by chemical tips”?
   — From Olga Khazan’s “Avoiding Extremely-Processed Meals Is Fully Unrealistic”
3. The comic Marc Maron’s industry-revolutionizing podcast, which ended this week after 16 years, was recognized by what frequent (effectively, relying on the coarseness of your social circle) three-letter initialism?
   — From David Sims’s “The Radical Empathy of a Low-Key Chat Present”

1. Bread and circuses. The mixed-martial-arts cage match to be held on the White Home grounds in June would possibly look like this, however Sally says it goes deeper, proper to the center of sports-audience psychology: Donald Trump needs individuals to image him as an absolute winner. Learn extra.
2. Margarine. Clearly, we’ve been maligning ultra-processed meals for a really very long time now—and to be clear, Olga shouldn’t be saying that they’re good! Simply that they’re fairly dangerous however totally unavoidable—so the place do eaters (and fogeys of eaters) go from right here? Learn extra.
3. WTF. Fittingly, the present might be grouchy, David writes, however greater than the rest, it was weekly proof of the facility of human connection. The finale wasn’t the most effective WTF, however it was arguably the most WTF. Learn extra.

1. What actor wrote in one in all her memoirs that it was second nature for her to play “birdbrains,” together with characters whose sentences have been stuffed with “ums,” “you-knows,” “oh-wells,” and, maybe most famously, “la di da, la di das”?
   — From Adrienne LaFrance’s “The Romantic”
2. Russia’s new messaging, file-sharing, and money-transferring app, Max—now required by authorities order to come back put in on each new telephone offered within the nation—has prompted analogies to what Chinese language “all the things app”?
   — From Justin Sherman’s “Putin Has a New Device to Monitor Russians”
3. Together with the much less acidic, extra bitter robusta bean, what species of espresso makes up nearly all international espresso manufacturing?
   — From Ellen Cushing’s “The Drink That People Received’t Give Up With out a Battle”

1. Diane Keaton. The star, who died Saturday, usually “unconvincingly” downplayed her abilities, Adrienne writes. Insecurity dogged Keaton, however she readily noticed magnificence within the individuals and issues round her, and spent her entire life chasing it. Learn extra.
2. WeChat. Sherman writes that Russia’s app is a step towards the device-level surveillance China achieved with WeChat, which its residents use for social media, digital funds, and a thousand different parts of day by day life—and from which the federal government can pluck what information it likes. Learn extra.
3. Arabica. Because of tariffs, futures for the species have gone up almost $1 since July, Ellen experiences, and low usually is nearly 40 p.c costlier in america than it was a yr in the past. Coverage makers are scrambling as a result of, I don’t know when you’ve heard, however People want their espresso. Learn extra.