Questions Unlimited

P.O. Box 14798, Columbus, Ohio 43214. 1-800-868-1518


April 2009 Twenty Questions

We at Questions Unlimited wish you well this school year, and invite you to play Twenty Questions once a month.

We reserve the right to grade only one submission per school, so it's best to work as a team. Remember, get all 20 right (or in some cases 19 out of 20), and your team qualifies for the 27th annual National Academic Championship. Note that the "changing of the guard" seldom happens at midnight on the last day of the month - we may post the new months' questions the evening before or the morning after.

View the scores for this month's quiz.

Please note that anyone is welcome to play "Twenty Questions," but that due to time constraints only scores from high and middle schools students and teams will be posted. We will only score one entry per school per month.

Note: By the very nature of this monthly competition, we cannot and do not prohibit the use of reference materials.

This is the last Twenty Questions quiz of the 2008-2009 school year, as we will be busy in May making preparations for the National Academic Championship. Thanks for playing our quiz, which will resume next September!


1. Who painted this fresco, Scenes from the Life of Moses, located in the Sistine Chapel?













2. What is the two-word name of this instrument?















3. This residential building is the site where what infamous event happened?
















4. Which ancient British custom is in danger of dying out because young people are "too embarrassed" to take part?

















5. Painted around the start of the war, this Salvador Dali work * is called Soft Construction with Boiled Beans, and is the artist's premonition of what War?

















6. Thanks to a cosmic storm, dust levels in our solar system are a triple the levels seen just a few years ago. Some scientists think they've figured out what's spewing all the dust. Name this nebula.













7. What kind of ski turn is named for a region in Norway?














8. What type of plant is this?














9. The Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics has identified a single-celled organism called a choanoflagellate as the probable ancestor of all what?














10. Who painted "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere," shown here?















11. Who was the last man to serve as Secretary of State before becoming President?
















12. Nearly 400 years after his death, he appeared in a new and more handsome guise last month, thanks to a newly discovered portrait that a group of scholars and art historians said was the only known likeness to have been painted in his lifetime. Who was he?













13. Which two national flags are exactly the same?














14. Who was the best known American female fashion icon of the 1960s?














15. James McNeil Whistler honored this social critic by making him the subject of his "number two" in the series, because he so admired his "Arrangement in Grey and Black Number One." Who is this man, portrayed in "Arrangement in Grey and Black Number Two"?

















16. Name the only national capital that borders two different countries.















17. Six years after the idea was hatched, what country's much-hyped $2,500 Tata Nano was introduced last month?















18. What do we call this port?













19. In the wake of the military take-over of the government of Madagascar last month, gangs of looters are raiding many wildlife sanctuaries, endangering some already endangered species. This animal lives only on the island of Madagascar. What is it?













20. Here's El Greco's painting of what saint receiving the stigmata?

















If you would like to know how you scored, please give us the following information before you push the submit button. Anyone is welcome to play, but due to volume of response, only scores of High and Middle Schools competitors listing valid e-mail addresses will be posted. Correct answers will be posted here along with next month's quiz.

1. What is your e-mail address? (We must have this if you want us to score the quiz).

2. Which of these best describes you?

3. Your first and last names.

4. The name of your school.

5. Your school address, city, state, and ZIP code.

Thanks for playing our "20 Questions" quiz. Click here to send your answers.


Look at the March questions and scores.

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Results of the 2008 National Academic Championship

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Last updated 04/01/2009