Hello, Point-dexters!

I’m your Quizmaster, Aimee Lucido, and this is Bonus Points: the newsletter that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at last week’s Pointed news quiz. Want to be the first to know when a new quiz goes live? Sign up for email alerts here. And want to see this newsletter in your inbox every week? Sign up for the newsletter here.

You all did *very* well last week! The average was 91.5, about 25 points higher than last week and the highest average Pointed score ever. Six questions had get-rates above 70% and one was above 90%. Nearly 2% of you got perfect 190s this week, just about double what the rate was last week. 

Hardest Question of the Week

Dozens were killed in clashes on July 7 between police and protesters in a country on Africa’s eastern coast. The protesters demanded the removal of President William Ruto after the killing of an online activist while in police custody. In which country did the protests occur?

A) Sudan
B) Rwanda
C) Democratic Republic of the Congo
D) Kenya

Until I started getting into trivia, African geography was a major weak spot in my knowledge. Now, it’s one of my favorite ways to hint at a correct answer. If you didn’t know that William Ruto is the president of Kenya, or that the country has had a recent series of violent protests, resort to the clue: that the country in question is on the eastern coast of Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is located centrally in Africa, as is neighboring Rwanda. Sudan does border the Red Sea at its easternmost point, but it’s located in the northeast of Africa. Kenya, on the other hand, borders the Indian Ocean in the center of the east coast of the continent. 

Deleted Scenes

Linda Yaccarino stepping down from X was the big “CEO leaves company after short stint in power” of the week, but it wasn’t the only one!

Michael Lunsford will replace Cynthia Williams as interim chief executive officer of which company? It’s famous for producing big-headed figurines branded with the word “Pop!”

A) Sanrio
B) Pop Mart
C) Hasbro
D) Funko

If you haven’t heard of Funko Pops before, you probably didn’t get the answer. Funko makes “Pop” figurines that are big-headed, tiny-bodied representations of the characters from major movie franchises, TV shows, sports teams, video games, bands and a whole bunch of other stuff. Funko’s business model once thrived on licensing deals, but sales are slumping and tariffs threaten to raise costs. If Funko’s high sales ever gave it a big head, it’s gone now.

Trivia From Outside the News Cycle

I love reading Bloomberg’s Pursuits’s luxury coverage while “researching” questions for the quiz. This week, I was reading about ways to beat the heat when I came across the medical term sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia. What is its more common name? The article contains spoilers so be careful if you click!

If you think you know the answer (before you read the story), send it to pointed@bloomberg.net. One person who gets the answer right will receive a shout-out (with their permission) in the next newsletter. 

Oh, and here’s the answer to last week’s Trivia From Outside the News Cycle question! A reminder, the question was: “Which word derives from the term given to the nails by which Jesus was fastened to the cross? It’s an eight-letter, old-timey interjection roughly equivalent to ‘Zounds!’ or ‘Fiddlesticks!’”

The answer is… “Gadzooks,” which comes from a minced form of “God’s hooks” AKA the nails by which Jesus was fastened to the cross. Kind of a morbid etymology for an extremely quaint phrase, huh? Wait until you hear about where the phrase “mad as a hatter” comes from…

We’re already hard at work drafting this week’s Pointed, so if you’re looking for a hint to help you join that elusive 190 club, you’ve come to the right place. Your hint is to brush up on your UK geographical landmarks. The name of one has appeared in the news lately.

Have thoughts on the quiz? Reach out! pointed@bloomberg.net. 

Aimee Lucido

Aka The Quizmaster