Questions
Composer and lyricist Charles Strouse recently died. I would argue that, thanks to Jay-Z, Strouse is probably best known today for the music that he composed for the 1977 musical Annie, as “It’s a Hard Knock Life” was sampled on “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem).” However, when it came time to title his 2008 autobiography, Strouse took inspiration from one of his other works. What did Strouse title that book? It’s the same title as that of a well-known song that Strouse composed for a 1960 Tony Award-winning musical, and the book is, appropriately, a generally positive reflection on the man’s long and successful career.
Strouse also did work outside of his Broadway productions, such as composing the music to the film Bonnie and Clyde, but likely his best-known composition outside of that Broadway work was something not written for a motion picture. As was often the case, Lee Adams wrote the lyrics to this piece while Strouse composed the melody. This particular melody is notable for its simplicity, as it could be played using only the black keys on the piano, though the person who always played the tune when it was recorded was herself well-trained on the piano. A total of six versions of this song were filmed over nine years, with the “were” in “and you knew who you were then” being delivered with an increasing exaggerated shriek with each new rendition, and the line mentioning the LaSalle slowed so it could be more easily enunciated. What song?
The answer to the previous question shares it title with a song that reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968. The third single released by Apple Records, its music and lyrics were originally credited to Gene Raskin, but in actuality he adapted his work from a Russian language tune called “Dorogoi dlinnoyu” that had music by Boris Fomin and lyrics by Konstantin Podrevsky. Who sang the Apple Records version which became a hit in the United States? That song certainly would be this person’s biggest American hit; a later song, appropriately titled “Goodbye,” began the end of her relationship with Apple and it would reach only number 13 on the Hot 100 in 1969.
I found on Reddit a conversation from seven years ago, started by someone named selddir_, where a particular observation, recently made invalid, was discussed. A redacted screenshot of the initial comment that started the conversation is posted below. About what, generally speaking, was selddir_ getting at in the post below?
Retrofitted onto the Mayall Telescope and sitting atop Kitt Peak in Arizona is what research instrument? Recent findings using this instrument have led astrophysicists into questioning previous assumptions about the expansion of the universe, since its findings would suggest that the specific thing that this tool was designed to study might be weakening over time. Its short name, which is acceptable as an answer here, is used in other contexts, such as: in the first name of the person who helped to popularize the conga line in the United States; in the first name of a host of The Daily Show; and as a self-referential ethnonym that originates in the ancient word देश, meaning “land” or “country.”
Some three hundred copies of it produced during medieval European times still exist, making it one of the best-preserved secular works from that era. It was begun by Guillaume de Loris in AD 1230, with his name only known today because subsequent and more substantial additions mentioned him. These days, it may be more famous for indirect reasons, as another work was written as a response to it. What?
(I did mention that, once May 25 came and went, I would post the question that I wrote which tracks closely with one written for the 2025 Zadar Open. This was that question. If you still seek to look at that quiz, stop now.) Connected to the Naica Mine in Chihuahua, Mexico is the Cave of the Crystals, a chamber over 100 meters in length that was only discovered in 2000 - and flooded in October 2015, which means that no one will be able to visit it for the foreseeable future. As shown below, it contains some of the largest crystals found on the planet, with some of them having the length of a school bus. These crystals are made of what mineral? This mineral’s otherworldly name would suggest that it might contain a particular chemical element, but in fact its chemical formula is CaSO4·2H2O, as it is a variety of gypsum.
In the original form, it is a dish (shown below, with cheese added) famous in Korea for being an anju - a food best consumed with alcohol. That dish consists of chargrilled chicken covered in a spicy gochujang sauce. The flavor associated with that dish became the flavor associated with an instant noodle brand from Samyang Foods, with that brand becoming a YouTube sensation that led it into becoming a worldwide success. That noodle brand is responsible for certain varieties (like their “3x Spicy”) that have so much capsaicin that Denmark has banned the sales of those particular varieties in that country. What word describes both a kind of food and the potent flavor associated with that noodle brand?
The July/August 2010 edition of Monitor on Psychology, a journal of the American Psychological Association, has an article entitled “The first modern psychology study.” The article discusses how the pseudoscientific notion of Mesmerism was sweeping through Europe during the late 18th century, having caught the attention of Paris - and with that, King Louis XVI - by 1782. The king (perhaps also concerned that some of Mesmer’s proponents had liberalizing political beliefs) created two commissions to investigate the practices of one particular Mesmerist, Charles d’Elson. One of the commissions was staffed by members of the Société Royale de Médecine. The other commission produced a study historically more notable, as not only was it a controlled experiment to see if the claims of Mesmerism were valid, but it also was an early example of a double-blind experiment. While the commission had numerous famous personalities on it (like Antoine Lavoisier and Joseph-Ignace Guillotin), it was led by, and named for, what person? Though a foreigner and ailing for much of the time in question, it was felt he might have some kind of insight into the claims of Mesmerism because of his previous work.
I did mention that I might ask another Pulitzer question - but I didn’t say it would be about this year’s awards. Along with Art Spiegelman, another person to receive a Special Citation Pulitzer Prize was what writer, having been given the award in 1996 for his “extraordinary and continuing contribution as a voice and conscience of his city”? A columnist for nearly sixty years, he shares his surname with the location that was to have been the first day objective of the British 3rd Infantry Division arriving at Sword, though it wound up not being captured until a month later. This same location also has the Abbey of Saint-Étienne, which houses a notable tomb.
