1. The social-media sensation Wordle began the year being bought by the New York Times for “a low seven figures”, inspiring a host of imitations. Which of the following games isn’t real?

   1. Heardle, for guessing song intros

   2. Worldle, for guessing countries from their outlines

   3. Lewdle, for guessing dirty words

   4. Brrrdle, for guessing Arctic animals

2. In August, as employees continued to butt heads with bosses over the return to the office, a new workplace trend was declared on social media: “quiet quitting”. What does it refer to?

   1. Leaving your job without giving notice or an explanation

   2. “Working remotely” but not actually doing any work

   3. Spending all Zoom meetings entirely on mute

   4. Doing the job you are employed to do, and no more

3. In February, a clip of Louis Theroux performing a gentle, self-penned rap went viral from TikTok, AutoTuned, remixed and set to a dance (naturally). But how did he brag – in a very Louis way – about his good fortunes?

   1. “My money don’t jiggle jiggle, it folds”

   2. “From Weird Weekends to wealthy weekdays”

   3. “Theroux with my mortgage, thanks BBC Two”

   4. “My Scientology Movie made me L Ron Rich”

4. “The slap” at the Oscars resonated around the world – and was metabolised into memes at record speed. But which peripheral celebrity’s take went viral as the last word on the row?

   1. A voxpop with former One Directioner Liam Payne

   2. Rita Ora, Taika Waititi and Tessa Thompson’s co-signed open letter

   3. Jessica Chastain, writing on behalf of Aaron Sorkin, writing on behalf of Jeremy Strong

   4. Justin Bieber in a Notes app statement

5. This year, social media turned its collective brainpower towards one big question: wheels or doors – which are there more of in the world? An Australian radio show roped in a mathematician to find an answer, once and for all – but what was it?

   1. There are more doors

   2. There are more wheels

   3. There are exactly the same number of wheels and doors

   4. The problem is insoluble by mathematics

6. Early in the year people were reporting themselves to be going “goblin mode”. But what exactly did it mean?

   1. Emptying your bank accounts and stashing all your cash at home

   2. Wearing only the oldest clothes you own

   3. Going out only at night, and preferably underground

   4. Anything to do with “slobbing out and giving up”

7. In May, a Reddit user’s post about their “wild” experience at a Swedish friend’s family home sparked a lively cross-cultural debate later dubbed “Swedengate”. But, in the Swede’s disputed dinner-time faux pas, what was the guest asked to do?

   1. Wait alone in his room while he and his family ate dinner

   2. Bring his own food

   3. Bring enough food for the whole family

   4. Provide the evening’s entertainment

8. Don’t Worry Darling was a decidedly middling film, but the reported drama behind-the-scenes made for rich online speculation and many great memes. But what outlandish rumour got such traction that it prompted an official rebuttal?

   1. Harry Styles spat on Chris Pine (allegedly)

   2. Florence Pugh punched Olivia Wilde (allegedly)

   3. Gemma Chan ghost-wrote the script (allegedly)

   4. Nick Kroll and Harry Styles kissed (allegedly)

9. After a months-long rigmarole, Elon Musk finally bought Twitter and now seems intent on running it into the ground. On his first day, what was he seen taking into Twitter HQ, for some reason?

   1. A bucket, for bailing the company out

   2. A sink, for making a splash

   3. A steering wheel, as proof that he’s behind it

   4. A megaphone, for amplifying free speech

10. If 2021 spelled the end of the “girlboss”, 2022 saw the “wife guy” go the same way, with several celebrities who had made their happy marriages central to their public profiles (allegedly!) caught cheating. Shabby stuff! But at least Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine’s (alleged!) sexts caused widespread mirth online for their decidedly PG content. Which of the below was not one of Levine’s (alleged!) real lines?

    1. “I may need to see the booty”

    2. “I need you in my bed”

    3. “It is truly unreal how hot you are”

    4. “You are 50 times hotter in person”

Solutions

1:D - Among many, many others – there is also Taylordle, for guessing words relating to Taylor Swift; Nerdle, for guessing maths equations; and Turdle, for guessing the progenitors of different poos., 2:D - As with many of these social media-driven trends, its spread and basis in reality is up for debate – but it certainly sounds like a good idea! , 3:A - Theroux had written the rap in 2000 for his Weird Weekends docu-series, but treated Amelia Dimoldenberg to a rendition of it on her web series Chicken Shop Date. From there, TikTok lost its mind., 4:A - In an incoherent but apparently heartfelt red-carpet interview with Good Morning Britain, Payne pointed to his having once been neighbours with Will Smith as proof of his being qualified to comment on The Slap. “It was a powerful moment for me, to sit and watch one of the world’s best emoters speak from the heart,” he said. , 5:A - In the 22-minute segment, the mathematician interviewed on the Melbourne-based Fifi, Fev & Nick show concluded that there were more doors. The same conclusion was reached separately on TikTok by user @koowaluh, whose multi-part equation found that there were 83bn doors in the world and 65bn wheels – roughly speaking, of course., 6:D - “Goblin mode”, proponents said, was not a style of dress but a state of mind, a backlash to the hyper-manicured aesthetic of Instagram, and extension of the relaxed beauty standards of the pandemic. “It is a scrambling of the brain,” explained the writer Cat Marnell., 7:A - “While we were playing in his room, his mom yelled that dinner was ready. And check this. He told me to WAIT in his room while they ate,” wrote the scandalised Reddit user. In the fallout, a food historian explained to NPR that in Sweden and many Nordic cultures it is more rude to offer people a favour such as food because it engenders a sense of debt., 8:A - A video at Venice film festival appeared to show Styles depositing spittle into Pine’s lap and sent the internet into a frenzy, forcing Pine’s rep to publicly respond in the negative. Kroll and Styles did kiss, however, 9:B - Musk was photographed carrying a kitchen sink into Twitter’s San Francisco offices and later tweeted: “Let that sink in!” Since then, laboured puns and sight gags have been the least of his problems as he has attempted to run the platform., 10:B - One of Levine’s (alleged!) compliments of Instagram model Sumner Stroh – “That body of yours is absurd” – sparked a meme, much merriment and even reported analysis, such as this, in a piece from Cosmopolitan: “Why are Adam Levine’s alleged sexts so awkward?”

Scores

1. 10 and above.

   Top work. You might be more qualified to run Twitter than Elon!

2. 7 and above.

   Good stuff! Just try not to think about how that mental real-estate might be put to better use…

3. 0 and above.

   Well, on the upside, at least it looks like you got a lot of fresh air this year.

4. 4 and above.

   A middling effort – but maybe you’re best off not knowing some of this stuff anyway.