Bonus Points: Ferric ferrocyanide was your kryptonite

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.

It was another tricky week! The most difficult yet, in fact. You all did well on some tough world politics questions, but there were no 90%+ correct questions for the first time—and five questions fell below the 50% threshold. Only 2 percent of players got all 10 questions correct.

Hardest Question of the Week

Sanofi agreed to buy a US biopharma group for at least $9.1 billion. What type of drawing, made with ferric ferrocyanide, appears in the name of the company?

A) Tattoo
B) Stipple
C) Lithograph
D) Blueprint

If you hadn't heard of Blueprint Medicines before seeing this question, there were a couple of hints in the clue that might help you get there. The biggest one is that ferric ferrocyanide has "cyanide" in the name. Cyanide was named for "cyan" (the shade of blue) because it was first obtained by heating the pigment known as Prussian Blue.

But let's say you aren't an amateur chemist. You could still rule out the other options. Stipple isn't really a type of drawing, it's more of a drawing technique, and the only material you need for a lithograph is a carved block to transfer a pigment. ("Lithograph" comes from the Greek words for "stone" and "write.") The "ferric" in "ferric ferrocyanide" could refer to the iron in some tattoo ink, but tattoos can be done without that kind of ink. That leaves only Blueprint as the correct answer.

Deleted Scenes

The question about the Birkin bag auction took priority over this other fashion-y question. Do you know the answer?

Nonprofit Stand.earth released a report card that grades leading fashion companies on their efforts to reduce their usage of fossil fuels. Which company received a B+, the highest grade of the set? The company derives its name from a combination of the word "Her" in the founder's native language and the name of a hunting apparel retailer it acquired in 1968.

A) Abercrombie & Fitch
B) H&M
C) Lululemon
D) Bimba Y Lola

If you didn't read the story this question is based on, think linguistically. You can rule out Abercrombie & Fitch right away because it's famously named after its two founders. Lululemon is Canadian, and Canadian for "her" is just… "her" (unless you're in Quebec in which case it's "elle"). Bimba Y Lola is a Spanish company (as evidenced by the "y" in the middle meaning "and"), but Spanish for "her" is "ella." That just leaves the Swedish H&M, otherwise known as Hennes (Swedish for "her") & Mauritz (hunting apparel retailer).

Trivia From Outside the News Cycle

I did a geographical deep dive for a deleted Pointed question and came back with this: Out of the top ten largest deserts in the world, most are named for their surrounding area. The Arabian Desert is on the Arabian Peninsula, the Patagonian Desert is in Patagonia, etc. But three of the top ten have names that translate to some version of "desert" or "waterless place." What are their names? And for Bonus Points bonus points, from which languages do they derive?

Oh, and here's the answer to last week's Trivia From Outside the News Cycle question! A reminder, the question was "My family and I visited a peninsula in the United States that was named in the 1600s for its abundance of a demersal fish. Where did we go?" And the answer is…. Cape Cod. Definitely my favorite peninsula named for a demersal fish. What's yours?

A Hint for This Week

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 study up on modern Chinese rites of passage. Should be easy to do in the next 50(ish) hours before the release of the next Pointed!

Aimee Lucido
Aka The Quizmaster

If you have thoughts on this extra Pointed content or the game itself, let us know at pointed@bloomberg.net. And if you aren't yet a subscriber to Bonus Points, sign up now!

Follow Us

You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bonus Points newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, sign up here to get it in your inbox.

Unsubscribe
Bloomberg.com
Contact Us

Bloomberg L.P.
731 Lexington Avenue,
New York, NY 10022