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By Guy Jacobson and Greg Pliska
Answer: KHAGAN BEK

(with grateful thanks to Andrew Chaikin for the idea and inspiration!)

Each trivia clue contains blanks which can be filled in with words that start with the same letter, and the 25 sets of blanks include all of the alphabet except for the letter G.

Answers to the trivia can be sorted alphabetically by these clue blank letters, and the initital letters of these answers, in this order, spell a final clue. Three of the answers are the word “BLANK”, and these indicate a blank ( ________ ) in the final clue.

Blank
letter
Clue Answer word Answer
start
AJohn Cusak’s title character in the film directed by George ARMITAGE, co-starring ALAN ARKIN AND Dan ACKROYD[BLANK]_
BCartridge that goes “BANG!”, BUT contains no BULLET[BLANK]_
CState whose largest CITIES are, in order, COLUMBUS (its CAPITAL), CLEVELAND and CINCINNATIOHIOO
DDUNGEONS & DRAGONS Starter Set monster created from a DEAD wizardFLAMESKULLF
EELIA who directed EAST of EDEN in 1955KAZANK
FFOUNDING FATHER whose FACE is on the tenHAMILTONH
G
HHE succeeded HUBERT HORATIO HUMPHREY as Vice PresidentAGNEWA
IIRVING Howe IS one of the people INTERVIEWED IN this mockumentary from the director of INTERIORS and IRRATIONAL ManZELIGZ
JThe primary followers of JESUS, this group includes JOHN, his brother JAMES, another JAMES, and JUDASAPOSTLESA
KFirst name of the brother of KHLOE, KIM, and KOURNTEY KARDASHIAN (and step-brother to KENDALL and KYLIE)ROBERTR
LState whose slogan is “LAND of LINCOLNILLINOISI
MThe MOST abundant METALLIC element in the earth’s crust, it follows MAGNESIUM in the periodic tableALUMINUMA
NNINE-letter adjective describing the square root of any NEGATIVE NUMBERIMAGINARYI
OIn part an account of the OLD ONES, this book is said to have been translated into Latin by OLAUS WormiusNECRONOMICONN
PHe PAINTED the PORTRAIT of POPE PAUL III in 1543TITIANT
QFirst name shared by the author who created Captain QUEEG and the one who created the harpooner QUEEQUEGHERMANH
RFictional RHODE Island town in the title of two novels by the author of RABBIT, RUN, RABBIT REDUX, RABBIT is RICH, and RABBIT at RESTEASTWICKE
STile in SCRABBLE that can STAND for any other, but SCORES zero[BLANK]_
TAL division in which each TEAM, including THE TWINS and THE TIGERS, has won at least TWO championship TITLESCENTRALC
UUNIT of length USED in the UNITED States whose name comes from the Latin “UNCIAINCHI
VGhostbuster who delivered a humorous paraphrase of the classical quote “VENI, VIDI, VICIVENKMANV
WGroup of undead led by Sylvanas WINDRUNNER in WORLD of WARCRAFTFORSAKENF
XModern-day name of the country formerly ruled by XERXES I and II, Arsaces X, Arsaces XI, Arsaces XII, . . . , and many othersIRANI
YState with a former governor who received his BA degree from YALE University in Connecticut and his MD from YESHIVA University in New YORKVERMONTV
ZDirection in which the ZAMBEZI River, which forms part of the border between ZAMBIA and ZIMBABWE, flowsEASTE

Reading the first letters of the answer words, plus the blanks, gives the final clue:

________ ________ OF KHAZARIA IN THE ________ CIV FIVE

Using the hitherto unused G, solvers need to fill this final clue in to get:

GREAT GENERAL OF KHAZARIA IN THE GAME CIV FIVE

(Searching for “Khazaria” and “Civilization V” will reveal the existence of a user-created mod to the game, in which this is the only alliterative GG phrase.) The puzzle’s answer is KHAGAN BEK.