Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

A capital that carries layers of history

New Delhi became the capital of India in 1911, when the British moved the seat of government from Calcutta, though the new city was formally inaugurated in 1931. Its layout, with wide avenues and grand government buildings, was designed by the architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker. Today it forms part of the larger National Capital Territory of Delhi, one of the world's most populous urban areas.

The building blocks of chemistry

Dmitri Mendeleev published his periodic table in 1869, arranging the known elements by atomic weight and chemical behaviour. His boldest move was leaving gaps for elements he believed existed but had not yet been discovered. When gallium, germanium and scandium were later found, their properties matched his predictions closely, which helped turn the table into one of chemistry's central tools.

A dish built on vegetables

Ratatouille comes from the Provence region of southern France and is essentially a vegetable stew. Classic versions combine tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines, peppers, onions and garlic, often with herbs such as thyme and basil. The name derives from the French verb "touiller", meaning to stir or toss, which hints at the dish's rustic, one-pot origins.

Two currencies, two stories

Argentina's peso has a long and turbulent history, marked by repeated redenominations and bouts of high inflation. Paraguay's currency, the guaraní, is named after the indigenous Guaraní people and has been the country's monetary unit since 1943. Both countries share a region, yet their money tells very different economic stories.

Why 3 stands apart

A prime number can only be divided evenly by 1 and itself. That makes 3 a prime, while 33 and 63 are both divisible by 3, so neither qualifies. Primes are the building blocks of number theory, and they matter far beyond the classroom: modern encryption relies on the difficulty of factoring very large numbers into their prime components.