At the sunset of the year, Toby, Annabelle and Ben are joined by a cast of very special guests with a crop of hard-boiled good-time questions.

The traffic lights are twinkling with Christmas spirit and we’re pouring a last one out for 2021.

It was the year of delta, it was the year of the vaccine, it was the year of hundred-and-something-day lockdown in Tāmaki Makaurau; it was the year of Judith Collins’ implosion, it was the year of Act’s surge. It was the year of Chris Hipkins’ spread legs, the year of Ben Thomas conquering the air fryer, the year of Annabelle Lee-Mather’s ascension to patron saint of pigeons.

To mark the end of the year, The Spinoff’s best political podcast, Gone By Lunchtime, met not to issue gifts or lists or awards, but a fun-time Christmas quiz. Because what kind of a monster doesn’t love a quiz?

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We’ve enlisted some very special quizmasters – heroes all – to chip in with a question. Specifically: Kieran McAnulty, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Chlöe Swarbrick, David Seymour, Simon Bridges, Tova O’Brien and Jacinda Ardern. Regrettably, the Bad Boys of Brexit didn’t quite make the deadline.

You can listen to those guests on our podcast, and take the quiz yourself, tweaked into multiple-choice form, below. You’ll need to listen to the podcast if you want the rich, textured and festive context. Meri kirihimete!