Round Two of the Quiztacular is complete. Current scores are posted here.

Ready for Round Three? Prepare to hate the Wombat.

Six hundred possible points. The subject: State capitals.

We know, incidentally, that for at least one player it's hard to stay away from U.S. maps during the course of ordinary business. Whatever arrangement -- perhaps you might want to avoid reading and answering the questions below until you're at home and away from tempting, tempting maps! -- serves your sense of honor and fair play will be adequate. But maybe this is just a good week to call in sick from work and just let the Quiz take over your life for a little while.

But, back to our subject. Yes, the entire subject of this week's round will be state capitals. Is the Wombat a major dork? You bet. The world's biggest dork? Maybe. But we just want to pause here and note: without us super-dorks around for favorable points of comparison, you wouldn't be looking so cool, my friend. Because we have it on good authority that you're kind of a dork yourself.

Full-credit answers due to bt AT wombatfile DOT com by 12:01 AM Thursday January 19. Thursday morning the clues will be posted, and you'll have until midnight Friday to post answers for half-credit. Partial credit is possible on many of these.

And of course, you're avoiding reference materials, social studies textbooks and road atlases of all kinds during your period of skull-sweat production.

______________ROUND THREE QUESTIONS_______________

1. For 50 points, name the U.S. state with the smallest capital city (in terms of population, as ascertained in the 2000 U.S. Census). For 50 points each, name the states whose capital cities rank 2-5 on this scale (that is, the next-smallest, then the next-smallest, etc.)

2. The capital of what U.S. state gets its name from the (longer) name of a religious ceremony? 50 pts.

3. The capital of what U.S. state is named for a 19th century European head of state? 50 pts.

4. Captain James Allen was going to name his fort Fort Raccoon, as it was on a site where the Raccoon and another river merge. The War Department told him to name it after the other river. The origin of this river's name is in doubt -- some believe it refers to a local Indian tribe, some to local Trappist monks, and some to a phrase in a foreign language. Now a state capital, this city recently challenged another state capital as the city with the highest concentration of insurance industry businesses. Name the city. 50 pts.

5. This state capital was the only Confederate capital east of the Mississippi not captured by Union forces in the Civil War. It was also chosen as a site for a city partially because of its proximity to a waterfall. What city is it? 40 pts.

6. Due to the massive population shifts caused by Hurricane Katrina, the state capital of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, is likely to be officially recognized as the largest city in the state. In the state of Ohio, the capital city of Columbus is technically the most populous city as well, although Cleveland's "metro area" is larger. There are sixteen other states in which the state capital is also the most populous city. Name them (160 pts; partial credit possible).

Enjoy!

*ducks*