I'm sorry I couldn't get to all of this yesterday -- I didn't want to post the answers without a little bit of side notation, and I didn't wind up with the time. But finally -- here are the standings following the lightning round and my discovery of Jonathan's uncounted Tuesday answer submission. Correct answers follow.

Scott 450+235+50 = 735
Art 290+375 = 665
Scraps 200+450 = 650
Boxjam 220+370+25 = 615
Gavin 273+290 = 563
Karen 245+275 = 520
Jonathan 110+235 = 345
Laura 60+155 = 215
James 55+0 = 55

In general, the entire field proved itself fully capable of remembering more grade-school U.S. political geography than is probably useful in our daily lives. Well done. Scott made some serious gains, particularly with that lightning-round boost, but the top 3 scores are still within 100 points of one another. I'm all a-twitter!

Now, on to the definitive answers.

1. The five least-populous state capitals are, in order, Montpelier, VT (8K), Pierre, SD (13K), Augusta, ME (18K), Helena, MT (25K), and Frankfort, KY (27K). Quite a few people guessed North Dakota and Wyoming, but both of these -- in a curious coincidence -- have a population of just over 55,000. Other small capitals are Juneau, AK; Dover, DE; Annapolis, MD; and Jefferson City, MO, all of which top the 30,000 mark.

2. Sacramento, CALIFORNIA, was the answer here. It's name is (in Spanish) part of the longer name of the Catholic Eucharist, to wit "the Most Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ." Note that if you said "Sacramento" and not California, you still received full credit here, because I figured that if you knew Sacramento you knew what state it belonged to. Salem, Oregon (which is supposedly derived from the Hebrew "Shalom" or peace, but not from any specific ceremony) was also guessed. Another guess was Santa Fe, New Mexico has as a full name "La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís."

3. Bismarck, North Dakota. This was widely guessed correctly, although Helena, Montana (which is actually named for one of the founders' home towns, St. Helena, Minnesota) was something of a runner-up. (As a result of this quiz, I know more about Otto von B. than I ever thought I would, though I am still confused about the outcome of the whole Schleswig-Holstein thing, which in the end apparently resulted in Austria getting a hunk of Denmark.)

4. Des Moines, Iowa, is said to have taken the "insurance capital" title away from legendary insurance-industry hometown Hartford, CT. If you guessed "Iowa" and didn't specify Des Moines, you got 1/2 credit.

5. Tallahassee, Florida.

6. In alpha order, the correct states are Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. For the record, only Scraps got 100% here, though most people got more than 1/2 right.

Some popular wrong guesses here: Kentucky, Tennessee, Alaska, Nevada, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, both Dakotas, North Carolina, and Connecticut. Almost everyone knew about Boston and Providence -- while quite a few of you either think that Vegas is also the state capital Nevada, or that Carson City is some kind of megapolis.

I'll post FINAL ROUND questions as early on Monday morning as possible -- they may be up before midnight Sunday, but I won't promise it.