For a few years now, we in the Crikey bunker have been lovingly collecting tabloid monikers, the descriptive epithets journos turn to when they get bored of official titles. Sometimes they’re snappy nicknames or ideological characterisations designed to persuade. Sometimes they’re shorthand histories, recalling past controversy without needing to go into them. And sometimes, they’re coded messages to the reader — it’s a lot easier to get “controversial” than “dodgy” through a pre-press lawyer.

This year has brought a whole stack of new identities to the forefront of the national consciousness, and plenty of them have gotten new nicknames to go with their newfound fame. Think you’ve been paying attention to the news? Well, tell us who these people are, using only their monikers. Click here for the answers. 

  1. Cup queen
  2. SAS hero
  3. Human headline
  4. Spy chief
  5. Chief mandarin
  6. High-profile publisher
  7. Dr Death
  8. Construction boss
  9. Troubled actor
  10. Hardline union heavyweight
  11. Disgraced sports scientist
  12. Aboriginal leader
  13. Rogue senator
  14. Mining magnate
  15. Liberal turncoat
  16. Trollumnist
  17. James Packer’s girlfriend
  18. Preference whisperer
  19. Muesli queen
  20. Colourful businessman
  21. Melbourne underworld figure
  22. Iron ore heiress
  23. Libertarian senator
  24. Multi-millionaire gambler
  25. Baby-faced MP
  26. Renowned republican
  27. Flamboyant deputy mayor
  28. Former terror suspect
  29. Self-confessed union bagman
  30. Tabloid terror
  31. Fallen Bombers legend
  32. Cricket legend
  33. Former NSW Labor powerbroker
  34. King of the Cross