Destroy his wit or sophistry in vain …

Eight local chefs. Two local actresses. The “Jeopardy!” champion. The owners of Tardar Sauce AKA Grumpy Cat. And a superstar astrophysicist.

(And that’s an arguable “top five,” because it doesn’t include the string theorist Brian Greene or comedian Chris Cubas or that five-person colloquy about Doug Dorst and J.J. Abrams‘ S. or the time that I inter – yeah, I’ve been a bit busy this year.)

But so anyway:

1. Neil deGrasse Tyson – astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, international science hero and host of PBS’ new “Cosmos” series.

2. S̶m̶i̶l̶e̶y̶’̶s̶ Grumpy Cat’s People – a brother and sister who’ve found themselves a furry little sourfaced goldmine.

3. Ken Jennings – the greatest “Jeopardy!” champion of all time, a funny guy, and a highly readable author.

4. Zena Marie Vaughn and Jenny Lavery – who played two women of, ah, disparate sizes in the Theatre En Bloc production of Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig.

5. Eight Austin food professionals – Sonya Coté, Kristine Kittrell, Ned Elliott, Erica Beneke, Jodi Elliott, Laura Thoms, Karen Jane DeWitt, and Hank Cathey – answering a battery of questions in our Food Issue‘s installment of “The Q&A Hole.”

This article appears in December 13 • 2013.

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