I will discuss some interesting questions of this hunt separately, which are, in my opinion, reasonably well-crafted, but with doubtful answers—at least they were doubtful to me. I propose to discuss them separately in separate threads, just in case we might end up having a long discussion in the end.
Let us start with the clash between the giants:
Q) Large twisted Malay pole just off the road.
For the benefit of those who have never tried any cryptic clue before, let me tell you that this question is somewhat a cryptic clue. A common characteristic of a cryptic clue is that we can usually find a word that defines the answer which we are looking for. This word is normally located at either ends, i.e. either the start or the end of the clue. That word would therefore become the focus of the clue, because whatever it is that we need to figure out in the rest of the clue, we must end up agreeing with that word.
Another characteristic of a good cryptic clue is that the setter is normally very economical with their words in the sentence. Therefore, usually only words that are useful will be found in the clue. Unnecessary words will be excluded. In some cases, connecting words like "and", "or", "with" will be included for the purpose of smooth surface reading, but the setter is not obligated to include them.
In this particular clue, we have the word "large" at the beginning of the sentence. That then becomes our focus for this clue. We must now figure out the rest of the sentence, and then whatever we come up with should agree with that word "large".
Let us now decipher the rest of the sentence step-by-step.
"twisted" is an anagram indicator. It means that the riddle involves the rearrangement of the letters found in a word (s) in order to form another word. In this case, we know that the word we are trying to form should have similar meaning with "large". Fine, we progress.
"Malay" is a translation indicator. It means that the riddle involves a translation from English into Malay.
"pole" is the word that needs to be translated into Malay; and the letters found in that word are then rearranged to become a new word. So let us work it out.
"pole" is "tiang" in Malay. The letters in the word "tiang" are rearranged to form "giant", which agrees with "large". Fine, that should then be the answer we are looking for. Start looking for the signboard containing "giant" within that sector.
Oh! check it out guys, that's the GIANT SUPERMARKET. And therefore we solved the riddle and we can move on to the next question.
But wait! What's the story with "just off the road", which are the remaining words found in the clue? The setter could have ended the clue with the word "pole", but he didn't. I have said that a good cryptic clue contains only necessary words in it. So one must ask the question why did the setter violate the "general requirement" of a cryptic clue.
Based on the above argument, we can only arrive at 2 possible conclusions: firstly, that the clue setter was a lousy one; and secondly, that "just off the road" must be there for a purpose. What purpose could that be?
Let's start with the obvious possibility—that "just off the road" is to be taken literally. But in that case, it is silly because a pole need not necessarily be "just off the road". We can find a "tiang" anywhere at all—not only "just off the road"—unless of course if we are looking for another word for an item which must be found "just off the road".
The other possibility is that "just off the road" is to be taken as a riddle. And in such a case, one possibility leaps to the eye almost immediately. Is it possible that the word "giant" should be located just off the word "road". If that is the explanation, then we should be keeping an eye open for a signboard bearing GIANT ROAD or JALAN GIANT, or something in that nature.
Another possibility is that the words "just off the road" are found within the same signboard as the word GIANT. So maybe we ought to be looking for, say, GIANT OFF THE ROAD. However, if we are to move a little further, we might be looking for, say, LOST GIANT, where the "just off the road" is interpreted as "lost" one's way.
So you see now how complicated things can become because of those additional words—"just off the road". Now let's look for the answer in the sector.
Oh! There's that huge logo of GIANT SUPERMARKET! But damn! we are not very happy because of the "just off the road".
Oh! Look! There's another sign, a relatively tiny sign GIANT OFF ROAD! Yes, that is more appealing. It has nothing to do with the supermarket. But then there is nothing in the question that requires the answer to be connected to a supermarket. Let's look some more...
Nope, nothing else with GIANT in it. So we must choose between GIANT SUPERMARKET and GIANT OFF ROAD. Hmmm... which is a better candidate? Apply some pyschology.
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock... you have to decide fast... precious time is ticking away folks...
The answer is?
GIANT SUPERMARKET!
And that's why I am an unhappy man now...
So can someone put me out of my misery, please? Please explain to me where I got it wrong. By the way, both the signboards GIANT SUPERMARKET and GIANT OFF ROAD are located "just off the road".
Suggestions please!
8 comments:
totally agree with this. i dunno wat's the justification for the Giant answer to be taken solely but denying the Giant Off Road answer which I believe A LOT of us got!!! anyway, since everything's so rush, there's not even any chance to argue abt it. somemore the Pasaraya BESAR for the "large" is not exclusive as the Giant itself is sufficient enough to fulfill that!!!
CK, I have a confession to make. It didn't happen the way I described above while my team was hunting last Sunday.
Of course the thought process was very much like the way I said above, but I was aware of that GIANT OFF ROAD sign for quite a while now. The reason I knew of its existence was because I myself had that question in my collection under the heading of "red herring", where my intended answer was that GIANT OFF ROAD sign. My own question has a striking resemblance with that of TOS, except that I used POST instead of POLE; and the sentence is slightly different.
I disagree with you, CK, on your belief that "A LOT of us got" the answer (GIANT OFF ROAD). I am convinced that the likelier case was that many teams didn't even bother to investigate the significance of "just off the road". They read the question, arrived at GIANT, then picked the GIANT SUPERMARKET, and left the sector in a jiffy. That's why this would have been a good "red herring" question.
I said to Soo Khian that GIANT OFF ROAD is closer to the mark because of "just off the road". And he replied that in the question, it was "just off the road", whereas on the board, it was "OFF ROAD" without the word "the".
So what's the point? "Off the road" vs "Off road", how did that make GIANT of GIANT SUPERMARKET a better fit?
Hi Ckoh, I hope you don't mind me dropping a comment here even though I didn't get to enjoy KK Hunt. :)
If both signs were located "just off the road", I would think that both answers are acceptable. "just off the road" in the question may be pointing to the location of the answer, hence GIANT SUPERMARKET would fit. As for GIANT OFF ROAD, it fits just as well if not better!
You are most welcomed to comment, claire dear.
And yes, that seems to be the popular recommendation. Most people who have written to me through emails and through face-to-face discussions after the hunt, have said that the GIANT OFF ROAD was most certainly the more accurate answer; but as a gesture of face-saving compromise for the CoC, both GIANTS should have been accepted.
Now you see how tough life is for us CoCs?... hehehe
claire... totally agree with you.
most likely, coc didn't know about the other giant off road sign until it turns up in your paper. now if you are marking 100 over papers,it is easy to see why the coc choose to be "safe" and not give you the marks for anything other than what he has as the official answer. how to be sure if the sign is actually there? is it in sector? maybe you guys just "tembak" etc etc. now after the hunt, once coc has time to think about it, he may agree it's also an acceptable answer and he can do 2 things. find and hopefully there is a very tiny reason not to accept it, in this case the word "the" or admit that it was a bad call and tell you it's all in the game. In my opinion, hunters would be able to accept it if coc says it was his mistake not to give you the point and acknowledge that the alternative answer is ever better but it all part of the game.
Delurk, the CoC actually knew about both signs for he presented both signs during the Q&A and crossed out the Giant OffRoad sign.
I feel that the CoC was intentionally trying to outwit the regulars in this hunt not once but twice ... first the Mila question then the Giant question. The CoC in my mind was attempting to outwit the regulars into going for a more cryptic answer when they had intended for a straight forward answer.
Although the idea was good, sadly both times, the end result wasn't well crafted and as such not acceptable by most.
In my opinion, both Giants should have been accepted. Just like Giant Trading and Giant Sdn Bhd because the suffix word was not quite required in the question.
Of course, delurk, of course...
However, in this particular case, the CoC was aware of the GIANT OFF ROAD board before the answer presentation. In fact, the strange thing was that the board with the "OFF ROAD", which was actually displayed during the answer presentation, was intended to be the red herring. That's why all of us went like, "huh?"
We still don't get it—in what way does the GIANT SUPERMARKET board more accurately answer the question.
Well, in this case I am not really complaining about the points. Rather I am debating the accuracy. People who really know me personally would know my obsession in accuracy. I am not saying that I am immune from mistakes!
So for the sake of accuracy, I am keen to know how and why is the GIANT SUPERMARKET board a better fit.
Having said that, however, if I were amongst the top winners, and I lost RM20,000+ because of "it's all in the game" I am not so sure I would have been able to swallow that explanation. The CoC is supposed to behave professionally. He is paid for the job. To say the mistakes are all in the game at the hunters' expense is bullshit. Does "accountability" mean anything at all?
Post a Comment