I have briefly discussed the employment of the question mark (?) in treasure hunt questions. Most of the time the “?” is used when there is some sort of wordplay—a pun involved in the riddle. However, there is always the danger in setting such questions because the intended answers are usually not exclusive.
In the case of the crossword puzzles, it’s quite OK, since the solutions will be dictated by the other answers in the grids. That in itself will limit the scope of answers. But in the case of treasure hunts, there is practically nothing to limit the scope of the search within the sector (s). Therefore, the CoC might end up in an embarrassing situation where other possible answers are given, and he has no defense to reject them! That is why whenever I set questions where the answers are non-exclusive, I would take special measure to check the sectors several times to ensure that no other answers can fit.
However, sometimes no amount of checking and double-checking can help. The hunters may well come up with a valid reason to an answer which the CoC did not think of. Furthermore, it does not help if the CoC fails to protect himself by limiting the scope of search by means of constructing some sort of cleverly-worded clues.
Q18) ANOTHER NAME FOR THE RAINFOREST?
Note the “?” at the end of the clue. I’m sure we can all think of so many possible names for “RAINFOREST”, but of course in this case we’re restricted to only those signs found within the question sector.
The first thing we must ask ourselves is: Why “RAINFOREST”? That's the thing we’re looking for, so it is necessary to study that “RAINFOREST” carefully.
When my team arrived at that sector, we saw the word TROPICS. In fact, I dare say it’s almost impossible to miss that sign, although it’s not exactly a huge sign. My team paused for a brief moment on TROPICS, but Teck Koon opined that that can’t be the answer as TROPICS covers so many other areas, not necessarily the RAINFOREST only. And I was quick to agree with him too. I would have criticized the CoC severely if TROPICS were the intended answer. No—the answer should be more specific; otherwise there is no meaning to “RAINFOREST”. Note that it’s not even “FOREST”—it’s “RAINFOREST”.
We spent some minutes within that sector but eventually had to leave it without finding a satisfactory answer. We kept the TROPICS in view though, just in case we find nothing till the end.
It was much later when we had to rush back to the sector when a team mate spotted a small word, “TIMBERLAND” on a signboard. We thought that could fit too, although we still had our doubts. At that stage, we more or less had to try to read the CoC, not so much the question. I would have been satisfied with “TIMBERLAND” had the question been simply “FOREST”, but no, it’s “RAINFOREST”. Why “RAIN” when the word “FOREST” was good enough to do the job?
Unfortunately, we did not have the luxury of time to be too choosy. We had to leave the sector for the second time—but this time with “TIMBERLAND”. Not exactly a satisfactory answer as far as I was concerned, but certainly more superior than “TROPICS”.
When the CoC revealed the answer, “TIMBERLAND” was indeed the required answer. He said some teams also gave “TROPICS”, but having considered it for a while, he decided to reject “TROPICS” due to the same reason why we rejected it earlier.
However, there were also some teams which gave “RIMBA MULIA”. The CoC, having checked his dictionary, and considered the answer in the context of the question, decided to accept “RIMBA MULIA”.
I fully support the CoC’s decision on “TROPICS”, but I disagree with the acceptability of “RIMBA MULIA”.
Elsewhere, I have discussed the issue of word redundancy in cryptic clues. In this clue, I find no reason for the “RAIN” to be in the sentence; and I also find no reason to support the presence of “MULIA” in the answer.
I myself used to set questions where the intended answers were single-words from multi-worded signs. But after discussing and debating on the issue, I have since made it a point to cover the full names. Exceptions are additional words like “PRIVATE LTD CO”, “SENDIRIAN BERHAD”, “SUPERMARKET”, “DEPARTMENT STORE” etc. Therefore, if for example, I want to set a question on a signboard containing “HOTEL SUMMER VIEW”, I would set the clue to cover both the words “SUMMER” and “VIEW”. As for the “HOTEL”, that is just an additional word which is required in the answer to confirm that the solver had actually spotted the sign. The key to the question is the name of the hotel, which is “SUMMER VIEW”.
Maybe, it would have been sufficient if Q18 had been simply:
Q) FOREST?
A) TIMBERLAND
There is still one more possibility. It remains unclear whether “RIMBA MULIA” can be acceptable if the hunter submitted it like this:
RIMBA @ RIMBA MULIA
In my opinion there is a strong case to support the acceptability of this answer when submitted this way. But during the answer presentation, the CoC did not elaborate how it was submitted. So we are unable comment further on his decision.
In the case of the crossword puzzles, it’s quite OK, since the solutions will be dictated by the other answers in the grids. That in itself will limit the scope of answers. But in the case of treasure hunts, there is practically nothing to limit the scope of the search within the sector (s). Therefore, the CoC might end up in an embarrassing situation where other possible answers are given, and he has no defense to reject them! That is why whenever I set questions where the answers are non-exclusive, I would take special measure to check the sectors several times to ensure that no other answers can fit.
However, sometimes no amount of checking and double-checking can help. The hunters may well come up with a valid reason to an answer which the CoC did not think of. Furthermore, it does not help if the CoC fails to protect himself by limiting the scope of search by means of constructing some sort of cleverly-worded clues.
Q18) ANOTHER NAME FOR THE RAINFOREST?
Note the “?” at the end of the clue. I’m sure we can all think of so many possible names for “RAINFOREST”, but of course in this case we’re restricted to only those signs found within the question sector.
The first thing we must ask ourselves is: Why “RAINFOREST”? That's the thing we’re looking for, so it is necessary to study that “RAINFOREST” carefully.
When my team arrived at that sector, we saw the word TROPICS. In fact, I dare say it’s almost impossible to miss that sign, although it’s not exactly a huge sign. My team paused for a brief moment on TROPICS, but Teck Koon opined that that can’t be the answer as TROPICS covers so many other areas, not necessarily the RAINFOREST only. And I was quick to agree with him too. I would have criticized the CoC severely if TROPICS were the intended answer. No—the answer should be more specific; otherwise there is no meaning to “RAINFOREST”. Note that it’s not even “FOREST”—it’s “RAINFOREST”.
We spent some minutes within that sector but eventually had to leave it without finding a satisfactory answer. We kept the TROPICS in view though, just in case we find nothing till the end.
It was much later when we had to rush back to the sector when a team mate spotted a small word, “TIMBERLAND” on a signboard. We thought that could fit too, although we still had our doubts. At that stage, we more or less had to try to read the CoC, not so much the question. I would have been satisfied with “TIMBERLAND” had the question been simply “FOREST”, but no, it’s “RAINFOREST”. Why “RAIN” when the word “FOREST” was good enough to do the job?
Unfortunately, we did not have the luxury of time to be too choosy. We had to leave the sector for the second time—but this time with “TIMBERLAND”. Not exactly a satisfactory answer as far as I was concerned, but certainly more superior than “TROPICS”.
When the CoC revealed the answer, “TIMBERLAND” was indeed the required answer. He said some teams also gave “TROPICS”, but having considered it for a while, he decided to reject “TROPICS” due to the same reason why we rejected it earlier.
However, there were also some teams which gave “RIMBA MULIA”. The CoC, having checked his dictionary, and considered the answer in the context of the question, decided to accept “RIMBA MULIA”.
I fully support the CoC’s decision on “TROPICS”, but I disagree with the acceptability of “RIMBA MULIA”.
Elsewhere, I have discussed the issue of word redundancy in cryptic clues. In this clue, I find no reason for the “RAIN” to be in the sentence; and I also find no reason to support the presence of “MULIA” in the answer.
I myself used to set questions where the intended answers were single-words from multi-worded signs. But after discussing and debating on the issue, I have since made it a point to cover the full names. Exceptions are additional words like “PRIVATE LTD CO”, “SENDIRIAN BERHAD”, “SUPERMARKET”, “DEPARTMENT STORE” etc. Therefore, if for example, I want to set a question on a signboard containing “HOTEL SUMMER VIEW”, I would set the clue to cover both the words “SUMMER” and “VIEW”. As for the “HOTEL”, that is just an additional word which is required in the answer to confirm that the solver had actually spotted the sign. The key to the question is the name of the hotel, which is “SUMMER VIEW”.
Maybe, it would have been sufficient if Q18 had been simply:
Q) FOREST?
A) TIMBERLAND
There is still one more possibility. It remains unclear whether “RIMBA MULIA” can be acceptable if the hunter submitted it like this:
RIMBA @ RIMBA MULIA
In my opinion there is a strong case to support the acceptability of this answer when submitted this way. But during the answer presentation, the CoC did not elaborate how it was submitted. So we are unable comment further on his decision.
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