Still Alive

Yes, folks, I am still alive—I survived a few days of sleep-deprived adventures. I have just arrived home from a long journey, i.e. from KK to KL to Pulai Springs and back to KK just shortly ago.

The Kiwanis Hunt last Saturday saw the debut of The K-Team as the Clerk-of-Course (CoC). I have a lot to comment and discuss about this hunt. However, considering that it's a debut appearance as the CoC, I think Wei Ming and Mr Crack-a-Pot did a commendable job.

To be quite honest, I don't really know the CoCs personally, so I wasn't really sure what to expect in this hunt. I was aware, however, that Wei Ming was involved in last year's clerking to a certain extent.

Although it's unclear what moved CoCs (generally) to be prudent with their questions these days, I'd like to flatter myself that I have contributed to "force" at least some of them to be very careful as to the accuracy of their clues. It is very easy to appreciate why hunt clues ought to be very precise, because one can often find several possible solutions within a given sector. It follows that if a clue is not tight, the intended answer might be challenged. I fancy that my many discussions on treasure hunt questions in this blog must have had an impact on some CoCs. These days, I have the impression that many CoCs would spend a bit more efforts to ensure, for example, grammatical accuracy in their questions.

Therefore, hunting in the Kiwanis last Saturday had a feeling of "a blast from the past", where some of the answers had some sort of "looseness" in their explanations. It indicated a creative mind of an experienced hunter from the past, but who has not kept abreast with the latest trend in hunt questions.

Consider this question:

Q35) Before and after noon with ante and post prior to going on vacation.

A35) Meridian Holidays Sdn Bhd

The "Meridian" part of the answer is easy enough to understand. The "Holidays" part is supposed to answer "going on vacation", which gives the standard seen rampant in the good ol' days. But strictly speaking, it fails from the grammatical point of view, because "going on vacation" should equate to "holidaying" to be grammatically accurate. But well, we can understand what the CoC is getting at, and therefore we can all accept his intended answer.

Another example:

Q6) It's of value to those born in the month of love.

A7) Amethyst Light & Deco

"It's of value" refers to the stone, Amethyst, which is used in jewelry. And "those born in the month of love" appears to refer to something to do with the horoscope. In fact, if one were to google up the information from the internet, it will be easily discovered that Amethyst is the birthstone of February (month of love). So the answer is acceptable, but in a loose way. Of exclusivity, there is still room for improvement in this question. The point is that, being a gemstone, Amethyst is of value to everyone in general, not only "to those born in February".

But I'm sooooooo deprived of sleep right now. Let me have a few hours of sleep and see if I can come back with a proper analysis of the questions later. To those of you who've been texting me for comments of this hunt, please be patient. This Tukang Kutuk is half dead from exhaustion right now!

I'll be back!