I have a number of interesting hunt questions in my Question Bank which probably deserve some sort of recognition in the Hall of Fame of Treasure Hunt Clues. But some of them have been there for quite a while. Whenever I organise a hunt, I would pick one or two from my Question Bank as an insurance policy—as something that would prevent the best team in the field from getting perfect score! I'm not being a sadist, but I derive so much thrill playing with fire! These are the questions which in my opinion are solvable, yet very tricky!
However, in my last few KK Challenge hunts, I've become increasingly stingy with my questions from the Question Bank. I used to churn out several of them in each hunt. But what I realised in the end was that many of them went to waste, because hunters did not even bother to answer them!
In the KK Challenge 6, because we had some strong master hunters from the west, I decided to pick one of my masterpieces from my Question Bank:
Q32) One who goes camping to the south and east?
I know some of the new hunters may see this question as impossible to solve. But I would insist that it is within reach, provided that the hunter has a bit of hunting experience and cryptic skills.
Basically, this riddle involves what is known as the charade operation. The solver replaces some of the words in the clue with synonyms and then join those resulting words or letters to form the answer. It is quite simple when you come to think of it, but the question is whether one is then able to connect to the answer after that charade operation?
One who goes camping = CAMPER
I have said before, when the solver has to come up with a word, the scope of search must not be too wide. During the presentation, I invited the audience to give me a word they could think of to fit "one who goes camping", and the first word I got was CAMPER. Later on, when talking to hunters from other teams after the hunt, I was told that they, too, thought of CAMPER first during the hunt.
south = S, and east = E
These are common abbreviations widely used in many hunts. And with that alone, one is able to get the answer! The clue can now be simplified to:
CAMPER (join to) S AND E
So the resulting word, which is the answer itself is:
CAMPERSANDE
Except that the solver has to connect that to what he finds in the hunt sector, in which case, the answer that fits:
A32) C & E ENTERPRISE
Because AMPERSAND is the name of that symbol "&". If you knew the meaning of AMPERSAND, that's fine, you can immediately confirm the answer there and then. If not, it's quite easy and fast the confirm it. But of course some of us are not so hardworking to check.
1 comment:
I forgot to say that I chose this particular question because I have used this exact same board in my KK Challenge 5. It is a pick arising from psychological reason.
Interestingly, a few days before KK Challenge 6, Claire Chin, a very hardworking master hunter from the west, requested for a sample of my hunt Q&A. I think it was mainly an attempt to understand this CoC's style. And, still enjoying playing with fire, I gave her the KK Challenge 5 Q&A. I was amused when later on she asked for the explanation for the answer C&E ENTERPRISE, which was the answer for a different clue in KK Challenge 5. I couldn't control my smile while exchanging text messages with her about that question.
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