A little over 2 weeks ago, on 07 November, I posted a cryptic question. I invited my visitors—especially the treasure hunt freaks, to give it a try. Some of you have managed to crack the clue, while others sent in their answers based on blind guesses or dubious explanations.
The question was like this:
(Q) Malaysian figure having a convulsion?
Possible answers:
(A) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
(B) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohd
(C) Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor
(D) Lim Goh Tong
(E) Ahmad Fairuz
Well, it is time to reveal the answer and explanation. But I won't do it now. Perhaps tonight after I come home from dinner (I was told that Phua Chu Kang will be performing). If it's too late when I come home, I will publish the answer tomorrow.
The question was like this:
(Q) Malaysian figure having a convulsion?
Possible answers:
(A) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
(B) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohd
(C) Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor
(D) Lim Goh Tong
(E) Ahmad Fairuz
Well, it is time to reveal the answer and explanation. But I won't do it now. Perhaps tonight after I come home from dinner (I was told that Phua Chu Kang will be performing). If it's too late when I come home, I will publish the answer tomorrow.
Those who have tried, I wish to say thank you for your support. Those of you who still want to try, you still have a bit of time to do so.
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Went to dinner; came home early; and now posting this.
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This is a strange question in that the solution is not exact, yet it is an exclusive fit, given the limited scope of possible answers.
The word Malaysian is an indicator of Malay language. It tells the solver to think in Malay.
Therefore, figure = ANGKA; and convulsion = SAWAN.
ANGKA "having a" SAWAN = ANGKASAWAN
From the possible answers, only one can fit perfectly, i.e. Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor
Hope you've enjoyed this puzzle. I will try to conjure something up soon. Stay tuned!
3 comments:
I wish to add that before the above solution was published, I received a correct submission by grandmaster Liong Chian Min.
Congratulation and thank you fro trying!
By the way, claire pointed out that "having" is a container indicator, which I agree.
However, I treat "have" the same way I treat "add". When I say "add" A to XYZ, I can mean it like this: AXYZ or XYZA or even XAYZ. The word "add" is not specific, and therefore can be used flexibly.
In a similar way, the word "have" can also be used flexibly, i.e. by joining the ANGKA and SAWAN to become ANGKASAWAN.
In this particular question, I adopted the continuous tense, i.e. "having a". I did this to avoid the possibility of any one of the other candidates actually had convulsion in the past. For example, if I had set the question like this:
Q) Malaysian figure had a convulsion?
Then there is that possibility that one of the other candidates might have had convulsions before.
It's possible to set the question like this:
Q) Malaysian figure has a convulsion?
But I somehow feel "having a" is more deceptive. Besides, the surface reading is also better, in my opinion.
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