PETALING JAYA, 4 Jan 2010: Today's hunt, to be honest, I had expected us to struggle. Firstly, we were up against the clock (I had to desert my team by Eleven-ish for a lunch appointment downtown). Secondly, Foo Seong's questions are never easy, if at all possible, with his trio of toughies. And thirdly, he had ample time to spice up his questions (since his last Economy Hunt was more than 6 months ago).
So it was a pleasant surprise indeed to learn later that we had scored perfect on-the-road (a rare feat in Foo Seong's hunts). The icing on the cake was that we had achieved this feat using up less than three and a half hours of the clock.
So how was this even possible, you may ask. Has Foo Seong gone soft (on his toughies)?
Judging from his toughies from today's hunt, I felt that he has indeed gone soft-er, on his signature Impossible Ones. Notice how an extra adjective or adverb would make a whole world of difference? In the past, Foo Seong would not have given it a second thought in leaving out "native" from Q10 and "spicy" from Q14, rendering them almost impossible to solve.
Q10: Paddle madly with the answer to see native islanders.
Ans: Sim.
Q14: The answer must be put back into a local spicy dish for a current president of an eastern country.
Ans: AZ.
Compare the earlier 2 questions with Q18 and you will get the gist.
Q18: Hard work is terrible at the start here for the bird.
Ans: ING.
In the end we didn't win the hunt (as we were hoodwinked by one of the treasures). Nevertheless, I am quite satisfied having achieved a rare Personal Best in Foo Seong's hunts. (It does tickle me though to read at press time that we have wounded his pride - aren't riddles designed to be solved anyway? Or perhaps not!)
But perhaps not as euphorically excited as this Aussie, who won a hundred and fifty ringgit in the Hunter's Lotto.
Uncle Chong's 2nd Economy Hunt Results:
(Maximum possible score: 110)
1st: Christopher Foo, Alexander Hoh, Shahrin Zainuddin, Rosemawarni Abd Rahman (107)
2nd: Chai Koh Khai, Margaret Sha, Woo Ee Wen, Chong Voon Kiat (106)
3rd: Liew Kok Seng, Lim Kong Yew, Teoh Cheow Teong, Jayaram Menon (101)
4th: Adrian Wong, Michael Pang, Lim Soo Khian, Toh Weng Ngai (95)
5th: Dominic Roche, Carol Roche, Catherine Ng, Janet Tan (92)
6th: Sin Yoong Leong, Claire Chin, Julie Tan, Goh Teck Koon (88)
7th: Ami Akhram, Haslinda Shamsuddin, Haji Suhaimi, Kheirul Nazib (86)
8th: Muhammad Razif, Darmataksiah Abai, Hanna Hamizah, Sam Rahman (85)
9th: Loh Chee Kwan, Tommy Ng, Lim Say Chye, Yeong Kig Siew (79)
3 comments:
I'm not a frequent hunter in KL, so I'm able to see the Qs from a "neutral" point of view.
I think it's more of a case of hunters improving too fast against the development of new ideas on the part of the CoCs.
Looking at these Qs, I don't think that the CoC has gone soft-er.
Q10 is a case of indirect anagram. But never mind the indirect anagram (which in itself can cause major headache), but in this case, the synonym of PADDLE will have to be combined with other letters in order to produce a new word. That is not exactly an easy task. From the many possible synonyms of PADDLE, one has to choose, specifically, OAR in order to solve the riddle. But yes, the inclusion of NATIVE in the clue helps a great deal.
As for Q18, I can see why it's even tougher. Maybe if the word YOUNG is added before the word BIRD, that can help a bit, but not very much. Again, this is a case of indirect anagram, where hunters have to find SLOG.
The major task for CoCs is how to set Qs which are fair, e.g. by including adjectives etc, and yet still able to trick the hunters somehow!
Maybe KL hunters are improving way too fast lah. Aiyah, how else to trick you people!... hahaha!
In my opinion, there is little improvement one can make in the category of Impossible Ones for the end result of his puzzle (that needs to be pieced together) is usually a boundless General Knowledge (GK).
Including an extra adjective or adverb to the GK will no doubt help the hunters - otherwise I'd dare bet that questions like these wouldn't be solved 99% of the time!
I'm inclined to agree with you. I still remember the "terrifying beings" up to now.
But I shudder at the warning by the CoC that he will adjust his questions a few notches up in the coming Tiget Hunt! I hope that doesn't mean removal of adjectives... hehehe
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