Monday, November 29, 2010

TRIBE TOYOTA HUNT - PANG HELD BACK HIS FANG


SERI KEMBANGAN, 27 Nov 2010: It looked like a Michael Pang hunt. It even sounded like a Michael Pang hunt. Yet, it did not feel like we were taking part in a Michael Pang hunt. Rarely do we get to finish a Michael Pang hunt well within the alloted time, and with the brain still in one piece. Instead more commonly the brain would end up feeling like it had just been given a 5 hour spin-dry treatment at the cleaners! Today scores were decent and even the passing rate was a record high. The hunt ended up being a delightful one for most.

The team with Michael Pang at Challenge Station II.

The event I am referring to is the annual Tribe Toyota treasure hunt organized by UMW for Tribe Toyota club members. Interestingly, this year teams had to first qualify for the treasure hunt through an on-line challenge. The fifty teams that completed all challenges in the shortest time qualified for the hunt proper.

Everyone has their own cup of favourite tea. So while the serious hunters might have considered the on-line challenge too cumbersome and stayed away, the serious gamers might have shunned the idea of spending time away from their keyboards. In the end, though the concept was sound, the idea back-fired and only 22 teams signed up for the hunt (despite 1000+ members having attemped the on-line challenge).

Yet despite this being a lighter fare of a Michael Pang typical hunt, it still took a while for our ignition to fire. But once our engines warmed up there was no stopping us until we arrived at this interesting question which slowed us down somewhat.

Q23: Deep love is able to absorb energy.
Ans: Ocean



The Amazing Trails of the Econauts
Maximum Score: 100



1st: Alexander Hoh, Claire Chin, Goh Teck Koon, Julie Tan (94)
2nd: Chai Koh Khai, Chong Voon Kiat, Margaret Sha, Dr Ben Lau (94)
3rd: Angie Teh, Teh Boon Kai, Yow Hui Hui, Sam Rahman (88)
4th: Khong Sook Ling, Peh Kok Hun, Anwar Jeffry, Lim Say Chye (88)
5th: Pavananthan, Liew Kok Seng, Chong Foo Seong, Lim Kong Yew (85)
6th: Ahmad Zahrol, Sharifah Nur Laila, Sallehudin, Azeman Saarin (76)
7th: Angie Ng, Fong Choon Kit, Song Wee Kiat & team (67)
8th: Mohd Irwan, Haslinda Shamsuddin, Wan Nong Khairol, Nor Wahida (59)
9th: Ramesh Rajaratnam, Winnie, Kok Chan Wah, Kok Junior (58)
10th: Mok Siew Kong, Chong Sook Peng, Jason Lee, Tan Say Kiat (47)

7 comments:

Cornelius said...

I'm curious to know about the Qs which denied the top teams of the 6pts for a perfect score. Care to share a bit about them?

2 Romans 1 Impostor said...

WINNERS: Q3 & Q9
SECOND: Q6 & Q7

Anything we can derive from this data?

Cornelius said...

Hmmm... hard to tell from such limited information. Maybe it has a lot to do with the hunt conditions. So many factors could've affected the teams.

Teams could have been hit by the fact that the CoC used the very latest and most comprehensive Thesaurus, for example - one that equates SURPRISE to WELL.

Or maybe it could have been a simple case of forgetfulness on the part of the hunters, in the sense that they forgot the possibility of equating words of different meanings which are unfortunately connected by a bridge that have changed the original meaning. For example,

BLUE = HAVING PORNOGRAPHIC CONTENTS;

and

HAVING PORNOGRAPHIC CONTENTS = DIRTY;

So that for the purpose of KL hunts,

BLUE is equal to DIRTY

even though actually it does not.

And sometimes, cryptic indicators may be questionable. A word which might not pass as an anagram indicator, for example, used by the CoC as one.

Teams might have found something else which could also fit the clues. That, of course, had happened many times in the past.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I probably can analyse much better if I were there hunting that day.

Anonymous said...

yes!- mike

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Cornelius,

I replied to your smarty pants comment after seeing it two days ago and immediately regretted it. Later a hunter reminded me that "that feller" will go on and on and must always have the last say which I totally agree. I told myself I'll give it 2 nights and see if I still feel strongly about your comment. Here I'm after 2 night.

Blue=dirty is listed in my crossword puzzle dict and my normal Oxford thesaurus. And to answer to your question it stands alone. No need to use together with movie to mean dirty.

Surprise = well is also listed in my crossword puzzle dict.

I've also seen the 2 words being used in many many crosswords by established setters.

You should check your facts before commenting.

From our recent communications, you indicated that blue can only be dirty if paired with movie. Blue itself is not dirty.

You also disagree that p=soft. To you p in MUSIC is soft. P itself is not soft. What about love=0? should we now write Love in tennis =0?

The point here is that you to my surprise don't agree with many of the cryptic standard such as the above that are staple in any crossword puzzles. You keep insisting these are created by COCs in KL.

I used to believe you when u said you comment to educate, now I think you go from blog to blog to prove you are a better cryptic solver (and setter)than everyone else using your own understanding not based on acceptable cryptic standard. At best you are a very pretty tin kosong.

Sad.

VK, i'm expecting a verbal diarrhoea reply to this. So sorry.

Cornelius said...

Wow! Mike, what happened? A perfect opportunity to go in for the kill, huh?... hehehe

I shall not deny our text message "communications". What's missing from your report here though is that while I do not agree with some of the acceptable words in crosswords dictionaries, I've also said that I will have to accept them as valid anyway. I said I guess it's a matter of enriching my cryptic vocabulary; I said it doesn't matter whether I agree or not; if I am faced with a clue which requires those words which I do not agree with, I will still use them anyway. And therefore, next time I will remember that dirty = blue to solve cryptic clues.

Hell, if I must, I will even use COUGHEE to mean COFFEE to solve a cryptic clue in the future! Whether I agree with it or not is a separate matter.

And I quoted that I've also seen p = soft or quietly; that I don't agree, but since those are established in crosswords, I will have to reluctantly accept it anyway.

Did I not say I respect your opinion; and I'm not forcing you to agree with me? So if you think I am (at best) a "tin kosong", then you have the right to your opinion.

"Verbal diarrhoea"!... HAHAHA!