Tag: hints

One of the questions in Ken Jennings‘ Tuesday Trivia CXII (Sept. 2):

Despite its diminutive name, what is, by area, the largest state in Mexico?

I think it’s just about a perfect geography question. Why?

1) It’s short. Thirteen words contain the basic question, and add a hint.

2) It’s unambiguous. Myself, I almost always assume “largest” in geography means area. But not everyone does — maybe it could be population. He’s got the “by area” clarification in there. And the question ends with what he’s asking for: The name of a Mexican state.

3) There’s a hint. “What’s the largest state in Mexico?” is a valid trivia question, but a dull one. Either you know it or you don’t. (I didn’t.) Throw in the info that it’s got a “diminutive name,” though, and you’ve got a bit of a lifeline.

4) But the hint doesn’t give it away. Sometimes at trivia you’ve figured out the answer to the question the host is asking — then they add another piece of information that means everyone has figured out the answer. A deflating moment. Jennings’ hint rewards lateral thinking. You could be literal and think of a Mexican state with a short name — Baja? — but that’s not where it’s going.

Because the answer (which I guessed, but looked up to be sure) is Chihuahua, a word most commonly used in US English to describe a diminutive dog, not El Estado Grande.

This caliber of question isn’t unusual for Jennings — he’s been doing this for a while, and studying the masters who write for Jeopardy! for longer — but this is one of the pithiest examples I’ve seen for a while.

(And if you don’t subscribe to Tuesday Trivia, you really should.)