Specific Question Discussion

[AGoodMan]

Please discuss specific questions here. Requests for the text of questions, and compliments/complaints/comments about specific questions should go here.

[AGoodMan]

In terms of question variety, we tried to deliver a healthy mix of canonical answerlines and more "experimental" ones, all the while keeping accessibility in mind. In terms of history, for which I wrote the majority of the questions, answerlines like "ships" (World history), "taxes" (US history), "Internet" (US history), "Wall Street" (US history), "bridges" (World/other history), "executions" (Euro history), "marriages" (Euro history), and "horses" (World history) are some of the more experimental content that I hope were challenging yet interesting and approachable.

There were also canonical answerlines that we tried to approach from a more interesting angle. Off the top of my head, these include questions like: "the scarlet letter" (this object), "Emma Bovary" (character), "Animal Farm" (the place), "the Lottery" (the event), and "Civil War" (from the British perspective). We sincerely hope this approach augmented, and not subtracted, from the playing experience.

Please feel free to shoot any questions/comments/concerns our way.

[scorrevole]

Note that there were some small packetizing errors and typos that we have already found and have fixed for future mirrors. Feel free to still point them out in case we missed any.

To reiterate Jon's post, we have tried our best to write good, occasionally creative questions that didn't overreach in difficulty. As always, a few of our questions (this year, ~1 per non-finals packet) were meant to trend towards nats difficulty without sacrificing conversion (thinking about literature questions, "apartheid" or "USA (literature)" comes to mind), which I'd love to hear feedback on for future mirrors. Overall though, I hope that people found the overall set to have slightly reined-in difficulty from previous years while still acting as good nats prep.

[vrohan]

I think the bonus on Edgar Linton said Linton Heathcliff? Another bonus said Midsummers Night Dream instead of Midsummer Night's Dream. Those come to mind specifically at the moment, and I told a couple more to Mazin over discord. If I remember any more, I'll be sure to say them.

Could I see the Germany tossup in fine arts? I negged it with Russia on the Kandinsky clue. Also, can I see the tossup on impressionism, Persephone, and Thomas Cole, as well as the current events bonus on Virginia? Sorry if this is a lot to ask for.

[scorrevole]

I think the bonus on Edgar Linton said Linton Heathcliff? Another bonus said Midsummers Night Dream instead of Midsummer Night's Dream. Those come to mind specifically at the moment, and I told a couple more to Mazin over discord. If I remember any more, I'll be sure to say them.

Could I see the Germany tossup in fine arts? I negged it with Russia on the Kandinsky clue. Also, can I see the tossup on impressionism, Persephone, and Thomas Cole, as well as the current events bonus on Virginia? Sorry if this is a lot to ask for.

Thanks for letting us know - you're correct about those typos/errors, and they've now been fixed for the next mirrors (hopefully they didn't impact enjoyment of the overall set!).

An artist from this movement often included canoers in his depictions of Hampton Court Bridge. An artist from this movement painted their mother reading the newspaper “Le Figaro.” Alfred Sisley was a member of this movement, as was an artist inspired by Japanese woodblocks to depict a mother in a striped dress washing a child’s feet. An artist from this movement depicted his future wife with a (*) black dog among friends eating lunch, while another painted a hazy “sunrise” over his hometown of Le Havre. That artist from this movement depicted haystacks and water-lilies. For 10 points, name this French art movement of Claude Monet.
ANSWER: impressionism [Writer’s note: Other impressionists clued are Mary Cassatt and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.] <R. Li>

We will reword this a bit to not bait for Russia, though all previous clues were about German painters (Grosz, Marc).

An artist from this country depicted a newspaper-clutching man with a teacup on his head in The Pillars of Society. A painter from this country used primary colors to depict animals in paintings like The Yellow Cow and The Fate of the Animals. That artist co-founded a movement in this country with the author of Concerning the Spiritual in Art, who called some of his paintings compositions and improvisations. This country was home to The (*) Blue Rider and The Bridge, art movements that were both associated with this country’s “Expressionism.” For 10 points, name this country, where art was labeled as “degenerate” by the Nazis.
ANSWER: Germany (or Deutschland) <Gioia>

This man claimed that pictures of him and his family drinking and partying at a Miami nightclub were Photoshopped, prompting photographer Seth Browarnik to release more of them. For 10 points each:
[10] Name this American evangelicalist. One of this man’s sons Instagrammed a picture of $12,000 during a visit to Michael Cohen, who hired one of this man’s employees to rig online polls for the Trump campaign.
ANSWER: Jerry Falwell, Jr.
[10] During his tenure as this university’s president, Falwell has drawn scrutiny for shady business deals. A Politico exposé on Falwell was authored by Brandon Ambrosino, a graduate of this evangelical Christian university.
ANSWER: Liberty University
[10] Liberty University is located in this state, whose Attorney General Mark Herring and Governor Ralph Northam were embroiled in a blackface scandal. This state’s capital is Richmond.
ANSWER: Virginia <R. Li>

In Arcadia, this deity was worshipped under the name Despoina. When Pirithous [“PEE-ruh-thiss”] tried to abduct this figure, either a group of coiling serpents or a sticky chair held him in place. Ascalaphus was pinned under a boulder and then turned into an owl for revealing information about this goddess, who was the younger of the two deities venerated in the (*) Eleusinian Mysteries. While picking flowers on the plains of Enna, this goddess disappeared when the earth opened up a chasm. Consuming pomegranate seeds forced, for 10 points, what daughter of Demeter to become Queen of the Dead after marrying Hades?
ANSWER: Persephone (or Kore) <Duffy>

In one of this man’s paintings, a figure lies on top of a pillar in front of a Greek temple and the outline of a pyramid in the background. The final painting in a series by this man contains a full moon that is partially obscured by clouds in the background and a large, crumbling pillar with vines clinging to it in the foreground. Another painting by this man set “after a thunderstorm” depicts a view from Mount Holyoke. That scene by this artist of (*) Desolation includes a gnarled tree that was struck by lightning as well as the titular feature in the Connecticut River. For 10 points, name this artist of the series The Course of Empire and The Oxbow.
ANSWER: Thomas Cole <Gioia>

[vrohan]

Thanks for letting us know - you're correct about those typos/errors, and they've now been fixed for the next mirrors (hopefully they didn't impact enjoyment of the overall set!).

They indeed didn't impact my enjoyment! I thought it was a pretty decent set overall, and some of the writers may like the fact that multiple people at the mirror commented that they thought the pop culture was really innovative.

[FJOIII]

Hello, this is my first time in a discussion group, so apologies if I'm not up-to-date on standard etiquette and procedure for these things. I'd like to preface my questions by simply saying that I had a great time on HFT this year and my teammates all thought it was pretty fun and mostly fair.
That said, I'd like to see the "Cities" tossup from round 2, or 4 I believe (sorry I can't remember precisely which one), as particularly the "redlining" clue I felt may have been a little vague (I buzzed in and answered—incorrectly—with "suburbs"), and was further confused when the moderator said the answerline and said it would prompt on "Streets".
Beyond that, I recall simple errors like one part of a Greek Independence-based bonus having conflicting parts sometime in the second half, I believe round 5 or 6, though I may be slightly off. The lead in (before "FTPE") seemed to ask for the country that gained independence (Greece), whereas after "FTPE" the bonus changed to asking for the country from which independence was obtained (the Ottoman Empire), though perhaps that may have been misreading on the part of the moderator.

[scorrevole]

Hello, this is my first time in a discussion group, so apologies if I'm not up-to-date on standard etiquette and procedure for these things. I'd like to preface my questions by simply saying that I had a great time on HFT this year and my teammates all thought it was pretty fun and mostly fair.
That said, I'd like to see the "Cities" tossup from round 2, or 4 I believe (sorry I can't remember precisely which one), as particularly the "redlining" clue I felt may have been a little vague (I buzzed in and answered—incorrectly—with "suburbs"), and was further confused when the moderator said the answerline and said it would prompt on "Streets".
Beyond that, I recall simple errors like one part of a Greek Independence-based bonus having conflicting parts sometime in the second half, I believe round 5 or 6, though I may be slightly off. The lead in (before "FTPE") seemed to ask for the country that gained independence (Greece), whereas after "FTPE" the bonus changed to asking for the country from which independence was obtained (the Ottoman Empire), though perhaps that may have been misreading on the part of the moderator.

Yup - the typo in the Ottoman empire bonus (round 2) has since been corrected. Thanks!

Walter Benjamin’s [“VAL-ter BEN-ya-meen”] Arcades Project discusses the experiences of the flaneur in one of these general places. Joel Garreau wrote about the “edge” type of these places. Robert Moses led an effort to remake these places. These places are divided into concentric zones in an Ernest Burgess model. Lewis Mumford studied these places, which Jane Jacobs wrote about in her book The Death and Life of Great (*) American [these places]. Redlining was a common practice to deny services in parts of these places. These places are often designed in a grid pattern, and their “sprawl” creates nearby suburbs. For 10 points, name these densely populated urban areas.
ANSWER: cities (accept metropolises; accept urban areas before mention; anti-prompt [make less specific] on streets or boulevards or passages before “Garreau”) <Yue>

A prompt on streets, etc. would only be given within the first clue, and that answer would not be promptable for later clues.

[AGoodMan]

Hello, this is my first time in a discussion group, so apologies if I'm not up-to-date on standard etiquette and procedure for these things. I'd like to preface my questions by simply saying that I had a great time on HFT this year and my teammates all thought it was pretty fun and mostly fair.
That said, I'd like to see the "Cities" tossup from round 2, or 4 I believe (sorry I can't remember precisely which one), as particularly the "redlining" clue I felt may have been a little vague (I buzzed in and answered—incorrectly—with "suburbs"), and was further confused when the moderator said the answerline and said it would prompt on "Streets".
Beyond that, I recall simple errors like one part of a Greek Independence-based bonus having conflicting parts sometime in the second half, I believe round 5 or 6, though I may be slightly off. The lead in (before "FTPE") seemed to ask for the country that gained independence (Greece), whereas after "FTPE" the bonus changed to asking for the country from which independence was obtained (the Ottoman Empire), though perhaps that may have been misreading on the part of the moderator.

Yup - the typo in the Ottoman empire bonus (round 2) has since been corrected. Thanks!

12. Alexander Ypsilantis was a leader of the Filiki Eteria, a secret organization that agitated for the independence of Greece from this empire. For 10 points each:
[10] Ypsilantis fought for the independence of Greece against this empire that also took Constantinople in 1453.
ANSWER: Ottoman Empire
[10] The key engagement of the Greek War of Independence was this naval battle in which allied forces from Britain, Russia, and France decisively defeated an Ottoman armada.
ANSWER: Battle of Navarino
[10] The first king of newly independent Greece was a Bavarian prince of this name. A Prussian politician with this first name kept power by making melodramatic offers to resign, which persuaded Wilhelm I to retain him.
ANSWER: Otto (accept Otto of Greece; accept Otto von Bismarck) <Suh>

Hey Fred, thanks for the catch there; during the writing of the set, I changed the first bonus part to the Ottoman Empire from Greece pretty last-minute and forgot to adjust the lead-in appropriately. Sorry for that confusion. Above is the updated version of the bonus.

[physicsnerd]

Hey, I thought the set was definitely fun to play! I did want to see the tossup on lit, with the answer line of USA (mentioned Junot Diaz in the body) - I negged with Dominican Republic, probably just because I was tired and heard 'Diaz' and thought of Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but I'm interested to see what came before that.

Also, this might be just me, but was there a larger amount of fine arts than normal, and within science, a larger amount of chem than normal? Great packets, thank you for writing :)

[physicsnerd]

On another note, I just remembered: there was a tossup that started with 'In the anime 'My Hero Academia' ...' [answer: grape] which led to a buzzer race in our room (and from what I heard, a decent number of other rooms) on the first line. (There were also apparently people complaining that anime is not 'trash with cultural value' - I don't really know what to take from that, haha.) I thought it was an entertaining unique clue, but should possibly be moved later in the question. I'd be interested to know what others think about that.

[scorrevole]

Hey, I thought the set was definitely fun to play! I did want to see the tossup on lit, with the answer line of USA (mentioned Junot Diaz in the body) - I negged with Dominican Republic, probably just because I was tired and heard 'Diaz' and thought of Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but I'm interested to see what came before that.

Also, this might be just me, but was there a larger amount of fine arts than normal, and within science, a larger amount of chem than normal? Great packets, thank you for writing :)

A story depicting life in this country ends with a mother crying as snow hits the narrator’s “cold, hard scalp.” A botanist offers to accompany Lilia during a holiday tradition in this country. A blog titled “Raceteenth” is about this country, which Obinze fails to enter. The 103-year-old Mrs. Croft refers to this country’s “splendid” flag. Yunior’s life in this country is depicted in many Junot Diaz stories. This country is the setting of “When Mr. (*) Pirzada Came to Dine,” and a Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie novel is named for this country. For 10 points, name this destination of many Indian immigrants in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies.
ANSWER: the United States of America (accept either underlined part; or USA) [Writer’s note: The first story is Junot Diaz’s “Invierno.”] <R. Li>

Thanks for playing the set! The fine arts was 3/3 per packet as advertised. Chemistry probably seems to be a bit more since some of the bio was biochem and a bit of the physics was thermodynamics. We've kind of moved around/altered some of the biochem while re-packetizing, so it'll seem like less chem overall.

On another note, I just remembered: there was a tossup that started with 'In the anime 'My Hero Academia' ...' [answer: grape] which led to a buzzer race in our room (and from what I heard, a decent number of other rooms) on the first line. (There were also apparently people complaining that anime is not 'trash with cultural value' - I don't really know what to take from that, haha.) I thought it was an entertaining unique clue, but should possibly be moved later in the question. I'd be interested to know what others think about that.

Interesting - not sure whether we'll move it given how niche My Hero Academia probably is amongst the wider quizbowl community. If the next mirror seems to still get this response, we'll change it.

[vrohan]

Some power lines that either I or one of my teammates thought might've extended too far were those on Candide, Eve, and New York (photography.) Additionally, one of our players said that he knew the answer to the tossup on "one" in music after the first line but thought it'd be odd to toss up "this many performers" if it is just one, and suggested changing it to a tossup on "solos."

The tossup on Bierce seemed to bait really hard for Hawthorne on the clue about the guy who sees an eclipse and goes to his wife, which is similar to Young Goodman Brown. Also, one of my teammates negged Swan Lake with The Nutcracker on the national dances clue, but I don't know enough ballet to know if that needs to be changed.

Also, the packetizing could've been a little better, as I noticed multiple occurrences of literature bonuses after literature bonuses specifically.

[scorrevole]

Some power lines that either I or one of my teammates thought might've extended too far were those on Candide, Eve, and New York (photography.) Additionally, one of our players said that he knew the answer to the tossup on "one" in music after the first line but thought it'd be odd to toss up "this many performers" if it is just one, and suggested changing it to a tossup on "solos."

The tossup on Bierce seemed to bait really hard for Hawthorne on the clue about the guy who sees an eclipse and goes to his wife, which is similar to Young Goodman Brown. Also, one of my teammates negged Swan Lake with The Nutcracker on the national dances clue, but I don't know enough ballet to know if that needs to be changed.

Also, the packetizing could've been a little better, as I noticed multiple occurrences of literature bonuses after literature bonuses specifically.

We've moved some powermarks up a tiny bit within some tossups, but not far (Candide is included in this, for instance, so now the power mark comes in between "two red" and "sheep"). I appreciate the feedback about the "one" question - I'll see what I can do about it. We also ended up changing that Bierce clue anyway since it just so happened the exact same two quotes in that clue (from Owl Creek) came up at ACF Fall this year.

Four dancers perform 24 consecutive pas-de-chats [“PAH-de-SHAs”] in an Act 2 variation of this ballet, a version of which was premiered by Pierina Legnani. At a party in Act 3 of this ballet, a male dancer dances disinterestedly with his prospective brides for a set of four national dances, including a mazurka and a Neapolitan dance. After that party, the lead ballerina of this ballet performs 32 consecutive fouettés [“fweh-TAYs”] as the character (*) Odile after the male protagonist realizes that Von Rothbart’s curse will not be broken. For 10 points, name this Tchaikovsky ballet in which Prince Siegfried and Odette kill themselves by jumping into the title body of water.
ANSWER: Swan Lake <Sayphraraj>

The Swan Lake clue is uniquely identifying and reasonably non-baity given the plot clue specifying an Act 3 party (Nutcracker only has two acts) with a man (Prince Siegfried) and his prospective brides as well as the number of national dances given in the clue (Nutcracker has three), so we probably won't change this.

Also, just looked through the packets and there doesn't seem to be any lit bonuses colliding, though if there were dead tossups in your room, that could have possibly affected which bonuses were read.

EDIT: After this round of mirrors, I've decided to remove the "one" question entirely from the set for future mirrors.

[Ciorwrong]

Hello, this is my first time in a discussion group, so apologies if I'm not up-to-date on standard etiquette and procedure for these things. I'd like to preface my questions by simply saying that I had a great time on HFT this year and my teammates all thought it was pretty fun and mostly fair.
That said, I'd like to see the "Cities" tossup from round 2, or 4 I believe (sorry I can't remember precisely which one), as particularly the "redlining" clue I felt may have been a little vague (I buzzed in and answered—incorrectly—with "suburbs"), and was further confused when the moderator said the answerline and said it would prompt on "Streets".
Beyond that, I recall simple errors like one part of a Greek Independence-based bonus having conflicting parts sometime in the second half, I believe round 5 or 6, though I may be slightly off. The lead in (before "FTPE") seemed to ask for the country that gained independence (Greece), whereas after "FTPE" the bonus changed to asking for the country from which independence was obtained (the Ottoman Empire), though perhaps that may have been misreading on the part of the moderator.

Yup - the typo in the Ottoman empire bonus (round 2) has since been corrected. Thanks!

12. Alexander Ypsilantis was a leader of the Filiki Eteria, a secret organization that agitated for the independence of Greece from this empire. For 10 points each:
[10] Ypsilantis fought for the independence of Greece against this empire that also took Constantinople in 1453.
ANSWER: Ottoman Empire
[10] The key engagement of the Greek War of Independence was this naval battle in which allied forces from Britain, Russia, and France decisively defeated an Ottoman armada.
ANSWER: Battle of Navarino
[10] The first king of newly independent Greece was a Bavarian prince of this name. A Prussian politician with this first name kept power by making melodramatic offers to resign, which persuaded Wilhelm I to retain him.
ANSWER: Otto (accept Otto of Greece; accept Otto von Bismarck) <Suh>

Hey Fred, thanks for the catch there; during the writing of the set, I changed the first bonus part to the Ottoman Empire from Greece pretty last-minute and forgot to adjust the lead-in appropriately. Sorry for that confusion. Above is the updated version of the bonus.

When I was moderating, I had to stare at this bonus part and figure out that you were saying Greece was fighting for its independence from this country. This is another reason why last minute should be avoided and playtesting is an unambiguous good! Asking moderators to figure out your grammar for you is obviously suboptimal.

[Ciorwrong]

Hey, I thought the set was definitely fun to play! I did want to see the tossup on lit, with the answer line of USA (mentioned Junot Diaz in the body) - I negged with Dominican Republic, probably just because I was tired and heard 'Diaz' and thought of Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but I'm interested to see what came before that.

Also, this might be just me, but was there a larger amount of fine arts than normal, and within science, a larger amount of chem than normal? Great packets, thank you for writing :)

A story depicting life in this country ends with a mother crying as snow hits the narrator’s “cold, hard scalp.” A botanist offers to accompany Lilia during a holiday tradition in this country. A blog titled “Raceteenth” is about this country, which Obinze fails to enter. The 103-year-old Mrs. Croft refers to this country’s “splendid” flag. Yunior’s life in this country is depicted in many Junot Diaz stories. This country is the setting of “When Mr. (*) Pirzada Came to Dine,” and a Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie novel is named for this country. For 10 points, name this destination of many Indian immigrants in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies.
ANSWER: the United States of America (accept either underlined part; or USA) [Writer’s note: The first story is Junot Diaz’s “Invierno.”] <R. Li>

Thanks for playing the set! The fine arts was 3/3 per packet as advertised. Chemistry probably seems to be a bit more since some of the bio was biochem and a bit of the physics was thermodynamics. We've kind of moved around/altered some of the biochem while re-packetizing, so it'll seem like less chem overall.

On another note, I just remembered: there was a tossup that started with 'In the anime 'My Hero Academia' ...' [answer: grape] which led to a buzzer race in our room (and from what I heard, a decent number of other rooms) on the first line. (There were also apparently people complaining that anime is not 'trash with cultural value' - I don't really know what to take from that, haha.) I thought it was an entertaining unique clue, but should possibly be moved later in the question. I'd be interested to know what others think about that.

Interesting - not sure whether we'll move it given how niche My Hero Academia probably is amongst the wider quizbowl community. If the next mirror seems to still get this response, we'll change it.

My Hero Academia is not niche at all. If you go into the #anime channel on Discord and ask anyone there, they will tell you it's a pretty bread and butter shounen anime. Myself and others have posted about how it's eminently in the mainstream.

[vrohan]

When I was moderating, I had to stare at this bonus part and figure out that you were saying Greece was fighting for its independence from this country. This is another reason why last minute should be avoided and playtesting is an unambiguous good! Asking moderators to figure out your grammar for you is obviously suboptimal.

Well that is why this discussion group exists--I think it's understood that this error would have hindered the moderators. The current goal is presumably to make the set better for future mirrors, and, in my opinion, criticizing what the Harvard team could have done isn't the best way of doing that at this moment.

[Ciorwrong]

When I was moderating, I had to stare at this bonus part and figure out that you were saying Greece was fighting for its independence from this country. This is another reason why last minute should be avoided and playtesting is an unambiguous good! Asking moderators to figure out your grammar for you is obviously suboptimal.

Well that is why this discussion group exists--I think it's understood that this error would have hindered the moderators. The current goal is presumably to make the set better for future mirrors, and in my opinion, criticizing what the Harvard team could have done isn't the best way of doing that at this moment.

While I perhaps worded my original comment a bit callously, I think I am well-within my rights to hold one of the premier high school difficulty housewrites to this high standard. The writers of this set, by and large, know how to write and most questions were fine.

Additionally, I have been asking for high school housewrites, especially widely-mirrored ones, to be playtested for about a year now (on this very forum!) after WHAQ III ran a successful playtest of their questions. It's the standard now in college, and for sets like HFT which aim to be high quality and challenging, I would encourage this for future years.

[AGoodMan]

When I was moderating, I had to stare at this bonus part and figure out that you were saying Greece was fighting for its independence from this country. This is another reason why last minute should be avoided and playtesting is an unambiguous good! Asking moderators to figure out your grammar for you is obviously suboptimal.

Well that is why this discussion group exists--I think it's understood that this error would have hindered the moderators. The current goal is presumably to make the set better for future mirrors, and in my opinion, criticizing what the Harvard team could have done isn't the best way of doing that at this moment.

While I perhaps worded my original comment a bit callously, I think I am well-within my rights to hold one of the premier high school difficulty housewrites to this high standard. The writers of this set, by and large, know how to write and most questions were fine.

Additionally, I have been asking for high school housewrites, especially widely-mirrored ones, to be playtested for about a year now (on this very forum!) after WHAQ III ran a successful playtest of their questions. It's the standard now in college, and for sets like HFT which aim to be high quality and challenging, I would encourage this for future years.

I think Harris brings up good points; playtesting, especially, is something I would strongly encourage the future producers of this set to consider.

[Jasconius]

Some small notes:

I buzzed in on the round 2 tossup on "orbits" at the pronoun and said something to the effect of "inverse-square law systems." I might just be wrong (and was told that I was by better science players than I), but I think that the LRL vector is a constant of motion in any system with an inverse-square law force, not just the gravitational one. Notably, the (Coulombic) hydrogen atom has a LRL vector that is a constant of motion, and I think saying that the electron orbits the nucleus in the hydrogen atom is too much of a stretch.

The Puerto Rico tossup seemed incredibly transparent in using the word "polity" and talking about a member of Congress (I think it even said senator), making it quite clear that it was a US territory. I was so convinced it couldn't be that easy that I waited until I heard a clue I could associate with Puerto Rico, but I think that tossup was a big game of chicken.

The set in general had an issue with holding pronouns until after buzzable clues had been read. It bit me on the "Christians" tossup from Round 2 and also the "California" tossup in Round 9. I buzzed after the word "overturned," knowing that Trump v Hawaii overturned Korematsu and intending to say Korematsu, but then heard the answer was something else (I didn't hear the pronoun). We ended up winning this game, but had we lost I would have been a little annoyed.

I've anticipated hearing Chicago Boys for Berkeley Boys in the past and have wanted to see an "It's not Chile" there.

Could I see the tossups on "polynomials," NYC in photo, "proofs," Ansel Adams, Romance of the Three Kingdoms?

[scorrevole]

Some small notes:

I buzzed in on the round 2 tossup on "orbits" at the pronoun and said something to the effect of "inverse-square law systems." I might just be wrong (and was told that I was by better science players than I), but I think that the LRL vector is a constant of motion in any system with an inverse-square law force, not just the gravitational one. Notably, the (Coulombic) hydrogen atom has a LRL vector that is a constant of motion, and I think saying that the electron orbits the nucleus in the hydrogen atom is too much of a stretch.

The Puerto Rico tossup seemed incredibly transparent in using the word "polity" and talking about a member of Congress (I think it even said senator), making it quite clear that it was a US territory. I was so convinced it couldn't be that easy that I waited until I heard a clue I could associate with Puerto Rico, but I think that tossup was a big game of chicken.

The set in general had an issue with holding pronouns until after buzzable clues had been read. It bit me on the "Christians" tossup from Round 2 and also the "California" tossup in Round 9. I buzzed after the word "overturned," knowing that Trump v Hawaii overturned Korematsu and intending to say Korematsu, but then heard the answer was something else (I didn't hear the pronoun). We ended up winning this game, but had we lost I would have been a little annoyed.

I've anticipated hearing Chicago Boys for Berkeley Boys in the past and have wanted to see an "It's not Chile" there.

Could I see the tossups on "polynomials," NYC in photo, "proofs," Ansel Adams, Romance of the Three Kingdoms?

Thanks for playing the set! I think I'll add a prompt for mentions of "inverse-square" since it's along the right line of thinking, but you really need "orbits" for this tossup or at the very least "two-body" or "Kepler problem" (which I will also add prompts for) since the LRL is conserved only for two-body Kepler problems (the solutions to which are orbits), and not general N-body inverse-square systems. I will also specify it to be the "classical LRL vector" to avoid confusion with the much less used quantum LRL analogue used for the Pauli hydrogen atom proof, though in the world of physics saying "the LRL vector" without specification pretty much universally refers to the classical analogue. I'll let the writers of the other specific questions you mentioned speak to their tossups.

In general, HFT has a policy of always trying to have pronouns early in a tossup, and I'll be looking for instances where we could improve this. That being said, briefly combing over the set, most of the later pronoun drops (all of which come before the end of the first line, and the vast majority of which are in the first half of the line) do not have uniquely identifying, buzzable clues before them. This is definitely true for the "Christians" tossup, where I really don't think making the pronoun earlier would do anything.

Ludwig Feuerbach wrote a work critiquing the mentality of these people titled for The Essence of their namesake discipline. ...

Hawaii v. Trump repudiated the decision of a case from this state that applied the “strict scrutiny” doctrine. ...

I'm considering pushing the pronoun up on "this state" for the lead-in to California because I do see how it might "trap" very, very aggressive players for Korematsu, but honestly this sort of lead-in writing is, I believe, seen as a perfectly reasonable thing to do to facilitate question flow, and I would generally caution against reflex buzzing based on how one thinks the tossup is going to go before the first pronoun is read (the tossup could for instance feasibly have been about a judge or Japan or many other things). Really hope you enjoyed the set otherwise!

Hilbert’s basis theorem states that any ring of these objects over a Noetherian [“nur-THEAR-ian”] ring is Noetherian. Formal derivatives can check if these objects have distinct linear factors. The Stone–Weierstrass theorem describes how these objects can approximate continuous functions. An orthonormal set of these functions is named for Legendre [“luh-JON-druh”]. The roots of a (*) “characteristic” one of these functions define a matrix’s eigenvalues [“EYE-ghen-values”]. Each term in one of these functions can be differentiated by the “power rule.” Rational functions are quotients of these functions, which can be divided using synthetic division. For 10 points, name these functions, whose degree-two types are quadratic.
ANSWER: polynomials
<R. Li, Math>

It’s not DC, but photographs taken in this city from a photographer’s X Portfolio were featured in the exhibit The Perfect Moment, which was cancelled by the Corcoran Art Gallery for its explicit content. In a Richard Drew photograph, the vertical lines of a building in this city frame a man falling head first. Diane Arbus photographed a boy holding a toy grenade in one of this city’s (*) parks. This city was photographed in the 1800s by Jacob Riis [“rees”] for his book How the Other Half Lives. Alfred Eisenstadt captured a sailor kissing a woman in a white dress in this city in a 1945 photograph. For 10 points, name this city, where V-J Day in Times Square was taken.
ANSWER: New York City (or NYC; accept specific boroughs)
<Yue, Photography>

These constructs are considered as functions in the BHK interpretation. All consistent formal systems contain statements that neither possess nor dispossess these constructs, according to Gödel’s [“GER-dull’s”] first incompleteness theorem. One technique for these constructs assumes the opposite is true and derives a (*) contradiction, while another establishes a “base case” and shows that the statement for n implies the statement for n plus one. That technique for these constructs is induction. These constructs can be visualized with two columns for “propositions” and “reasons.” For 10 points, name these constructs that demonstrate the truth of mathematical statements.
ANSWER: mathematical proofs
<R. Li, Math>

This man photographed Boulder Dam for an unfinished photo mural for the Department of the Interior. This photographer depicted a San Francisco mission church in a collaboration with Mary Hunter Austin, and one of his Parmelian Prints shows a monolith at “Winter Sunrise.” With Fred (*) Archer, this photographer defined ten shades of gray in a Zone System, and he co-founded f/64 [“f-stop-64”]. After pulling off of Route 84 in Hernandez, this photographer captured a “Moonrise,” and this photographer of “El Capitan” also created “Moon and Half Dome.” For 10 points, name this American photographer of several Yosemite Park photos.
ANSWER: Ansel Adams
<Yue, Photography>

A character in this novel is prevented from gaining 12 years of life after a man interrupts his prayer to the Big Dipper. Another character in this novel throws his infant son on the ground after one of his generals risks his life to save the infant in battle. In this novel, a character predicts a favorable change in the wind and uses straw boats to “borrow” ten thousand (*) arrows before the Battle of Red Cliffs. This novel begins with the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which prompts Liu Bei to swear the Peach Garden Oath. For 10 points, name this historical Chinese novel depicting the conflict between the states of Wei, Shu and Wu.
ANSWER: Romance of the Three Kingdoms (or Sanguo yanyi; do NOT accept or prompt on “Records of the Three Kingdoms” or “Sanguo zhi”)
<Kao/Suh, World Literature>

[Jasconius]

I did really enjoy playing this set--sorry that I came close to implying otherwise! I especially liked the tossups on the age of the Earth, the integral, and the circulatory system as cool ideas that I was still able to get good buzzes on.

On the "orbits" tossup -- thanks for clearing up my confusion. Glad to see that this is just a lack of my knowledge and not a problem with the question!

On the pronouns issue -- I was mostly relaying something I heard from other people, namely science players. I think there was confusion on the "maleness" tossup, but I can only comment on the California question given that it was the only one that personally affected me. Looking over the tossups with pronoun-dropping in mind sounds like it will fix most of the issues. I do think the California one should be moved earlier, though.

Are the words "linear factor" too early in the polynomials tossup? I couldn't think of anything else that has linear factors, although I waited until "continuous functions" to buzz (and while I looked up the Stone-Weierstrass theorem before, I wouldn't be surprised if people were able to guess off that clue too).

I think the Ansel Adams tossup should hide that he is a man for most of the question. Most of the difficulty-appropriate photographers that would have photographed Boulder Dam (Lange, Bourke-White, O'Keefe) are female, so I think dropping he's a man narrows the answer space a bit too much for the first line.

[katherine]

The set in general had an issue with holding pronouns until after buzzable clues had been read.

I second this. It was very frustrating to hear clues before the pronoun was dropped, and it's easy to change.

On the pronouns issue -- I was mostly relaying something I heard from other people, namely science players. I think there was confusion on the "maleness" tossup

This could be fixed by putting good/poor conditions before Trivers–Willard.

I think the Ansel Adams tossup should hide that he is a man for most of the question. Most of the difficulty-appropriate photographers that would have photographed Boulder Dam (Lange, Bourke-White, O'Keefe) are female, so I think dropping he's a man narrows the answer space a bit too much for the first line.

This tossup was extremely fraudable. Additionally, I believe the clue "With Fred (*) Archer, this photographer defined ten shades of gray in a Zone System" is inaccurate, as Adams designated eleven zones (0-X), and if "gray" excludes black and white there would be nine zones, not ten as stated in the question.

Clueing a feather as a "body part" was confusing, I suggest using "structure."

[justinduffy]

Hey Katherine and Matt, I wrote the questions on maleness and feathers.

The Trivers–Willard hypothesis predicts that this trait is more prevalent among the offspring of organisms that are in “good condition.” In humans, the protein TDF induces this condition by activating SOX9 [“socks-nine”], which in turn activates Anti-Müllerian [“anti-moo-LARE-ian”] hormone. The frequency of this trait in turtles decreases as (*) temperature increases. The most dominant clownfish in a school loses this trait. Humans with this trait are more susceptible to red–green colorblindness and other X-linked recessive conditions like pattern baldness. For 10 points, name this trait defined as the ability to produce sperm.
ANSWER: maleness (accept obvious equivalents like being a man or guy or dude after “humans”) <Duffy>

Precursors to these structures may have appeared as a means to safely metabolize sulfur-containing amino acids. Fossils of the genus Yutyrannus that contain primitive examples of these body parts are prevalently found in the Yixian [“yee-shien”] formation, and one of these body parts found in the Solnhofen limestone was used to identify (*) Archaeopteryx [“AR-key-AHP-tuh-ricks”]. Pycnofibres [“PICK-no-fibers”] in Pterosaur [“TEH-ruh-sore”] fossils and quill knobs on dinosaur fossils suggest early reptilians possessed primitive types of these body parts. For 10 points, name these structures that aid in waterproofing and flight for birds.
ANSWER: feathers (accept plumes or plumage; prompt on wings before “Solnhofen”) <Duffy>

Regarding pronouns, I think that in general, there is no issue with having pronouns come after one "buzzable" clue. Players need to hear both a pronoun and one clue before they can confidently buzz. In my opinion, the order of those two components does not matter, and writers should just use whichever structure gives the question the best possible flow. However, I do see a potential issue with the first line of the maleness tossup. The Trivers-Willard clue does not truly become buzzable until "good condition" is mentioned; before that, it could either be males or females depending on whether the question will describe "good condition" or "bad condition." This means that three units of information are necessary to buzz, rather than only two. To fix this, I've updated the first line so that only two units of information are needed before a player could reasonably buzz:

This trait is more prevalent among the offspring of organisms that are in “good condition” according to the Trivers-Willard hypothesis.

This may be the pronoun issue you were describing in your post; if so, I think we're on the same page now. We've also looked through the rest of the set and moved up the pronoun in 4-5 tossups that had a similar problem.

Regarding the feathers tossup, I use the term "structure" in the first line and then switch to "body part" starting in the second line. My reasoning was that the tossup mentions fossil deposits, so I didn't want players to misinterpret the tossup as asking about a geological structure rather than a biological one. In hindsight, this is probably already obvious, so I can change to "structure" throughout if "body part" made the question more confusing.

Thanks for the feedback, and I hope you enjoyed the set!

[scorrevole]

My bad on the Ansel Adams tossup - error is fixed and gender is obscured in power.

[whatamidoinghere]

I liked the Ideal Gas constant tossup in this set (can I see it?). More of the science in this set felt like you had to have experience in the field in order to get that question early in (à la the time question), which I really liked in comparison to previous sets I've played. In addition, the geography felt somewhat evocative for a set of this difficulty, as exemplified by the Seattle tossup (can I see that too?).

I did like most of the questions in this set, but a lot of people I've talked to said it felt a little gimmicky, in that sometimes you could get power for a tossup based on just knowing what the tossup was trying to say. Also, some of the tossups had obscure indicators (e.g. "these things" for the horses tossup). I think this tripped up a lot of people into negging even though they may have had the right idea of what the answer was in our site.

This set didn't have many prose issues, but some packetization issues did happen which I felt (there were at least two separate bonus parts on ballets within 3-4 packets of each other).

Overall, I thought this set was pretty well executed and though it leant slightly easy, I did like that it was more accessible than previous years.

[AGoodMan]

I liked the Ideal Gas constant tossup in this set (can I see it?). More of the science in this set felt like you had to have experience in the field in order to get that question early in (à la the time question), which I really liked in comparison to previous sets I've played.

9. Before the 2019 SI unit update, this value was obtained by measuring the speed of sound in argon at the temperature of the triple point of water. This value is the difference between specific heat at constant pressure and specific heat at constant volume. This value multiplies temperature and divides Faraday’s constant in (*) Nernst’s equation. This value is often given in units of liter-atmospheres per mole-Kelvin. This value multiplies temperature and the natural log of the equilibrium constant to determine the Gibbs free energy change in a reaction. For 10 points, name this constant which is multiplied with “n” and “T” in the ideal gas law.
ANSWER: ideal gas constant (prompt on R)
<K. Li, Chemistry>

I'll leave the science writers to comment more in detail about their questions, but I'm glad you liked the subject in general!

In addition, the geography felt somewhat evocative for a set of this difficulty, as exemplified by the Seattle tossup (can I see that too?).

12. As of 2019, this city is working with Raj Chetty and other economists to encourage low-income families to move to high-opportunity neighborhoods. A mnemonic to remember the order of street pairs in this city is “Jesus Christ Made [this city] Under Protest.” This city offers the tallest public viewing area from a building west of the Mississippi at its Columbia Center. This city’s Museum of (*) Pop Culture, once known as Experience Music Project, was designed by Frank Gehry. Companies headquartered in or near this city include Microsoft and Amazon. The Space Needle is located in, for 10 points, what largest city in the state of Washington?
ANSWER: Seattle, Washington
<Suh, Geography>

I did like most of the questions in this set, but a lot of people I've talked to said it felt a little gimmicky, in that sometimes you could get power for a tossup based on just knowing what the tossup was trying to say.

This is interesting -- do you, or others, have any examples of questions that felt this way? For what it's worth, I tried my best to balance bread-and-butter answerlines with canonical content that had slightly more "out-there" answerlines or themes. Examples of the latter category of questions would be: India (Alexander the Great), ships (Japanese history), bridges (military), etc.

Also, some of the tossups had obscure indicators (e.g. "these things" for the horses tossup). I think this tripped up a lot of people into negging even though they may have had the right idea of what the answer was in our site.

2. A war fought over the “heavenly” ones of these things involved the Han Dynasty and the Dayuan [“DAH-yuen”] people who lived in Fergana Valley. Roman dictators appointed a position known as the “Master” of one of these things. A tactic known as the Parthian shot required the skillful use of these animals. One of these animals legendarily (*) feared its own shadow, but was tamed by a young prince who later named a city in its memory. These animals, used by the Winged Hussars, were critical in lifting the 1683 Siege of Vienna. One of these animals named Bucephalus was a favorite of Alexander the Great. For 10 points, name these animals often used by cavalry units.
ANSWER: horses
<Suh, World History>

This was an intentional editorial decision on my part. The lead-in is a military history clue; if I were to say "these animals," that would narrow the answer space quite a bit, especially at the high school level. I do shift to "these animals" at the Parthian shot clue, which is still in power. I guess one could make an argument for "these beings" as a compromise candidate, but I don't think that's much better personally.

This set didn't have many prose issues, but some packetization issues did happen which I felt (there were at least two separate bonus parts on ballets within 3-4 packets of each other).

There was a Swan Lake tossup in Packet 1 and a play/Ravel/ballet music bonus in Packet 2. Then there is Prokofiev tossup that mentions his ballets, followed by a El Jaleo/Matisse/ballet painting bonus in Packet 8. I think the more problematic of these two pairs is the Packet 1/2 clump. We'll adjust that. Let me know if there are any other issues with packetization.

Overall, I thought this set was pretty well executed and though it leant slightly easy, I did like that it was more accessible than previous years.

I'm glad you liked the set!

[whatamidoinghere]

In the game where we played the Horses tossup, I buzzed when they mentioned the Parthian Shot (but didn't say "these animals"), and said "cavalry." I ended up correcting myself in the game, but I feel like this should at least lead to a prompt, considering that our mod was a bit confused since Parthian Shot involves cavalry units, and "these things" seems like it could point to any sort of military unit as well as any animal.

[whatamidoinghere]

Also is it possible to see the Eco question? I felt like it was quite hard for HS Regs/Regs+ but then again I haven't really studied Eco in depth yet.

[scorrevole]

The title object of a novel by this author is the subject of a Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz poem included in its “Postscript.” This author wrote about a nobleman who imagines an evil twin brother named Ferrante in one novel. In another novel by this writer, two characters enter the secret finis Africae room, where they encounter a man that consumes the lost second volume of Aristotle’s (*) Poetics. In that novel, the blind, laughter-hating monk Jorge of Burgos sets a building on fire, and a series of deaths are investigated by Adso of Melk and William of Baskerville. For 10 points, name this Italian author of The Name of the Rose.
ANSWER: Umberto Eco [Editor’s note: The second clue refers to The Island of the Day Before.]
<Gioia/R. Li, European Literature>

[whatamidoinghere]

Though no one may have played packet 13, there were two errors I noticed in that packet's protons question. The first line states the following:

​In the presence of these species, nucleophilic ring opening of epoxides occurs at the ​more​ substituted carbon through an S​ 1 ​[“S-N-1”]​ like mechanism.

First off, I don't believe nucleophilic ring opening of epoxides occurs with proton species as it is a separate mechanism from acid catalyzed ring opening. Second, in acid catalyzed ring opening, the less substituted position is favored unless there's a tertiary substituent. Of course if I'm wrong about this, I'd like to be corrected.
EDIT: In addition to the aforementioned errors, the acid-catalyzed ring opening occurs in a SN2 fashion. In addition, because I forgot some context, if this did mean to mention nucleophilic opening of epoxides, then this tossup should at least prompt on "water molecules" since those are also used in nucleophilic openings of epoxides.

[celsius273]

Hi Avinash! You raise some really good points about the proton question, but I think the first line is factually accurate as written.

I don't believe nucleophilic ring opening of epoxides occurs with proton species as it is a separate mechanism from acid catalyzed ring opening

You are correct that I was referring to acid catalyzed epoxide opening. There is no "separate mechanism," however, because protons cannot act as nucleophiles and thus cannot directly open the epoxide. Protons catalyze the opening of epoxides, so I don't think there's anything wrong with saying "the presence of these speices."

Second, in acid catalyzed ring opening, the less substituted position is favored unless there's a tertiary substituent... the acid-catalyzed ring opening occurs in a SN2 fashion.

While you are right that the less substituted position is favored to be attacked under SN2 conditions, acid catalyzed epoxide opening actually occurs through a mechanism somewhere between SN1 and SN2. Protonating the oxygen of the epoxide results in 2 major carbocation containing tautomers, and the relative stability of the two tautomers is what determines where the nucleophile attacks. The University of Calgary has a really great explanation for this regiochemistry, and you can read more here if you'd like!

In addition, because I forgot some context, if this did mean to mention nucleophilic opening of epoxides, then this tossup should at least prompt on "water molecules" since those are also used in nucleophilic openings of epoxides.

I don't think it's acceptable to prompt on water. There is a difference between a reagent playing a role in a reaction and a reagent directing the regiochemistry of a reaction. If this reaction were run under aqueous (water present) basic conditions, then the epoxide would be opened from the less substituted carbon. This demonstrates that water is not the species which leads to the observed regiochemistry.

Edit (3/14): Incorrectly referred to tautomers of protonated epoxides as resonance strucures