Puzzle Notes

Dear Friends:

We'd like to talk about a trivia concept for a minute. Some of you may know about it already, but some of you may not. Its common acronym is YEKIOYD, which stands for You Either Know It Or You Don't, and it refers to a particular type of trivia question.

"What is the capital of Maine?" is a YEKIOYD question. There is nothing else in the question that can point you in the right direction or offer any sort of clue. Compare that with this version: "What capital city of Maine shares its name with a city that some might consider the golf capital of the world?" There's something else in the question that can help you figure out the capital of Maine.

YEKIOYD questions aren't inherently bad, but at AVCX we usually favor questions that offer more than one entry point. (Maybe we should talk about common entry points in a future email?) For one, we think they're more enjoyable to encounter as a solver. For two, it's a way to soften the difficulty on a question. For three, it can add an element of learning to a question. Let's say you do know the capital of Maine. In the YEKIOYD version, all that happens is you confirm your knowledge. In the other version, perhaps you also learn something about new about golf!

And that's all you need to know, but we should at least mention that the capital of Maine is Augusta in case you didn't know by now.

AQCAG

Our All Questions Correct Answer Getter from our Feb. 22 puzzle is Jake Kesselman. Stellar work, Jake!

Trivia Puzzle #5

Today's puzzle is by Karen Lurie. Karen is a comedy and game show writer whose crossword puzzles have appeared in the New York Times, LA Times, Inkubator, Universal, Defector, and the AVCX Classic, where she is also an editor. This is her AVCX Trivia debut.

At 6 questions, this one is small but feisty. We think it's best to bring your thinking cap along.

Until next time,

T.J., Karen & The AVCX Underground

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