Extracted from THS Tulip newsletter (Apr-Jun Edition 2014)
TREASURES OF THS IPOH HUNTS
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| Final briefing |
ANOTHER QUARTER and another box checked for THS events. This time, the focus was on the capital of Perak state, historically famous for its tin-mining industry.
From the turn of 20th century, great influx of Chinese immigrants, including rival clans was brought into Ipoh for the mining of its precious mineral.
Yet recently, several rival teams also thronged this old city to engage in an activity to unearth treasures; albeit those of a different nature.
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| Waiting for answers |
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| Amazed by the answers |
Twice in January and March this year, hunters diligently scoured Bandar Baru streets in search of answers to the cryptic posers, oblivious to the puzzled glance from the locals.
That the participants from the north and KL were flocking into Ipoh in such enthusiastic fashion, was a testimony of the appeal of Jayaram Menon, the COC entrusted to drain the mental juice of hunters.
Thanks to his wonderfully crafted questions in the past, one must wonder what delicacies he may serve this time. Of course, another reason for the bigger turnout was the debut of Diamond category, which drew the regulars to the scene, akin to the sharks’ reaction to the smell of blood.
And that was not the attraction that THS Ipoh hunt had to offer. The thought of chomping down yummy dim sums for breakfast at Foh Sun Restaurant, prior to the event, would appear irresistibly inviting.
As if all that were not salivating enough, the palatable chicken beansprout lunch, famous Ipoh salted chicken and white coffee must surely be a compelling factor, to make such outing a worthwhile one for the brain and tummy.
Gastronomic treasures aside, it was still the cryptic dimension that was the ultimate crowd-puller.
For the thrill-seekers in January Ipoh hunt, the pleasure was immeasurably intense, when several brilliant treasures were discovered amidst the posers.
On the face of it, the hunters were presented with vivid representation of a scenario. But again this was COC Jayaram at his wiliest, when nothing was what it appeared to be, when innocent words carried hidden meanings.
Such was the smoothness of the surface reading that one inevitably needed to snap out of the literal innuendo and adopt a lateral approach.
THS hunters sensed it and when such questions were asked, they knew something ‘sinister’ brewing beneath the surface.
Of the 20 questions in January Ipoh hunt, a few were particularly well designed to momentarily stun the hunters. Take this one for example.
Q5 Groom starting to penetrate spouse, almost came prematurely.
For non-cryptic minds, the natural inkling was to have a wild imagination of the wedding night scene; which would run into a cul-de-sac.
The challenge, especially for the novices would be to drill beneath the literal meaning and explore the cryptic perspective. Then the solution would come to the fore.
Another breath-taking gem that caught the attention in January was this poser.
Q6 “Les Miserables” – finally premiering on the screen!
Surely many would recall how the famous musical performance was made into a movie in 2012. Again the surface reading would lead to nowhere if one were to venture down this path of interpretation.
Then the trick on how to make sense of such question was to examine each word; and of course, ‘finally premiering’ looked naturally suspicious.
Then and only then, it would dawn on the solvers to check out alternative words for ‘Les Miserables’ and arrive at the answers below!
How about this unsolved question from THS Ipoh hunt in March?
Q12 This lasted about 300 years when king occupied it.
Ecstatically elegant! Yet all regular teams were completely caught off-guard and subsequently embarrassed by its simplicity.
Perhaps the fans of TV series about Ragnar Lothbrok would rejoice at this question.
Of course, one should not forget the treasure questions from THS Ipoh hunts. A particular one merely required hunters to display an item at the end:-
No need to buy this item
Just show it to me at the end,
Though a single word describes the treasure,
Hog is the cryptic outcome – for sure.
Indeed one would naturally ask what the hunters would readily have in hand to show, without having to purchase at all.
For THS Ipoh hunters, these posers doubtlessly taught them the valuable skill of peeling off the outer layer of surface reading and analyzing the inner context of the question.
The cryptic lessons gleaned from the experience were both enriching and precious. It was unfortunate that not many hunters got to experience such marvel first-hand.
And as the crowd no doubt begrudgingly agreed a few forehead-slapping moments later, these were indeed precious treasures unearthed in Ipoh!!!
Winners
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| Gold - 2nd Runner Up |
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| Gold - 1st Runner Up |
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| Gold - Champion |
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| Diamond - 2nd Runner Up |
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| Diamond - 1st Runner Up |
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| Diamond - Champion |
Some Q&A
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| Q1 Purse reportedly had about a hundred pinched! |
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| Q7 ... race I enter, savvy? |
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| Q8 Half of the morning crew with nowhere to turn. |
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| Q9 Partner to Cagney after a reshuffle. |
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