Short tossups

• From: schnelmd
• Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2001 18:10:45 -0700
• Message-ID: <000TRI50L.000NA9V2P.12170551-quizbowl_at_...>

"because if the pre-giveaway clues are so obscure
that, say, 0-10% of people can answer it in the
pre-giveaway range, then excessive cost (length of question
leading to a speed check anyway) outweighs benefit (clues
allowing that up to 10% to answer the question ahead of
the speed check)."

Um, isn't the cost of NOT
having the extra clues NOT being able to separate out
that elite 10%? If time is REALLY a concern, then the
authors/editors of timed packets can take out those god-awful
long "wanna-be-funny" or "look what I know" leadins
that find their way into every packet and replace them
with: 

FTP each, name these books: 

or
the equivalent. Don't take the extra words out of the
only place they are useful - tossups.

For
untimed packets, of course, packet writers/editors can
trim according to their stylistic preferences without
having to worry about it.

About "coin-flip"
clues: if you're going to use them, they should be
positioned, at the earliest, as the second-to-last clue in a
tossup. That is, they should end the question (since,
combined with the earlier clues, they narrow it down to
only two answers for even the minimally informed
player) or be the second-to-last clue (followed by the
other potential answer, making it even more completely
a "giveaway" clue). End of story.

Damn, I'm
posting a lot...

Matt Schneller