20 Questions Game 409

[Pepijn]

Did the author ever publish in the The Strand Magazine?

By my counting this is question number 18.

Pass.

Back to 17 then...

[Aristocrat]

First introduced after 1920?

[Hominidae]

First introduced after 1920?

No.

[Hominidae]

I'll give you all a hint, which is that I already provided a hint on the first page, which no one has commented on.

[Nemo215]

First introduced in a book, novel, magazine, periodical, newspaper, or other similar format meant to be read by its audience?

No.

Actually I'll change this to a yes.

Is the hint this change of answers?

[CharlesDeCouilles]

No.

Actually I'll change this to a yes.

Is the hint this change of answers?

I thought so, that's why I went comic book or graphic novel...my assumption being that they're not always considered books but that Hominidae thought that a "no" answer might be misleading, or even that changing the answer might hint toward the correct medium.

I've not been able to come up with anything else, though, especially with follow-ups regarding other written media.

[Hominidae]

That is not the hint I was referring to.

[Hominidae]

Probably going to be a slow day on here for those of us in the US, but one more hint about the hint: it is easier to see on desktop than on mobile.

[Spartaculous]

Probably going to be a slow day on here for those of us in the US, but one more hint about the hint: it is easier to see on desktop than on mobile.

The QM gave this a +1:

Fictitious human.

And then proceeded to "pass" it.

[JECE]

Yeah, something seemed off with those early passes. I considered the possibility that we were looking for a fictional human clone, but that possibility would seem to be eliminated by now.

[Aristocrat]

I’d guess the best next question is just dividing the introduction range in half again. 20 years is pretty broad to cover, but 10 is more manageable (and 5 very manageable, if Q19 and Q20 are both spent on it).

Given the plethora of passes it should be easy enough to figure out what the character is once someone stumbles on it.

[Pepijn]

I’d guess the best next question is just dividing the introduction range in half again. 20 years is pretty broad to cover, but 10 is more manageable (and 5 very manageable, if Q19 and Q20 are both spent on it).

Given the plethora of passes it should be easy enough to figure out what the character is once someone stumbles on it.

Yeah, I am still stumped. I think this would be question number 19 though, number 18 was:

First introduced after 1920?

And that is counting on the QM being lenient and not counting all the questions about rephrasing and the hint

We should use our free guesses wisely.

Anyway, I'm very intrigued who the character might be.

[Nemo215]

We should definitely use our free guesses wisely. And perhaps Aristocrat's idea is even more manageable, since as you pointed out the range is 1901-1920.

I think when we finally discover who the character is, it will either feel obvious in retrospect, or Hominidae will have chosen someone/something very niche.

[Hominidae]

You are correct about what the hint is.

So, why did I +1 that question?

[SaintSimmer]

No question. No free guess. I just wanted to opine that it would have been cool if the answer to Game 409 was Mike Love.

[Spartaculous]

One possibility is that the QM was attempting to draw attention to the identity of the question *asker*.

[Pepijn]

Or that the entity is not an individual, but a pair or a multitude.

[Spartaculous]

Or that the entity is not an individual, but a pair or a multitude.

Right; that kind of gimmickry has happened before (see round 332).

Something that I don't have the time to do right now, but could be worthwhile: look at every single question that was asked to the QM this round and see if there are any subtleties in the way that certain questions are phrased that cause them to be passed.

[JECE]

One possibility is that the QM was attempting to draw attention to the identity of the question *asker*.

damo666 . . .

Hmm, maybe some demon or a Jack the Ripper type

[Hominidae]

What other notable things are there about that question, that no one has mentioned yet?