Not to pick on anyone here, but people should be
careful when they write ambiguous tossups like this
Washington Square question. Writers need to keep in mind
that these questions are heard, not read, by the
competitors. Moderators may skip a crucial, early word, or
competitors may not "pick up" on a tossup until a word or two
in. When things like that happen, you are left with
blatant hose-bait.
I submit that it is the
writer/editor's duty to minimize possible instances of this
happening. The Washington Square tossup is easily
fixable:
"The heroine of this novel rejects both John Ludlow
and Mr. Macalister later in life. As a young girl,
the heroine often visited one of her aunts, Mrs.
Almond, and was raised by another, Mrs. Penniman
..."
Granted, it is an addition of five syllables (others could
be removed with no major loss), but it does ensure
that the first pronoun that does not rename the answer
appears well into the second sentence. At that point, it
should be clear that the question is looking for the
work, not the character.
It's something to keep
in mind when writing possibly confusing
character/work or creator/creation tossups.
-- eps