Sorry to drudge this one up again, but while parusing
www.triv.net, I came across a question at level 15 that I thought was really impressive. It reads as follows:
Which of the following countries is the largest in area?
A: Argentina
B: Sudan
C: Saudi Arabia
D: Kazakhstan
There are a number of reasons I thought this was a good one. First off, all four of these are well-known countries, even Kazakhstan with the influx of the new "Borat" movie.
I would think that most people's minds would instantly veer towards B and C, seeing as Sudan is the largest country in Africa and Saudi Arabia is virtually right next door to Sudan, and similar in size. In truth, these are the smallest of the four.
Kazakhstan seems like a really good fakeout answer, as one might automatically dismiss it as being the smallest of the four just because it's a former Soviet republic. In actuality, it's one of the largest of the former Soviet republics, and the second biggest of the four choices.
The answer, Argentina, is a mere 26,000 sq. mi. bigger than Kazakhstan. That could potentially be a problem, but the way I see it, this question requires a lot of reasoning and some knowledge. That alone makes it a good question. Plus I know Chris will like this: questions of this variety ("Which is the extreme of the four?") are very hard to google.