You may recognize Louisa May Alcott's "famous" comment about Thoreau's terrible beard. You might guess the Pulitzer Prize winner goes with the driver character question and dig in there. Or just the title may suggest what is going on.
Eventually you should figure out that these are hoaxes. Specifically Wikipedia-originated hoaxes that escaped out into the rest of the world. The Wikipedia hoax list page has most of them.
You will find that the "facts" asked about were "true" for some of the dates and times given, and not for others. If you sum those dates and times for each answer you should get a positive number. Indexing by that number into the "answer" gives a letter.
(The seconds values of the time stamps do not affect the indexing, but do spell out a helpful message by mapping 1-26 to A-Z: PEOPLE USE LAST NAMES)
Category | Question | Subject | Answer | Start Date | End Date | Sum of Deltas | Letter |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A rock guitarist | dated the future First Lady of what country? | Eric Clapton | FRANCE | 2011-May-7 17:06 | 2013-Dec-19 05:30 | 3 | A |
A comedian known for characters | worked briefly at a financial firm commonly known by what two word name? | Sacha Baron Cohen | GOLDMAN SACHS | 2006-Nov-14 02:51 | 2008-Apr-19 16:01 | 8 | S |
A drink inventor | corresponded with what scientist? | Julian Freed | SCHRODINGER | 2005-Jun-25 04:13 | 2010-Mar-11 21:15 | 1 | S |
A regional conflict | began in what village? | Bicholim Conflict | IBRAMPUR | 2007-Jul-7 04:42 | 2012-Dec-28 16:26 | 7 | U |
A maid | previously worked in what African country? | Amelia Bedelia | CAMEROON | 2009-Jan-31 21:06 | 2014-Jul-29 13:05 | 3 | M |
An oyster fisherman | moved to what profession due to poverty? | Edward Owens | PIRACY | 2008-Nov-18 01:29 | 2008-Dec-18 21:49 | 1 | P |
A god | is associated with what country? | Jar'Edo Wens | AUSTRALIA | 2005-May-29 13:42 | 2014-Nov-27 22:02 | 4 | T |
A model for a famous image | was photographed treading on a book by what author? | Rosie the Riveter model Shrley Karp Dick | HITLER | 2009-Feb-14 21:51 | 2012-Jan-24 20:58 | 2 | I |
A basketball player | was involved in a cheating scandal where? | Joe Streater | BOSTON COLLEGE | 2008-Aug-12 15:04 | 2014-Oct-9 16:56 | 5 | O |
A first amendment journalist | was involved in the assassination of what US President? | John Seigenthaler, Sr. | KENNEDY | 2005-May-26 14:29 | 2005-Oct-1 (approximately) | 3 | N |
An author and naturalist | had facial hair famously described by what person? | Henry David Thoreau | ALCOTT | 2007-Dec-17 (approximately) | 2014-Mar-18 (approximately) | 3 | C |
A Pulitzer Prize winner and WWII veteran | based a driver character on what person? | Bill Mauldin | RICHTEL | 2008-Mar-9 10:10 | 2015-Oct-16 01:54 | 7 | L |
A French composer | expected to hear what music on their deathbed? | Maurice Jarre | WALTZ | 2009-Mar-30 02:29 (and other times that shouldn't overlap this puzzle's dates) | 2009-Mar-30 11:51 | 2 | A |
A fruit | is known by what offensive nickname? | Kiwi Fruit | HAIRY BUSH FRUIT | 2007-Oct-6 11:59 | 2014-Mar-2 18:15 | 7 | U |
A boxer | had what species of flower named after them? | Muhammad Ali | ROSA ALI | 2006-Nov-9 16:16 | 2015-Mar-28 07:44 | 3 | S |
A federal judge | used the results of what hobby to decorate their workplace? | Roger Vinson | TAXIDERMY | 2010-Sep-13 04:03 | 2010-Sep-14 19:21 | 6 | E |
Those letters give us the answer, in order by the left side clues for the categories: ASSUMPTION CLAUSE