Ha, I'm up front: "this is a synthetic question, which has the purpose of x,y,z". Synthetic questions don't rely on specific tools, or specific problem framings

Ha, I'm up front: "this is a synthetic question, which has the purpose of x,y,z". Synthetic questions don't rely on specific tools, or specific problem framings, it can be thought of in isolation. E.g., I usually put a database question on interviews, for the purpose of seeing what and how much the candidate knows about databases. I also like doing a design question regarding handling larger data and doing back of the envelope complexity analyses of the solutions they come up with. I.e., what I expect a colleague to be able to do when we're working at our desks.