I think you're holding a (suitably) high bar and I'm still wildly impressed it got as close to it as it did. To me these seem extremely "synthesis-heavy" as opp

I think you're holding a (suitably) high bar and I'm still wildly impressed it got as close to it as it did. To me these seem extremely "synthesis-heavy" as opposed to merely fact-finding, which is what I would have seen as the more obvious/achievable task? I do wonder if some of the first question is just that the answer an expert should give you is similarly equivocal (granted being more explicit about the equivocality) and we've just gotten too enamored with the idea of clear answers even when they don't actually exist.