“The Swimmer” - 2025 ACF Regionals

Question

In this story, which begins in midsummer, the title character is disturbed to see Andromeda and Cassiopeia in the sky and smell “some stubborn autumnal fragrance on the night air.” For 10 points each:

[10m] Name this short story that ends as the protagonist cries upon discovering his house empty and his wife Lucinda gone.

ANSWER: “The Swimmer”

[10e] John Cheever’s story “The Swimmer” first appeared in this magazine, which also published Shirley Jackson’s story “The Lottery.”

ANSWER: The New Yorker

[10h] The protagonist of Cheever’s story “The Country Husband” notes there is “not a trace of autumn” in his lust for a woman with this job. The title character either drowns or peacefully falls asleep in a self-contradictory 1982 story titled for this job.

ANSWER: babysitter (The other story is “The Babysitter” by Robert Coover.)

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Summary


California	2025-02-01	Y	3	13.33	67%	67%	0%
Florida	2025-02-01	Y	1	0.00	0%	0%	0%
Lower Mid-Atlantic	2025-02-01	Y	3	20.00	100%	67%	33%
Midwest	2025-02-01	Y	6	13.33	67%	50%	17%
North	2025-02-01	Y	2	10.00	50%	0%	50%
Northeast	2025-02-01	Y	4	12.50	100%	25%	0%
Pacific Northwest	2025-02-01	Y	2	5.00	50%	0%	0%
South Central	2025-02-01	Y	2	10.00	50%	50%	0%
Southeast	2025-02-01	Y	4	12.50	75%	50%	0%
UK	2025-02-01	Y	8	8.75	63%	25%	0%
Upper Mid-Atlantic	2025-02-01	Y	6	11.67	83%	17%	17%
Upstate NY	2025-02-01	Y	1	0.00	0%	0%	0%

Data


Claremont A	UC Berkeley B	10	10	0	20
UCLA	Claremont B	0	0	0	0
UC Berkeley A	UCSD	10	10	0	20
UCF C	Florida A	0	0	0	0
Virginia Tech A	Liberty A	10	10	10	30
William & Mary	Liberty B	0	10	0	10
Virginia A	Liberty C	10	10	0	20
Chicago B	Chicago C	10	10	0	20
Chicago D	Missouri	0	10	0	10
Illinois C	Indiana B	0	0	0	0
Indiana A	Illinois B	10	10	0	20
Illinois A	Missoui S&T	10	0	10	20
WashU B	Chicago A	0	10	0	10
Iowa State	Carleton	0	0	10	10
Winona State	Minnesota B	0	10	0	10
Tufts A	Brandeis A	0	10	0	10
Dartmouth A	Harvard A	0	10	0	10
MIT A	Harvard B	10	10	0	20
Brown A	UMass Boston	0	10	0	10
Alberta	UBC	0	0	0	0
UW A	UW B	0	10	0	10
TAMU	ASU	0	0	0	0
Texas A	Texas B	10	10	0	20
Louisville A	Georgia Tech B	0	10	0	10
Georgia Tech C	Georgia Tech D	10	10	0	20
Georgia Tech A	Vanderbilt A	0	0	0	0
Bruin A	Tennessee A	10	10	0	20
Bristol	Oxford C	0	10	0	10
Oxford A	Cambridge B	10	10	0	20
Cambridge C	Manchester	0	0	0	0
LSE	Cambridge D	0	10	0	10
Imperial A	Cambridge E	0	0	0	0
Warwick A	Durham	10	0	0	10
Southampton A	Sheffield	0	10	0	10
Columbia B	Maryland A	0	0	0	0
Cornell B	Haverford A	10	10	10	30
Maryland B	George Washington B	0	10	0	10
John Jay College	Haverford B	0	10	0	10
Penn A	Penn B	0	10	0	10
Rutgers A	Yale A	0	10	0	10
RIT A	Cornell D	0	0	0	0
NYU C	Cambridge A	0	10	0	10