> in order to have household appeal

Difficult questions are fun, there's a reason the UK show "Only Connect" does well. Yeah, I'm not going to know what's going on when the question relies on knowing the difference between Finnegans Wake and Finnegan's Wake, but when you list decreasingly obscure eliminated Google products I know what's going on by clue three even if many contestants only even recognize the fourth clue.

Among HN readers I'm guessing "Control" and "Shift" already set people on the correct path before they see "Alt" or "Option" but a lot of word focused people doing such a quiz will be studying the words - counting vowels, thinking about meanings in other languages before they realise it's about keyboards.

Jeopardy already puts a small spin on things with the reverse format, they could work on that harder to deliver a more challenging quiz that's still getting the audience.

I really like NAQT's (National Academic Quiz Tournaments ) take on questions, where it goes from more obscure to less obscure the further you get into the text. For example:

Though he suffered from Bright’s disease, he allowed himself to be considered for his party’s nomination, but he lost to James G. (*) Blaine. Once known as a Stalwart, he declared his independence by signing the popular Pendleton Act. For ten points—name this New York politician who acceded to the presidency upon the 1881 assassination of James Garfield.

The asterisk indicates bonus points if a player correctly answers the question before the host finishes reading past that mark.

But this kind of format where you can "buzz in early" would be a pretty drastic departure for the show.