It would be a silly trick question if the author intended it to trick us.

The "explanation" suggests that the question author fell for the trap himself. He (or she?) simply didn't realize that string comparison would be used, then went on to think up a different explanation - one that obviously contradicts BOL. :laugh:

It would have been a nice (not silly!) and great trick question if the explanation had read: "SQL Server will use string comparison, d'oh!"