***** NOT A TEACHER *****
Good morning, notletrest:
My very good dictionary tells me that "to field" means to "deal with."
A good example is a presidential news conference (where the president of the United States stands up in front of dozens of
reporters and fields their many and varied questions). He has to answer the questions quickly and correctly. He has to "think on his
feet" (no time to slowly think about a good answer). Some leaders of some countries never field questions in that way. In some
countries, the president answers questions that have been written and given to him before the news conference. Thus, he has had time
to prepare the answers (that is, his assistants have done the hard work!). You have seen politicians, movie stars, etc.
fielding questions from yelling reporters while photographers take pictures. So you can imagine how vos Savant must feel when the
average Joe (ordinary people like me) asks him questions. He has to know how to answer them in an understandable manner that
even a stupid person like me can understand. Some people are famous for their ability to field questions without becoming angry or
confused. President Kennedy, for example, loved fielding questions of all kinds, and he always used humor in doing so.
*****
I do not have the confidence to answer your question about "it."
HAVE A NICE DAY!
Edit: Many thanks to Mr. Smith for suggesting that I correct a sentence fragment in my original post.