Golfer:
R’ Meir was the smartest as per Eruvin 13a:
?”? ??? ?? ????? ???? ????? ???? ?? ???? ???? ????? ???? ????? ?? ??? ???? ????? ????? ?? ?? ???? ???? ????? ??? ???? ?????? ????? ?? ??? ???? ???? ???? ?? ??? ???? ????? ?? ???? ?? ???? ??? ????? ?? ???? ??? ?? ?”? ??? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ???? ??? ?”? ???? ???? ???? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ??? ????? ??? ????? ?? ??? ????? ?? ??? ??? ???? ???? ??? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ?????
If we assume that R’ Meir was R’ Elazar Ben Arach, his unique brilliance is further described in Avos 2:8:
??? ???? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ???? ?????? ?? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ????? ??? ???? ????? ?? ????
Though apashutayid’s list included Rav Yehuda. He would seem to be referring to ?? ????? not ??? ?????; however, he wrote Rav Meir for ??? ???? thus leaving open the possibility that he was not being so exacting in his lashon, in which case he might have actually meant ??? ?????.
if that is the case then perhaps one could argue that R’ Yehuda himself would not agree that R’ Meir was the most brilliant – he might refer to R’ Meir’s brilliance as argumentativeness as per Kiddushin 52b:
??? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ?’ ???? ??? ??? ??? ????? ???????? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ???? ???? ???????? ?? ??? ????? ???? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ?????? ?? ????