Abstract In 1993 Hong asked what are the best bounds on the k\u27th largest eigenvalue λk(G) of a graph G of order n. This challenging question has never been tackled for any 22, and even tighter bounds are obtained for the k\u27th largest singular value λ∗k(G). Some of these bounds are based on Taylor\u27s strongly regular graphs, and others on a method of Kharaghani for constructing Hadamard matrices. The same kind of constructions are applied to other open problems, like Nordhaus-Gaddum problems of the kind: How large can λkappa;(G)+ λk(G¯) be? These constructions are successful also in another open question: How large can the Ky Fan norm λ∗1(G) +···+ λ∗k (G) be? Ky Fan norms of graphs generalize the concept of graph energy, so this ques...