Consider an unordered list of $N$ distinct integers. What is the minimum number of element comparisons required to find an integer in the list that is NOT the largest in the list?

To find an integer that is guaranteed not to be the largest in a list of $N$ distinct integers ($N \ge 2$):

1. Select any two arbitrary elements from the list, say $a$ and $b$.

2. Perform a single comparison between $a$ and $b$.

3. Whichever element is smaller cannot be the largest element in the list, because there is at least one element ($a$ or $b$) strictly greater than it.

Thus, only 1 comparison is required.

Hence, the correct option is (A).