Lexigame Community
General Category => Word Games => Topic started by: Gaye Christine on March 28, 2012, 11:56:33 PM
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I am curious as to how you all approach the puzzles. Do you pick a letter and find all words beginning with it, then move on to another letter, etc, or do you just randomly enter words as you see them? Also, do you make a concerted effort to find the main word (by working on the various common suffixes and prefixes) or just wait until it jumps out at you?
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For me, the answer is "yes." I try all the methods, and then resort to using the button to scramble all the letters and see if anything else pops up. I also find out that if I've got stuck, I go away for a while and then come back, and frequently find quite a few more.
But you'll notice I'm never at the top of the list!
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Scramble? Is that the "shuffle" button bottom left? I've been meaning to ask what that is!! So I won't lose the words I have if I press that?
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Sometimes I begin by entering words as I think of them, but occasionally I'll try to find words beginning with a particular letter. However, the latter method tends to quickly transition into the former, especially if I have a word that is an exact anagram of other words. Some of my favourites:
- emit / item / mite / time
- diet / edit / tide / tied
- saint / satin / stain
- alert / alter / later
- trail / trial
- amen / mane / mean / name
I'd rather get the exact anagrams entered than risk thinking I've entered them without doing so. (I'm curious if others mentally connect anagrams as I do and if they have favourite anagrams besides the ones I've listed?)
I look for constructing words using common prefixes and suffixes, -ing may be the most common in Chi. I don't use the mouse. I type the letters (I have to make sure I have the right keyboard selected!) and press the Enter key to submit a word. I use the zero on the 10-key pad (the other zero will also work) to shuffle the letters. (The left-pointing arrow between the 10-key pad and the main keyboard clears letters.) I don't find it common to have the letters arrange themselves into a word, but often the arrangement will be close enough to a word to make me think of it. I find the shuffle an invaluable tool and use it with every puzzle.
If I'm really struggling with a puzzle, I will systematically arrange three letters and examine them for possible words. For example, in the puzzle which will close in about an hour as I write this:
- dee-
- dei-
- dem-
- den-
- deo-
- des-
- det-
- ede-
- edi-
- edm-
- edn-
- edo-
- eds-
- ets-
etc.
Of course, some combinations can be quickly ignored (e.g. 'tdn'). I generally limit it to the first three letters simply because more would be too tedious and time-consuming for me. (I spend too much time on Chi as it is.)
Like Birdy, I often find it helpful to take breaks from a puzzle and come back to it. It is amazing what a fresh look can do.
Scramble? Is that the "shuffle" button bottom left? I've been meaning to ask what that is!! So I won't lose the words I have if I press that?
If you have a word ready to be submitted and press the zero instead of the Enter key, it will shuffle your letters rather than submit the word. I've done that more than a few times. I mentally kick myself, hit the left-pointing arrow to clear the letters, retype the word, and press the Enter key. I've also accidentally hit the Enter key when I meant to press the zero and received a message about the word not being known (and taken a hit on my percentage)!
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So interesting. I approach somewhat like you, TRex, with the anagrams. I had not picked up on alert/alter/later so thank you!! My favourite is goer / ergo / gore / ogre. I shall try the shuffle which Birdy and you have suggested. I try to do one letter at a time in an attempt to not miss the obvious ones (as you say, one thinks one has played a word but, alas, no) but I get distracted and off at a tangent :-C
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My favourite combinations of anagrams (other than a couple you mentioned, TRex, although I include dite with your second bunch) are:
liar / lair / rail / aril / lira
cater / crate / react / trace / caret
siren / resin / rinse / serin / risen
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I remembered siren / resin / rinse / risen and was going to add it (without serin), but Pat beat me to it. :)
Even though I've given up trying to get all the common words and only the common words, I still (sometimes) omit words I think of which I know are not common. But if I have any doubt about a word's classification, I'll play it.
Now, if this thread can produce a lot of useful anagram combinations -- and I can memorise them -- I might be a bit closer to a few more rosettes!
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I start with the first word that pops into my head, then look for anagrams and rhymes. Then I head for the shuffle button. As for the main word, I may or may not think of it right away. It is sometimes the last word I get.
The problem I have with the Shuffle button is that occasionally I hit Enter instead of Clear once I do think of another word, making my hit rate go down =:o
In addition to the other anagrams mentioned, I like point / pinto / pinot / piton.
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Another anagram set is 'enlist / listen / tinsel. They were the only three words I missed in the 'solemnity' game last week! :(
inert / inter / nitre / niter / trine is another set that comes up frequently, but unfortunately only two of them are common.
MK
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My methods are similar to those already mentioned, although by the end I'm down to random guessing. I try not to let my hit rate drop below 70% on the 9 and 10 letter puzzles, and try to keep it at 100% on the Challenge puzzle. I always check the solutions afterwards, including the rare words. Some of them stick in my mind (like 'eringo' which I'd never heard before, but which I now see regularly. I've yet to use it in a sentence in real life, however) I also have imaginary rivals - players at a similar level to me who I try to beat. I think it would be tactically remiss of me to mention who they are, but they include some regular contributors to the forum!
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I also have imaginary rivals - players at a similar level to me who I try to beat. I think it would be tactically remiss of me to mention who they are, but they include some regular contributors to the forum!
Ha! Me too!
But mostly, I expect to get at least 90% of the common words and am put out at myself when I don't.
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I would actually find it very interesting to be able to see how many common words other players have still to find. I am sure we all share the frustration of having maybe one or two words left (on a good day ;D). Would it add inspiration (and enhance Morbius' competitive streak - which I admit to sharing) to know where others are in the puzzle, not just how many words they have in total?
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You can already do that, Gaye Christine - just click on the button that says 'Rare' at the top of the scoreboard.
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Morbius beat me to it - looking at the 'rare words only' scoreboard for yesterday's 10-letter game, for example, as it stands at the moment I can see that I am on 85, the same as pat, two behind Rogue Mother who is on 87. Gaye Christine is on 81.
MK
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I meant of course the 'rare words not included' score-board! The one with an x next to the word 'rare'
mea culpa
MK
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Well colour me stupido :laugh: Thanks guys :-* (reminder to self: try to be a little more observant ...
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nadir/ranid/drain/dinar
ocean/canoe
are two of my fave anagrams. I usually sit for a while and try to get the 10 letter word first and then plough on through the letters starting with the vowels first - much prefer the puzzles containing some 'good' consonants like b, c, p and d especally if there's an l or an r in there as well. What a nerd!! >:D
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Fellow nerd here, Linda - I love it when we have a "w" ;D
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Yep, 'w' is a good 'un ... not keen on 're' words - too many combinations to guess at and to get wrong! >:D
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Best of all, and perhaps the most difficult, are those puzzles where the combination of letters allows for a couple of juicy, unrelated 7- or 8- letter words as well as the niner or tenner.
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This cute video is doing the rounds at present, although I guess some of you who like messing with letters probably have come across it before:
"What nine letter word in the English language is still a word when
eight letters are removed one by one?"
S T A R T L I N G
Remove the L
remove the second T
remove the A
remove the R
remove the T
remove the G
remove the S
remove the N
'tis I, ADA
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I usually just type in words at random. But aside from using anagrams, I also use homophones.
main/mane
merry/marry
bear/bare
soar/sore
meat/meet/mete
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Interesting that you consider merry/marry to be homophones, anonsi. Here in the UK they're pronounced completely differently.
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It depends where you are in the States, Pat. I can distinguish between "merry," "marry," and "Mary." To my sister-in-law from Ohio, they all sound and are pronounced the same.