I think 'Quatermass Experiment' was the first of them, then 'Quatermass II' and finally (the only one I saw as it was broadcast) 'Quatermass and the Pit' - Monday night on BBC. Then to school the next day to talk about it. I can also remember the 'Goon Show' take-off - 'The Scarlet Capsule'. Great days.

MK

Something weird is going on: - I played the 10-letter game this afternoon, got to 5 short of a rosette and logged off. When I went back a couple of hours later, I found I couldn't log on to 'chi.lexigame'. I was asked for my ID and password, both of which I gave, only to get a message highlighted in orange that the name and/or password was invalid.
I tried the other site (chipuzzle.com) and managed to get on to the games, but had to sign on with email and password to get into the forum.

Any suggestions? Will I have to make 'chipuzzle' my default signing-on site?

MK

ps (a couple of hours later) Still couldn't log on to 'lexigame', but logging onto 'chipuzzle' was no problem. Going from 'chipuzzle' back to 'lexigame', logging out and then logging in again to 'lexigame' seems to have cleared up the problem. Everything seems normal again, but I hate glitches.
MK

You're obviously not a betting person, Birdy. Neither am I, although I did work in a bookmaker's office once, many years ago.
If you bet on a horse rated at 'evens' and it wins, you get your money back (plus your stake money of course).
  A horse rated at 'evens' or 'even money' would be well fancied, so the odds are not particularly generous. Therefore the bookie doesn't lose much if it wins.

MK

The COD gives it without the hyphen, but also comments that it is 'chiefly N. American'. I think in UK we're more likely to say 'sunrise'.
I suppose if we write 'sundown' without a hyphen, we should be consistent.

MK

I wonder, by the way, if the alternative spelling 'lutanist' is also common?

MK

Well, now we know. 'Lutanist' (and 'lutist') are both uncommon (yesterday's 'naturalist' 10-letter game). The spell-check that comes with 'Word' doesn't know any of them. A suitable case for downgrading, perhaps?

MK

....or 212 words in 13 minutes in a recent 10-letter game. It's easy enough to work out how (partner dictating words from an online anagram solver, perhaps). The question is why?
It seems not everyone plays the game in the same way, or for the same reasons that you and I do, TRex.

MK

French is certainly the first foreign language taught in most British secondary schools, followed by German. Spanish comes quite a way down the list and is mostly taught in Catholic schools, some of which may also offer Italian.

I agree that both 'adieu' and 'adios' should have the same status, along with Italian 'ciao' - all of them should be classed as common.

MK

Not many rosettes in yesterday's 'turnstile' game; if you discount those who always get a rosette, by whatever means, (no names, no pack-drill), I suspect that very few people were familiar with this word.
I wonder, by the way, if the alternative spelling 'lutanist' is also common. The Windows Wonderful Word-check doesn't know either of them.

MK