New additions ... progress report?

[Calilasseia]

I recall that Alan W mentioned in the past, that the outstanding list of new word suggestions waiting to be added is still pretty expansive, and that dealing with it is likely to take time, courtesy of other site maintenance issues. I was wondering if the list has shrunk recently?

In the meantime, is it possible for someone to provide assistance on this? The idea being that Alan hands some of the workload over to a suitably chosen second in command, so to speak, and thus relieves him of having to deal with anything other than the seriously controversial suggestions, thus freeing up time for his other maintenance duties, and shrinking the outstanding additions list into the bargain.

Whoever is chosen wouldn't necessarily have to abstain from playing, merely deal with entries in the list that were, say, more than 2 weeks old, so that there is no possibility of, ahem, misbehaviour.

[Alan W]

Well, as far as progress is concerned, in 2015 there were 87 suggestions made and 67 answered, so the progress is slightly negative.

(That doesn't mean that 67 of the 2015 suggestions were answered - many of the suggestions dealt with were from previous years.)

But honestly I'm not that bothered about it, and I don't know if anyone else is either.

[nineoaks]

Dear Alan,

Not bothered.

9O

[yelnats]

I suggested hangi and (esp. as a vegetarian) am not very concerned as to when it is added. I am just pleased to have chihuahua and esp. chinchilla, both with so many bells and whistles, and ad free. THANK YOU ALAN!

And Alan, I went looking for a "target" puzzle in Spanish, and got a malware site. Are you interested in converting Chihuahua to Spanish?

And I'm waiting for a game when I can use ONAGER! The Age hasn't had one in all the years I have been doing them.

[mkenuk]

I'm waiting for a game when I can use ONAGER! The Age hasn't had one in all the years I have been doing them.

I may be wrong, but I seem to remember generator being the big word in a game quite recently.

MK

[Alan W]

Yelnats, I have added hangi as a playable word a couple of weeks ago. Of late, I've been tending to answer recent requests, and leave the older ones in the backlog for another day. Also, I try to respond promptly to a new forumite's first request. (To lead them on, you know.)

Creating a Spanish version would depend on having a suitable list of Spanish words - or, in fact, two lists, assuming the aim is to replicate the common/rare distinction. Some of the English language word game apps have very puzzling inclusions and exclusions, and I surmise the developers are not native English speakers. This highlights the perils of building a word game in a language you're not fluent in. And I can assure you that I'm far from fluent in any language other than English.

As for onager, it's not a word I've come across before, but it is in our word list, along with its variant plural onagri. For those who don't know, it's either a type of ass or a military catapult. MK is right in recalling a GENERATOR puzzle not long ago, but the mandatory letter was T, so onager would not have been playable. But there have been other Chi puzzles where the word could have been played. (I can't answer for The Age. I read it and usually look at the Target puzzle, but of course I haven't been on the look-out for those letters.) The most recent nine-letter Chi puzzle was BOOMERANG last march, with G as the middle letter. In the nature of things, BOOMERANG will come back if you wait long enough. And there have been other niners and tenners, so keep your eyes peeled, yelnats.

[birdy]

I vaguely think the first time I came across the word onager was as a child, while reading The Swiss Family Robinson.  But very recently I think I came across an article talking about dna scientists trying to recreate the critter.

[anona]

Reading the first sentence of your post, I thought I must have accidentally submitted mine instead of deleting it!  I too first met the onager in The SFR, as a child, and remembered it because of what seemed the terrifying manner of its death.

On a quick search, I came across mention of using quagga DNA, but not the onager's. Do please give a link if you remember where you read it.

[birdy]

My mistake!  I think I conflated the quagga (extinct but possibly coming back) with the onager (apparently still alive and well, though "near threatened," in Asia).  The onager has never been domesticated, according to Wiki.  Mr. Robinson was apparently a real first!

Here's the onager info:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onager

[mkenuk]

I'm waiting for a game when I can use ONAGER! The Age hasn't had one in all the years I have been doing them.

Anyway, yelnats, you finally got a game where you could play onager - yesterday's orphanage Challenge.

Everything comes to him who waits...........

MK

[yelnats]

Alan, THANK YOU for the onager in ORPHANAGE. It started off my 70th birthday very well. Bur I did miss paean - 1 off the rosette.

I hadn't realised onager was also an anagram of orange. And I first read of onager as the asian ass,  many years ago.

[anona]

birdy: thank you for the link. I thought this picture was great, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IndianWildAss.jpg although ornithophobiacs might prefer to see no passengers.

[bobbi]

Same! I also missed paean.

[Alan W]

Happy birthday yelnats!

How I managed to get those letters to appear on your birthday is a secret I'd prefer not to divulge.

[pat]

birdy: thank you for the link. I thought this picture was great, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IndianWildAss.jpg although ornithophobiacs might prefer to see no passengers.

How's this, anona?