Author Topic: Today's Puzzles (January 10th 2018)  (Read 4734 times)

Les303

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Re: Today's Puzzles (January 10th 2018)
« Reply #15 on: January 14, 2018, 03:19:45 PM »
I didn't notice any exclusion for Les303, so here are my thoughts ;

I was really keen to ask 3 different questions after I saw the solution to this particularly challenging & most enjoyable, albeit, frustrating puzzle.

#1... I was another of the players that could not find spelunker however when I viewed the solution & checked the definition, the word was immediately familiar to me but I had no idea why.
My only thought was that I may have been recalling it from a previous game, you've already answered that question, so thanks for that, Alan.
I would be backing myself to find this word if it ever comes up again so, its classification, for me at least, is no longer really relevant. (having said that & even though the word is now familiar to me & by now to many more players who read the forum, I feel that the word should never have been on the common list but then we can jump on the merry go round argument, is it now familiar enough to chi players to remain common?)
I am certain that it would have been a known word for yelnats ( forever running around caves, playing with his little bats) I just wonder how many of the other 244 found it purely because of its previous appearances in chi games?

#2 ... Peke (short for Peking dog ) was the other common word that I failed to find & I would like to challenge its classification.

#3 ... I probably should have stopped at #2 although you may get a laugh out of this.
Please keep in mind that I had spent an extraordinary amount of time on this game trying to find the last couple of common words & in particular the nine letter word.
In this situation the beer goggles are firmly in place by now so as I run out options i start thinking about giving up before one last effort which involves a lot of shuffling & guessing & the submitting of any combination of letters that seem remotely like an actual word.
This was how I managed to find persue.
How on earth had I managed to miss such a simple word, hang on a minute, its coming up as rare, a quick look at the definition ( obsolete spelling for pursue ) , they are spelt exactly the same?

There are only a few minutes to go before the game closes & as soon as it does close, I quickly view the solution & immediately begin my post, I have to let Alan know about this major anomaly that I have come across with the word persue.
I am only a couple of lines into the post, when i spell pursue correctly & begin to realise what a stupid mistake i have made, i go back to the game, double check the definition & immediately delete the post.
As i give my half empty stubby, the stare & the frown, i think to myself, thank goodness i picked that up before i actually submitted the post, nobody will ever know...oops.



Les303

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Re: Today's Puzzles (January 10th 2018)
« Reply #16 on: January 14, 2018, 05:29:39 PM »
Similarly, sangfroid from yesterday's challenge game was only found by 128 out of 387 players.
There were just 6 other common words that were found by fewer players.
« Last Edit: January 14, 2018, 05:44:00 PM by Les303 »

TRex

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Re: Today's Puzzles (January 10th 2018)
« Reply #17 on: January 15, 2018, 07:52:34 AM »
I think potholing is quite rare in N. America. I think spelunking is far more common, but a bit formal and, perhaps, old-fashioned. I think the more common term today is caving.

Ozzyjack

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Re: Today's Puzzles (January 10th 2018)
« Reply #18 on: January 15, 2018, 08:25:13 AM »

I'm inclined to think spelunker is rare. Any thoughts?

Alan, generally speaking I would prefer that comparatives, superlatives and other common variations of the root word be classified the same but I agree with your statement in another topic that in many cases there are good reasons why this is not necessarily so.

I got spelunker and had not seen it before in Chihuahua although I can't remember why I knew it - probably from some television program.  I am ambivalent about which way the spelunk***s are classified but in line with the general principle would prefer they are classified the same.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2018, 09:55:40 AM by Ozzyjack »
Regards, Jack

mkenuk

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Re: Today's Puzzles (January 10th 2018)
« Reply #19 on: January 15, 2018, 12:11:04 PM »
The COD has spelunking as its headword, and spelunker as a derivative.
It makes no mention of spelunk.
It also shows the word to be N. American, although of course, with the spread of 'American English', such things do change.

In the potholing discussion that Alan gives a link to, I mentioned that I first came across the word spelunking in the film Batman Begins. In a scene in that film between Bruce Wayne and Alfred his Butler, Batman (Wayne) says that he wants to 'go spelunking'.
They use the American term of course as the film was aimed at international audiences, even though the two actors in the scene (Christian Bale and Michael Caine) were British!

mkenuk

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Re: Today's Puzzles (January 10th 2018)
« Reply #20 on: January 20, 2018, 06:37:17 PM »
Am I the only one here thinking that the Standard and Challenge Puzzles today should be vice versa?  ;D


Your original comment, Calilasseia referred to the games of January 10 - federally (Challenge) and hobgoblin (Standard).

I think it applies even more so to today's games!

auntiemo

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Re: Today's Puzzles (January 10th 2018)
« Reply #21 on: January 20, 2018, 09:44:54 PM »
I have to agree...I have NEVER heard of today's standard puzzle COMMON word...absolutely fluked it...shuffle, trial and error.
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yelnats

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Re: Today's Puzzles (January 10th 2018)
« Reply #22 on: January 20, 2018, 11:18:31 PM »
I haven't got it despite shuffling...



23 hour update. I just got it but have never heard it before.
« Last Edit: January 21, 2018, 10:15:50 AM by yelnats »

anona

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Re: Today's Puzzles (January 10th 2018)
« Reply #23 on: January 21, 2018, 01:12:15 AM »
I'm not being dicky opposite, but I found the Standard one OK once I put my mind to it and I didn't think it an unusual word. However, the Challenge 9 letter eluded me until I had only 4 commons left to find.

Calilasseia

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Re: Today's Puzzles (January 10th 2018)
« Reply #24 on: January 25, 2018, 12:36:34 PM »
The one place I can remember seeing the word "spelunker" (which the predictive text feature on my tablet threw up as a word suggestion before I finished typing, to my surprise!), is in the original "Colossal Cave" text adventure game that did the rounds on old PDP-11 minicomputers running UNIX in the 1970s & early 1980s. In one of the caves, you can find copies of "Spelunker Today" magazine.😀
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