Author Topic: June 14 Standard puzzle  (Read 1090 times)

Alan W

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Re: June 14 Standard puzzle
« Reply #15 on: August 18, 2021, 12:52:03 PM »
As it happens, both inertia and inertness have scientific meanings. Inertia, in physics, is the tendency of an object to remain at rest or continue in steady motion, and more generally, any tendency to resist change - e.g. the thermal inertia of a body of water. Inertness is the lack of chemical reactivity of a substance.

This reminds me of a Yes Minister episode where an issue came up about the safety or otherwise of a chemical said to be inert:

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Joan Littler : What does "inert" mean?

Sir Humphrey Appleby : Eh, it means it's not... ert.

Bernard Woolley : Wouldn't 'urt a fly.

Both words can be used in a non-scientific context, meaning a tendency to do nothing or remain unchanged, but inertia seems to be used much more often. A very recent example, from Business Insider on the 15th of this month:

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By taking a proactive role on climate change - particularly against a backdrop of government inertia - tech giants have an opportunity to repair their image with the public.

Nevertheless, I think most players would know that inertness is a word. In the end more than half of the players found it in the puzzle that sparked the initial query. The only reason for tagging words as common or rare is so that players can aim to get as many as possible of the common words, with little risk of being caught out by words they've never heard of.

I'm not persuaded to change the common status of inertness or to drop it as a puzzle seed word - nothing has been put forward that would overcome my inertia.
Alan Walker
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Re: June 14 Standard puzzle
« Reply #16 on: August 18, 2021, 02:44:25 PM »
For me, i had little trouble finding the seed word in the standard game, once you play the first half of the word then the rest is pretty obvious.

I got it that way as well but wouldn't have thought of it otherwise. Just saying...
The greenest watt ever produced is the one you never use. Playing as jk1956 & John is my name.
When we come out of the Covid-19 crisis, we need to make sure recovery efforts address the Climate Crisis (which can't be solved using social distancing!)