still don't think I understand it
― Dan S, Thursday, 23 September 2021 00:09 (two years ago) link
I didn't either (hence my confusion on why I hadn't solved a puzzle) but it's a little like sudoku in that every row and column and region has to have exactly X stars, with the added difficulty of stars not being adjacent to each other.
― Carte Blanchett (Leee), Thursday, 23 September 2021 01:46 (two years ago) link
i can attest that over time you will start to get better at the two no touch but I fuck up every third one in a way that requires me to start over from scratch.
I should mention that there's an app: Star Battle Go. $9 gets you 3000 puzzles, basically set for life. I'm recommending it.
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 23 September 2021 04:49 (two years ago) link
app also has tutorials which i have yet to try.
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 23 September 2021 04:50 (two years ago) link
loved today’s spelling bee with only one point five vowels
― flopson, Thursday, 23 September 2021 05:16 (two years ago) link
I liked the one from today too
― Dan S, Thursday, 23 September 2021 08:13 (two years ago) link
yesterday’s was interesting, there were not that many words and there were a lot of words that were hard to think of - curium, tritium, tatami, cacti, circuit, tutti
today’s was also hard and with not that many words, but I was able to think of more
― Dan S, Saturday, 25 September 2021 00:34 (two years ago) link
surprised it didn't accept WHINGE
― flopson, Saturday, 25 September 2021 01:34 (two years ago) link
I was surprised by that too
― Dan S, Saturday, 25 September 2021 01:36 (two years ago) link
Whinge is British
― Habemus poptimism (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 25 September 2021 01:36 (two years ago) link
but seems universal
― Dan S, Saturday, 25 September 2021 01:39 (two years ago) link
i get not having british words like COLOUR where there's a one-to-one american equivalent but it's not like whinge is the british spelling of whine, cause brits also have whine. it's just a different word. and americans occasionally use it. e.g. here's a maureen o'dowd column from 2014 where she uses it https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/30/opinion/dowd-is-barry-whiffing.html
― flopson, Saturday, 25 September 2021 01:43 (two years ago) link
I may have played too much star battle in the past 48 hours
what hath I wrought
― Chuck_Tatum, Saturday, 25 September 2021 18:36 (two years ago) link
same!! totally addictive
― donna rouge, Saturday, 25 September 2021 18:38 (two years ago) link
The whole hand-curated thing just opens Sam up to so much griping.
― Leee Tigre (Leee), Saturday, 25 September 2021 18:41 (two years ago) link
star battle is a problem, yes. did you guys get the app?
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 25 September 2021 22:52 (two years ago) link
today I couldn’t think of ambit, beige, baggie, biggie or gimme. those last few remind me to try colIoquial words. I got iamb, but iambi seems exceptionally esoteric
― Dan S, Sunday, 26 September 2021 02:41 (two years ago) link
well that’s the thing with this puzzle. usually you’ll get a sense of the editor’s boundaries, but with this it too often feels random. some dog breeds but not a labrador? etc
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 26 September 2021 08:23 (two years ago) link
It's a miniature of every prescriptive / descriptive lexicographical / usage dispute ever. Why this and not that?
But focused on one individual and his particular idiosyncratic segment of the elephant.
If you or I were to curate the Bee, there would be just as many "Why this and not that?" gripes. Just different ones.
Many years ago I was a magazine copyeditor and in a moment of rashness I decided that "disk" was a shape and "disc" was a computer storage medium. Or maybe it was the other way around. I forget. But it's probably still out there in a disused style guide somewhere. My secret shame.
― Habemus poptimism (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 26 September 2021 12:26 (two years ago) link
it’s the other way around and that’s pretty standard now i think? from tiny acorns…
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 26 September 2021 14:53 (two years ago) link
i disagree that anyone else’s would be as arbitrary but i know what you mean. in any case you do kind of get a feeling for the personality of any editor. ezersky’s does not beguile me. for instance, this is a guy who says WOOT
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 26 September 2021 14:55 (two years ago) link
it’s the other way around and that’s pretty standard now i think?
Okay but what is this then?
https://toppng.com/public/uploads/preview/parental-advisory-png-white-115522471060relexpojy.png
― Habemus poptimism (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 26 September 2021 15:25 (two years ago) link
dead media
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 26 September 2021 16:43 (two years ago) link
it’s a shape
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 26 September 2021 17:12 (two years ago) link
compact discs i.e. redbook CD format media, are not a computer storage medium.
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 26 September 2021 17:14 (two years ago) link
just go with the shifting plurals in that sentence alright
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 26 September 2021 17:15 (two years ago) link
I had a dreamed about the SB last night, and what's more, S was one of the letters.
― Leee Tigre (Leee), Tuesday, 5 October 2021 17:58 (two years ago) link
today's pangram seemed esoteric to me, I would never have gotten gunport
― Dan S, Thursday, 7 October 2021 23:54 (two years ago) link
I like having tried to solve the low word count puzzles of the last few days though
― Dan S, Thursday, 7 October 2021 23:56 (two years ago) link
TFW when you're at 43/170 but have accepted that you're not going to get the last 4-letter word.
― Leee Tigre (Leee), Friday, 8 October 2021 01:13 (two years ago) link
I haven't encountered a puzzle with that many words yet, I try hardest to get every 4-letter word, it seems just
― Dan S, Friday, 8 October 2021 01:22 (two years ago) link
I stop at Genius and feel like a loser when two or three of my friends get to Queen Bee
Like, how tf
― Extinct Namibian shrub genus: Var. (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 8 October 2021 11:23 (two years ago) link
Irrationally upset that fronton isn't accepted today. The cultural fading of jai alai continues apace.
― Judi Dench's Human Hand (methanietanner), Friday, 8 October 2021 21:09 (two years ago) link
got the pangram today easily as with most of the puzzles, but with so many words it was hard to get them all - rotini, croci and tortoni (my nemesis, that horrible dessert) were all beyond me - but it burns me that I got friction, the pangram, but not fiction
― Dan S, Friday, 8 October 2021 23:34 (two years ago) link
tricot and tricorn came to me for some reason when I was thinking about tri- words, but I just made a guess with triton
― Dan S, Friday, 8 October 2021 23:41 (two years ago) link
not accepting PENTANGLE (a pangram!) is a halloween season outrage
― Roz, Saturday, 9 October 2021 17:59 (two years ago) link
As a fan of the band, I too was disappointed!
― Leee Tigre (Leee), Saturday, 9 October 2021 18:59 (two years ago) link
haha! that would-be pangram was one of the first words that jumped out at me
― Dan S, Saturday, 9 October 2021 21:53 (two years ago) link
I got one of today's pangrams easily, but not the other, I couldn't think of any words that started with egg
― Dan S, Sunday, 10 October 2021 03:15 (two years ago) link
Got genius today thanks to the thread title
― KPH, Wednesday, 13 October 2021 22:22 (two years ago) link
I missed that one!
― Dan S, Wednesday, 13 October 2021 23:49 (two years ago) link
there seem to be a lot of bird-related words, today also pipit
― Dan S, Wednesday, 13 October 2021 23:52 (two years ago) link
I'm about done with the Italian foods. Tortoni, rotini, (both used recently) focaccia a couple days ago.
Meanwhile no prion, no introit
― Extinct Namibian shrub genus: Var. (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 13 October 2021 23:57 (two years ago) link
:) I have been primed to think about Italian foods. I got tortoni and rotini today.
To be complete you have to scour for every element in the table of elements and every bone in the body and its latin plural, although other common medical words like prion and embolize are ignored
― Dan S, Thursday, 14 October 2021 00:07 (two years ago) link
sorry, didn't mean to reveal those words
― Dan S, Thursday, 14 October 2021 00:08 (two years ago) link
ha those were the 2 i was missing to get queen be (i had long given up and would never have quested tortoni)
― flopson, Thursday, 14 October 2021 05:02 (two years ago) link
focaccia is fine imo but tortoni and rotini.... cmon
― just sayin, Thursday, 14 October 2021 05:22 (two years ago) link
yeah i find raer foreign food words kinda start to blur the line of proper noun. also where the game shows its ass re: western-centrism
― flopson, Thursday, 14 October 2021 05:47 (two years ago) link
yeah why is miso accepted, but not mirin?
― Roz, Thursday, 14 October 2021 05:57 (two years ago) link
or nori!
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 14 October 2021 07:34 (two years ago) link