Welcome to the Guess My Word blog. This is a place to discuss the words of the day chosen by Joon and Mike. This paragraph is here mostly as spoiler space. Here are today's words:
How did someone get Joon's word in 6 tries? There's no doubt that I didn't play as efficiently as possible (I was trying to pinpoint the third letter after 10-15 turns) but 6 tries seems questionable to me. I assume that the best strategy would be to jump to the middle of the before and after guesses each time but I'm not sure if 6 tries is mathematically possible doing that.
So is it luck? Cheating? Is overwrought a popular word to guess? Can you find the word algorithmically in only 6 tries?
Without looking at the history of the guesses, I would say 6 would be a lucky guess. Not cheating, but not narrowed down yet either.
And people don't split the alphabet the same way. I do a "J" word, then a "T" word, then an "O" word. So if I had chosen "overwrought" as my "O" word, I would have found it in 3 guesses. Not cheating, just lucky.
Splitting is a good strategy, but not always the best. If the word is alphabetically three words away from your first guess, you'll be a long time getting back to where you started!
I don't know how often Leif plays-- you could check the overall Leaderboard and see if he's on that list-- but it can happen. I felt lucky to get it in 13 or so tries.
And yes, there are folks who like to get up our noses by jumping the queue, but trolls usually disappear after a while. Sometimes you just make the leap-- I had 'overturn,' and was about to type 'overwrite' or 'overweening' when I thought, "Joon would like ...."
Thanks for the responses. I think that is a great explanation, that people who have been playing for a bit have a better feeling for the words that Mike and Joon would like and choose. And of course we have to take into account that, as Cat said, not everyone would search for the word using the same method.
Once in a while I have a modestly sized range but not that tight, and I come up with a word that I feel has a very good chance of being right. And my intuition is right seemingly more often than 1/n where n is the number of words in the list in that range (even accounting for bad words and redundant inflections).
How did someone get Joon's word in 6 tries? There's no doubt that I didn't play as efficiently as possible (I was trying to pinpoint the third letter after 10-15 turns) but 6 tries seems questionable to me. I assume that the best strategy would be to jump to the middle of the before and after guesses each time but I'm not sure if 6 tries is mathematically possible doing that.
ReplyDeleteSo is it luck? Cheating? Is overwrought a popular word to guess? Can you find the word algorithmically in only 6 tries?
Without looking at the history of the guesses, I would say 6 would be a lucky guess. Not cheating, but not narrowed down yet either.
DeleteAnd people don't split the alphabet the same way. I do a "J" word, then a "T" word, then an "O" word. So if I had chosen "overwrought" as my "O" word, I would have found it in 3 guesses. Not cheating, just lucky.
Splitting is a good strategy, but not always the best. If the word is alphabetically three words away from your first guess, you'll be a long time getting back to where you started!
I don't know how often Leif plays-- you could check the overall Leaderboard and see if he's on that list-- but it can happen. I felt lucky to get it in 13 or so tries.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, there are folks who like to get up our noses by jumping the queue, but trolls usually disappear after a while. Sometimes you just make the leap-- I had 'overturn,' and was about to type 'overwrite' or 'overweening' when I thought, "Joon would like ...."
Thanks for the responses. I think that is a great explanation, that people who have been playing for a bit have a better feeling for the words that Mike and Joon would like and choose. And of course we have to take into account that, as Cat said, not everyone would search for the word using the same method.
ReplyDeleteOnce in a while I have a modestly sized range but not that tight, and I come up with a word that I feel has a very good chance of being right. And my intuition is right seemingly more often than 1/n where n is the number of words in the list in that range (even accounting for bad words and redundant inflections).
ReplyDelete