I Like To Do Puzzles, Do You Or Don't You?

Discussion in 'Other Reminiscences' started by Von Jones, Feb 19, 2023.

  1. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    If you like that other Wordle site, share it so I can check it out. I set up a grid in a spreadsheet so I can organize the letters as I solve each puzzle. That's probably cheating.
     
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  2. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    Oh geez John, I must have clicked your link, it's the same site I got to, but I thought I googled it, LOLLLLLL!! Hep me, somebody hep me, I'm under my desk searching for my marbles :rolleyes::D
     
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  3. Michelle Anderson

    Michelle Anderson Veteran Member
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    My first word, every single time, is AUDIO. My second word includes any letters accepted and the letter E. Now that I have the vowels, I have a starting place. This may or may not help, but for me it works because I have a knack for spotting patterns.
     
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  4. Michelle Anderson

    Michelle Anderson Veteran Member
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    Last edited: Mar 5, 2023
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  5. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    I think this would really help with my brain-exercise I so need. I tried the one on John's link but I couldn't even think of a word so I gave up, but planned to try again. I will do that and see if I can do better. I guess it's the same with physical exercise, you have to just keep at it until you get stronger ;)
     
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  6. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I was just playing my nth game of the morning. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. It helps reinforce and expand my vocabulary as crosswords do, but it enables this short attention span issue I've got such that I'm losing my patience for games that take longer, like crossword and jigsaw puzzles.

    The one thing I do not like about the online version I've been playing with is that you must enter letters left-to-right. It's tough for me to envision things sometimes, and I'd prefer to enter letters randomly. I've set up a basic spreadsheet where I can enter letters in their verified spot, and list others in their "might be" spot. I cannot decide if this is cheating or not. If it is, then using a scratch pad might also be bending the rules. The interesting thing is that there are times that using the online game exclusively helps me to envision things, and using my Excel scratchpad helps to unknot my brain.
     
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  7. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    I've got that "short attention" thing going on too John. I'm all over the place with things online, and off. I lose interest so fast in anything I'm doing, and always looking for something else. I do want to try to keep doing my games etc., but the people that make the games I love like Hidden Object or Puzzle type games like The Room series by Fireproof developers can't make the new games fast enough for me :( After about a year or so I can play a game over again and enjoy it. I'm the same with books I buy on my Kindle, one time through and I don't want to read it again. In fact I don't read my books again at all.
     
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  8. Bert Davies

    Bert Davies Very Well-Known Member
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    I wonder how many Rubik Cubes have been binned?
     
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  9. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I start with any word that has a couple of vowels in it.
    Then I might do a second word that also has a couple of vowels in it.
    Once I get an idea of the vowels that are (and are not) in the word, I try to think of what consonants are a most-likely fit, then try to think of a word that contains as many of those consonants as I can so as to test them.
    --At this point it gets tough to make up different words because you've already tested the vowels and don't want to waste spaces testing the same letters, but that can't be avoided. At this point I'll make an effort to reuse those letters (often vowels) in a different spot to narrow down where they belong.
    Keep in mind that letters might appear more than once in the word...that always trips me up.

    That being said, we're all wired differently. I tend to be math minded (I calculated the hypotenuse of my large garden in my head when truing up the fence posts), but things like Sudoku make my eyes glaze over.
     

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  10. Michelle Anderson

    Michelle Anderson Veteran Member
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    I think that if you are pulling possible words from your brain, it isn't cheating to use anything you need to keep track of possibilities and cross of, so to speak, words that you have, using your brain, that couldn't be cheating.
     
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  11. Mary Robi

    Mary Robi Veteran Member
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    I love to do crossword puzzles. I start every morning off with one; it sort of gets the brain juices flowing.

    Jigsaw puzzles I do on the computer.
     
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  12. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I do crossword puzzles on this site. It has tons of different publishers, and you can turn on a feature that tells you when you've guessed a letter wrong. I always do the Penny Dell ones.

    I'm still struggling with the logistics of a high #pieces jigsaw puzzle on a computer.
     
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  13. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    Yes I do, I like cross word puzzle's.
     
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  14. Thomas Windom

    Thomas Windom Very Well-Known Member
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    I remember doing puzzles as a kid but it obviously didn’t last. I just seem to have no interest. I did play go for a while, as an adult, but not long enough to be any good. I don’t care for card games either. In fact, I just realized I don’t care for games of any kind with the singular exception of Angry Birds. I guess that’s enough. Color me weird I guess.
     
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  15. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    When I do the crosswords, I realize just how much I've forgotten, some I never knew.
     
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