Well I got a couple of hints to hurry this along as I have some work meetings shortly. The first hint after about 30 colds and tepids was a word (1/1000) that I actually didn’t know. The second hint was very close to where I had then got to on my own (985/1000) and then my next guess hit the secret word in 85.
I must admit, I’m a bit flummoxed by this game. I had “fruity” which was 993. Tried loads of adjectives which were similarly close. “Citrusy” was even closer but not one of the 1000. I also tried lots of nouns which were related but nowhere close. I don’t understand how it can jump from fruity to palate in 7 words when all the closely related words were adjectives.
I try different versions of any word that is high scoring. Yesterday I found the noun and adjective of one word (I forget which now) were about 50 words apart. Unfortunately it was 50 words lower not 50 words higher!
Well today I triumphed. I got the secret word in 41 guesses with no hints.
I found this bit of information useful (from the game website):
By “similarity”, we really mean “used in similar contexts”. The principle was articulated by John Rupert Firth, who wrote, “[Y]ou shall know a word by the company it keeps.” So, “love” and “hate” may seem like opposites, but they will often score similarly. The actual opposite of “love” is probably something like “Arizona Diamondbacks”, or “carburetor”.
What a cool game!
Quite frustrating today. I had to get half a dozen hints over 15 mins, mainly because I only had 20 mins to do it. I did then get the secret word by extrapolating from 999/1000. But I found the whole thing annoying. And the second money related theme in a few days. The writer must live in a capitalist society!
Having time to sit and ponder definitely helps with this one. I, like you, didn’t have much time today as I was travelling and then chatting to the in laws.
Wow. Hit it in 22 today.
Took me 9 hints (the first after I had tried 50 guesses and not broken into the top 1000) and 122 guesses.
I’m not enjoying this as much now. When I look at the word lists after I finally guess the secret word, there seems no logic to it at all and quite a few of the words aren’t what I would regard as proper words at all.
I’m definitely not giving it lot of time. If I’m stuck I’m more than happy to take a hint or ten. I’m satisfied with only managing to get the answer without hints about 1 in 3 or 4 days.
I just can’t get my head into Semantle mode so have given up. Not sure Semantle has longevity
When I guess the secret word without help, after “yes”, I’m thinking “Err why FFS?”
It’s very annoying and quite obscure.
Took 190 and two hints to get the secret word, but at least this time I did get all the way to 995/1000 before I took a hint.
Very similar story. Got to 998 without hints but then gave up. Not sure how I missed the actual answer as I tried everything else. Annoying.
Today’s is ridiculous
75 today. A giant leap from 908 to 1000 on my 54th guess.
I know it can be an annoying and frustrating game but it is immensely satisfying when you do get it.
I couldn’t be bothered today. I have spent all afternoon sorting papers in my home office for a secure shredding service appointment on Monday. It’s the most boring but also strangely satisfying experience.
A leap from 908 to 1000 is quite extreme though!
Must be quite cathartic getting rid of all that paperwork
Yes, but it involves weird decisions. When I was executor to my mum’s will, it turned out to be important for estate duty purposes that I had easy access to all the papers relevant to when my dad died 15 years earlier (I was also executor then). So mum died about ten years ago. Do I need to keep relevant papers now? Probably not, but……
I’m actually really enjoying this game. It took a few hundred words to get it the other day, but today I struck it lucky and got it in 23:
I solved Semantle #153 in 23 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 4.95. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #20. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 46.55 (978/1000). https://semantle.com/