Subject: does word wizard have a sense of humor?
Posted by: garrybl
Date: Jun 14 19
I've been struggling for a week with terrible letters.
But having got to a point where I could see light at the end of the tunnel Ive had 11 letters three times in the past few days.
My 12th letter when I was looking for an 11 letter word has been first Z, then X, then J.
Each time I clear out the *** killer letter in a four letter word and go back to try again...but it really feels like the system is mocking me. And yes I expect the Q any moment now.
Posted by: garrybl
Date: Jun 14 19
I've been struggling for a week with terrible letters.
But having got to a point where I could see light at the end of the tunnel Ive had 11 letters three times in the past few days.
My 12th letter when I was looking for an 11 letter word has been first Z, then X, then J.
Each time I clear out the *** killer letter in a four letter word and go back to try again...but it really feels like the system is mocking me. And yes I expect the Q any moment now.
241 replies. On page 3 of 13 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
harbilked 
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Keep at it Umber, I'm sure you'll get them eventually :) Reply #41. Jul 09 19, 8:35 AM |
UmberWunFayun
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Thanks, I know I'll get the badge eventually. Some days I may be smarter than others, depending on my wonky memory, but I'm stubborn EVERY day. Reply #42. Jul 11 19, 5:27 AM |
garrybl
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Everyone has their own approach, Umber, but I try not to play shorter words unless they get rid of the awkward letters. The combination of letting letters expire and exchanging letters lets me get a decent nucleus typically. The luck comes with what happens when you have eight perfect letters and then get the Z or Q. I'm feeling happy today because after two weeks of head banging I got an 11-letter word, and then got my Z early not late. Since it is my fourth consonant from the end, worst comes to worst I'll switch two pairs of consonants for vowels and take it from there. If I get a bunch of vowels so that this seems unattractive I'll make a short word with the Z in when I get to 12 letters. Single piece of advice. NEVER play a word till you get to 12 letters; it cant help and may really hurt. Why eg get rid of that U when you are about to pick up a Q? Reply #43. Jul 11 19, 8:08 AM |
| UmberWunFayun
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I tend to vary my tactics depending on what letters I have, but I never, ever submit a word until I have 12 letters, not even when I was playing for the Safari and the Alchemy badges. I did them both at the same time, because I figured if I got a Z but couldn't make Zebra, I still might be able to make Zinc, etc. It worked out pretty well because I got them both relatively quickly - but those darned 11 letter words are much trickier. Reply #44. Jul 11 19, 11:37 AM |
| garrybl
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Umber I was thinking it might be amusing to discuss strategy by looking at a collection of 12 letters and considering different approaches. I only have 9 letters right now and my strategies look limited because of that Z...but feel free to post yours and different people might have different approaches. With ENGRZANCW I'm lucky that I could for example wait to see if I get 1/2 vowels when I might look to get rid of z+w in a word (are there any?) More likely is to trace ZNCW for two vowels. Third approach. Let the W fall off after letter 12 comes in and trade CNZR OR go for a word like Czar With three letters to come in all approaches make sense I suppose. Reply #45. Jul 11 19, 4:28 PM |
brm50diboll
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I know this wasn't addressed to me, but I'll bite anyway. Since I'm not especially interested in 11-letter words, my strategy would be a little different from yours, but here's my analysis of your letters anyway. You have a severe consonant/vowel imbalance that needs to be fixed, but with 7 consonants at present, you can afford to wait a bit, and that's what I would do, for at least one more letter. If you get another consonant and the imbalance becomes 8:2, I would consider trading only the CW. Don't make more than one trade at a time; you can always trade the ZN later. See how things develop. And trading away the W is preferable to trading away an R, as R is a more useful letter than W. Going for "Czar" is a bad approach, in my opinion. Try to get your vowel count to at least 5 by the time you get to 12 letters and see where you are then. It's a bit early to speculate much more than that. Reply #46. Jul 11 19, 5:33 PM |
| garrybl
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Brian All input welcome. I was really trying to get a chat started so people could discuss for the less experienced exactly the sort of thing you mention. I often find myself wondering whether I'd done the right thing, with 20-20 hindsight. So seeing what someone else thinks is very helpful. Reply #47. Jul 11 19, 5:48 PM |
| UmberWunFayun
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At the moment I'm only on 6 letters - S B W L S Q - but there's every chance I'll end up letting the Q drop off, or perhaps exchanging it for a vowel if I need one later, since I can probably afford to lose one of two S's. Although if I do that, I expect I'll get a U. We'll see what else I get throughout the day. Reply #48. Jul 12 19, 2:16 AM |
| UmberWunFayun
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Okay, so I'm back up to 12 - E T O I I D S B W L S Q I can make one verified 9 letter word, which would leave me T I Q. Or I could wait for the next letter and let the Q drop off, in the hope that I get a letter that can, at best, increase my options to a 10 letter word. Since I won't be giving away the option of my current available niner, I've decided to play one more game and let the Q fall off, then re-evaluate. Reply #49. Jul 12 19, 10:53 AM |
| UmberWunFayun
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I lost the Q in favour of an N, which gave me several more niners but sadly nothing longer. So I played my original niner - BLOWSIEST - and came out with a much better N I T as a foundation for my next try. Would anyone have played it differently? Reply #50. Jul 12 19, 11:10 AM |
| brm50diboll
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I would've traded SQ for a vowel and waited another turn to get the letter count back to 12. With only four vowels, your options are quite limited. I will check all 12 letter combinations that I might have to see what words I can form, and if a 9-letter word is the best I can do, that is actually pretty good for four vowels, but I think moving up to five (or even possibly six, if the next letter drawn after trading SQ happened to be a vowel) would likely be better. I like my consonant/vowel ratio at 12 letters to be either 5:7, 6:6, or 7:5. Exceptions would be if I have too many of the same vowel. A 6:6 ratio does you no good if four of your vowels are U, for example. But your starting four vowels were a good mix. A fifth or sixth vowel may have helped considerably, especially with that "lead weight" of a Q gone. Reply #51. Jul 12 19, 11:52 AM |
| UmberWunFayun
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I should have said, i actually checked if there were any better/longer possible words to be made if I exchanged the QS, but the only word possible wasn't recognised by Word Wizard, so I don't think I could have done better than nine. I use an anagram solver where you can use up to three ?'s in place of letters to get the maximum number of possibilities. Reply #52. Jul 12 19, 12:45 PM |
| brm50diboll
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You need to consider the 12th letter. If you ran the anagram solver on the 11 letters you would have immediately after the trade, then yes. But the 12th letter gives you possibilities your solver may not have recognized. Here's some examples: you trade SQ and get an A. If the 12th letter is H, then your letters are HAETOIIDSBWL, and from that the valid 10 letter word deathblows can be made. Say you get an E for the trade and the 12th letter is M, now the letters are MEETOIIDSBWL, from which the valid 10 letter word disembowel can be made, Say you get an I for the trade and the 12th letter is B, now the letters are BIETOIIDSBWL, from which the 10 letter word billowiest can be made. It's the possibilities with 12 letters, not 11 letters that need to be considered. Here's another: say you got an E for the trade and the 12th letter was an E. Now your letters are EEETOIIDSBWL, from which you get the 10 letter word wildebeest. I could keep going. I think the upside at 12 letters is greater than the downside with the trade. Reply #53. Jul 12 19, 1:40 PM |
| garrybl
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E T O I I D S B W L S Q Here I'd add a letter to drop the Q An A would be great. Then I'd play BOWS to leave AEII and TDSL ... if my sole target was 11 letter words. NEVER play a word in the six-9 letter range if your target is 11. Always leave yourself with the best 7/8 letters you can. I'm currently working on ERROITS having had to shake of MUV in the form of MAUVE. Alas drawing a B wasnt the letter of my dream. But if i can gets some letters from LAND to add to my base I'll feel better. Reply #54. Jul 13 19, 5:37 AM |
| garrybl
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I've been working and in front of my computer almost all day -- or at least enough to allow me to play most hours. So Iplayed about 9 games from my base of EROITS. I got to IIIOEENRST. picked up a GU...so far so good as I could change EI for a consonant, an L. Picked up another O and got NEUROLOGIST. Yes having all ones and twos in Scrabble terms is lucky; but I'd dumped BERK, MAUVE, and an X inter alia just to get to that nice base so the system owed me something. Reply #55. Jul 13 19, 3:15 PM |
| garrybl
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Since my last post Ive got and ditched the Q with Quai, got and ditched the X in onYX. That leaves me still with a W I want to shake off. Given that we're only talking 20- letters maybe it was only what I was due after making an 11 letter word. But the mathematics still seems wrong here. Reply #56. Jul 14 19, 8:03 PM |
| UmberWunFayun
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Currently have G F N M N A Z C N W B A So, I could either get rid of the Z, C, and one of three N's with Anzac, which would also take my only two vowels, or I can start trading consonants for vowels and keep playing for more letters. I'm going for the trade, but I think I'll tread cautiously and just trade BW, then play again before making the next trade. If I trade for three vowels all at once, you can bet the next few letters I win will be vowels, too, and I'll end up with no consonants. Reply #57. Jul 15 19, 6:14 AM |
| garrybl
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Currently have G F N M N A Z C N W B A Maybe WB get you an I for Zinc. if not ANZAC or say Zany might work. I think trading two more pairs of consonsnats might work well. As for me; got the Q on letter 11 AGAIN No 'U' of course; seriously considering changing all consonants in just to get rid of it. Reply #58. Jul 15 19, 6:23 AM |
| brm50diboll
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My view of GFNMNAZCNWBA, sorry to say, is that it is a disastrous mess that will take a long time to straighten out, but that I wouldn't have let it get to that point in the first place. Here's why: You have a 10:2 consonant/vowel ratio, which is awful. Even more awful is that both vowels are the same. A red flag for me is 9 consonants. If I see 9 consonants, that is an *immediate* trigger for a trade of two consonants for a vowel, no matter what the two consonants you have to trade are. Even trading ST for a U is better than sticking with 9 consonants. But you can't undo what you did, so now you are stuck with 10 consonants. It is going to take 6-8 plays, probably, to unravel that mess. Nevertheless, approach it one step at a time. Do *not* make multiple trades at once. Trade the WB for a third vowel, and see what you get. Wait a play, get back to 12 letters, then run an anagram program to see what words you can make. Most likely, it will still be terrible. If you are lucky, letter 12 will be another vowel and you will have an 8:4 consonant/vowel ratio. Most likely, you will still need to trade the CN even in that scenario, but check the 12 letter anagram program first anyway rather than making two trades at once. If you are unlucky, letter 12 will be another consonant, the 9th, and you will *definitely* need to trade the CN, in my opinion. You cannot undo this severe consonant/vowel mismatch by playing four or five letter words, again, in my opinion. Trades are necessary here. Never let your list get to nine consonants or nine vowels. It will take a long time to fix that, and what you're doing when you try is essentially just blowing up all your letters and starting over, but still do it one step at a time, staying at 11-12 letters at all times so you can see where you are with your anagram program. Reply #59. Jul 15 19, 9:30 AM |
| UmberWunFayun
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Well, it didn't turn out too badly after all. A couple of strategic trades, a few new letters and I got an 11letter word and 30 points! Reply #60. Jul 16 19, 6:18 AM |
241 replies. On page 3 of 13 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
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