Guess the five-letter word. GUESS IT
January 16, 2008 5:07 PM Subscribe
Word Sandwich: The mystery five-letter word is somewhere between your "highest" guess alphabetically and your "lowest." It's essentially a lexical Guess the Number.
That was fun for 8 minutes.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 5:38 PM on January 16, 2008
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 5:38 PM on January 16, 2008
/me has done WAY too much filing in this life.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 5:38 PM on January 16, 2008
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 5:38 PM on January 16, 2008
This is WAY too hard for me. I'm a little embarrassed, really.
posted by arcticwoman at 6:28 PM on January 16, 2008
posted by arcticwoman at 6:28 PM on January 16, 2008
It's giving my brain a work out.
posted by crossoverman at 6:42 PM on January 16, 2008
posted by crossoverman at 6:42 PM on January 16, 2008
I don't understand what it means by "too high" alphabetically....
The word was 'melba' and I guessed 'apple' and it was still "too high".
Am I missing something?
posted by chara at 7:16 PM on January 16, 2008
The word was 'melba' and I guessed 'apple' and it was still "too high".
Am I missing something?
posted by chara at 7:16 PM on January 16, 2008
Higher = it comes before it alphabetically
lower = it comes after
posted by utsutsu at 7:31 PM on January 16, 2008
lower = it comes after
posted by utsutsu at 7:31 PM on January 16, 2008
utsutsu: Thanks for the translation. That helped. A lot.
posted by John of Michigan at 7:42 PM on January 16, 2008
posted by John of Michigan at 7:42 PM on January 16, 2008
Woot, I'm in the top five for the day!
posted by InnocentBystander at 9:12 PM on January 16, 2008
posted by InnocentBystander at 9:12 PM on January 16, 2008
It really likes "common" words as answers. Think broadly.
posted by dhartung at 9:29 PM on January 16, 2008
posted by dhartung at 9:29 PM on January 16, 2008
Well, I guess I've found my new crack. Why do the most obvious words disappear from my head the second I start a new game?
posted by The Gooch at 12:06 AM on January 17, 2008
posted by The Gooch at 12:06 AM on January 17, 2008
I can't believe I ended up stuck between MATER and MATEY for so long...
posted by darksasami at 2:26 AM on January 17, 2008
posted by darksasami at 2:26 AM on January 17, 2008
Slightly off-topic: what does "lower down in the alphabet" signify to you - "more towards the end" or "more towards the start"?
I've always found the earlier interpretation puzzling, but it might just be me.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:41 AM on January 17, 2008
I've always found the earlier interpretation puzzling, but it might just be me.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:41 AM on January 17, 2008
Out of context, it means "more towards the start" for me. But how much of that is from direct exposure to ASCII et al I can't say; and the specific context might totally overrule that.
posted by cortex at 6:52 AM on January 17, 2008
posted by cortex at 6:52 AM on January 17, 2008
Hm. If I'm doing the math correctly, you should be able to do each one in 24 guesses or less. (26^5 <>I'm trying to avoid playing.
posted by Pronoiac at 9:08 AM on January 17, 2008
posted by Pronoiac at 9:08 AM on January 17, 2008
Bad html + html stripper = comment mostly lost.
Attacking a randomly generated group of letters: 26^5 < 2^24. So, you could do it in 24 guesses. It would be a bit easier to do one letter at a time. 26 < 2^5, so worst case, 25 guesses total.
They're English words, so there's letter distribution & other knowledge to bring to bear. But I'm desparately trying to avoid playing. I have work to do.
posted by Pronoiac at 9:14 AM on January 17, 2008
Attacking a randomly generated group of letters: 26^5 < 2^24. So, you could do it in 24 guesses. It would be a bit easier to do one letter at a time. 26 < 2^5, so worst case, 25 guesses total.
They're English words, so there's letter distribution & other knowledge to bring to bear. But I'm desparately trying to avoid playing. I have work to do.
posted by Pronoiac at 9:14 AM on January 17, 2008
Buncha comments and not one posted score? It really is hard.
Mine was in the low 7000s.
posted by alexei at 12:23 AM on January 18, 2008
Mine was in the low 7000s.
posted by alexei at 12:23 AM on January 18, 2008
OMG. I cracked that open last night. Um. Your guesses have to be words? You might like a list of five letter words. I'm not even going near this because I value my sanity.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:45 AM on January 18, 2008
posted by Pronoiac at 10:45 AM on January 18, 2008
You might like a list of five letter words.
Next step: tree that list out and cheat like a bastard.
posted by cortex at 11:21 AM on January 18, 2008
Next step: tree that list out and cheat like a bastard.
posted by cortex at 11:21 AM on January 18, 2008
I keep going back & forth about the challenge of treeing it out (first six levels on a page would be easy, another couple of levels with a more complex layout), then debating if I'd be griefing, or just a cheating bastard.
So, yeah, I'm still avoiding it. Though it is getting sorely tempting.
posted by Pronoiac at 2:09 PM on January 18, 2008
So, yeah, I'm still avoiding it. Though it is getting sorely tempting.
posted by Pronoiac at 2:09 PM on January 18, 2008
I cheated poorly.
Okay, I registered myself in Cheatertown. I laid out the first six choices on a page. Then I hit that list in a spreadsheet, which was slower. My best of three placed in the top 100 due to a lucky one, though I usually scored 6k.
I think I see a way to do a decent 8-choice layout... But that's enough for now.
posted by Pronoiac at 3:51 PM on January 18, 2008
Okay, I registered myself in Cheatertown. I laid out the first six choices on a page. Then I hit that list in a spreadsheet, which was slower. My best of three placed in the top 100 due to a lucky one, though I usually scored 6k.
I think I see a way to do a decent 8-choice layout... But that's enough for now.
posted by Pronoiac at 3:51 PM on January 18, 2008
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I hate it. It's a perfectly good diversion, mind you, but I hate it with every fiber of my being. My brain doesn't store this shit in a binary tree, you bastards. It hurts to do a quicksort on the fly.
posted by cortex at 5:29 PM on January 16, 2008 [2 favorites]