Guess My Word!

December 31, 2012 4:05 PM

Guess My Word! • I'm thinking of an uncapitalized English word, which you can try to guess. I'll tell you if my word is before or after your guess in alphabetical order. My word can be of any length from 1 to 15 letters. If my word starts with your word (e.g. my word is "cottage" and you guess "cot"), then it is considered to be after your word. You can only guess English words. The goal is to guess my word in as short a time as possible, or in as few guesses as possible, or whatever else you want to set as your goal. For leaderboard purposes, your time (starting when you make your first guess) and number of guesses will be tracked, but entering your name on the leaderboard is optional. There will be a new word every day. • FAQ
posted by not_on_display (188 comments total)

(You can play past days' games, too.)
posted by not_on_display at 4:09 PM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]

salary
posted by JacksonandFinch at 4:11 PM on December 31, 2012

Nine guesses!
posted by jeather at 4:17 PM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]

12 guesses, but I cheated by looking in an actual dictionary after I couldn't think of a word between guess 10 and guess 11.
posted by rocket88 at 4:19 PM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]

23 guesses, aided by a google search for "words that start with [spoiler alert]" once I figured out the first two letters and ran out of vocabulary.
posted by phunniemee at 4:19 PM on December 31, 2012

Binary search. I don't have to play this game now.
posted by madcaptenor at 4:20 PM on December 31, 2012 [8 favorites]

I should also note that it took me 6 guesses after getting google help.
posted by phunniemee at 4:21 PM on December 31, 2012

Cute: Well done boo! You guessed it in 2:18, using 14 guesses. Come back tomorrow for another word.
posted by boo_radley at 4:21 PM on December 31, 2012

log₂ Dictionary
posted by ryanrs at 4:21 PM on December 31, 2012 [8 favorites]

I am surprised at how many words starting with the first two letters that I guessed without getting it.
posted by shakespeherian at 4:23 PM on December 31, 2012

If anyone wants to win: the word is gullible
posted by samworm at 4:23 PM on December 31, 2012 [13 favorites]

mnmnmnmnmnmn
posted by fleacircus at 4:23 PM on December 31, 2012

12 guesses. Had to look at a dictionary after 11. 9 is impressive.
posted by Golden Eternity at 4:27 PM on December 31, 2012

16, but I also had to consult /usr/dict/words to find something between __ and __________.
posted by autopilot at 4:29 PM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]

OK, I'm now trying to figure out Mike's word. I've got it between two that are so close I'm officially perplexed. Haven't cheated on this one yet...
posted by phunniemee at 4:31 PM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]

Hey, same result as boo, 14 seconds longer.
posted by Jubal Kessler at 4:32 PM on December 31, 2012

Eight!
posted by donpardo at 4:39 PM on December 31, 2012

Ha I forgot to check my time but it would have been lengthy as I got up to wash dishes and think about it between 11 and 12. (I didn't get it at 12.)
posted by shakespeherian at 4:40 PM on December 31, 2012

Well done netdpb! You guessed it in 2:00, using 8 guesses. Come back tomorrow for another word.
posted by netdpb at 4:41 PM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]

Very proud of my 11, even if I was stuck after my 10th guess between (a two letter word that was one letter off the final solution) and (a five letter word that had the first two letters right) so I used a scrabble helper I found online for words that began in (the correct two letters)

Unlike phunniemee and shakespeherian, though, I guessed right the first time. So I guess I'm proud of getting close on my own and proud of knowing where to look for help and proud for my guessing abilities*. I'm proud of being so well rounded.

(* Also, once you guess the word, doesn't it seem like it's the word it should be, so let's call it an 'educated guess.'. I mean, not to stereotype people who program fun word games but don't spend any time on the U/I design, but it really does fit...)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 4:42 PM on December 31, 2012

It was my first guess with those two first letters, I was already at [first letter][correct half of the alphabet, more or less]. I didn't even think of another, much more common, word starting with those letters.
posted by jeather at 4:43 PM on December 31, 2012

I will guess butts and I will continue guessing butts until I am correct and no one can stop me.
posted by elizardbits at 4:45 PM on December 31, 2012 [13 favorites]

Fun!

Aww, I beat the best score for yesterday's Mike word, but since it was yesterday I don't get on the leaderboard.
posted by moonmilk at 4:45 PM on December 31, 2012

It took 22 to get Mike's word.
posted by rocket88 at 4:45 PM on December 31, 2012

FREEDOM
posted by elizardbits at 4:45 PM on December 31, 2012

For some reason, I didn't realize it could be a word that wasn't a noun. Bleh.
posted by limeonaire at 4:46 PM on December 31, 2012

[Folks maybe don't give away the answers maybe?]
posted by jessamyn at 4:47 PM on December 31, 2012 [2 favorites]

migurski, probably someone that played it a second time without realizing that it would be the same word until they did a few... m / g / c is also the pattern I used for my search partitioning.
posted by sonic meat machine at 4:48 PM on December 31, 2012

(Did it in 21. I am not proud.)
posted by sonic meat machine at 4:48 PM on December 31, 2012

Finally got the Mike word. In 20. I got close at 14. And then the other 6 words were variations on that theme. Which, trust me if you haven't guessed it yet, was really funny.

(Choosing to view the Word Cloud from the guessed words on this one made it really worth it.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 4:51 PM on December 31, 2012

I love that you can see a word cloud of all the words people guessed. fun!
posted by exceptinsects at 4:52 PM on December 31, 2012

My word is after cock.

Oh my.

PS Don't forget to try mike's word as well.
posted by Jehan at 4:56 PM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]

How many more times am I going to have to guess butts for it to be the biggest word in the cloud.
posted by elizardbits at 4:57 PM on December 31, 2012 [2 favorites]

After eight guesses, I knew that the word came after "effigy" and before "endemic." I guessed [REDACTED] and... got it right? Bwah?
posted by eugenen at 5:05 PM on December 31, 2012

Got Mike's word in 16. Binary search worked pretty well until it turned out that his word wasn't in the dictionary I was using.
posted by madcaptenor at 5:07 PM on December 31, 2012

A number of guessers getting a moderately obscure word in one? Someone has figured out how to cheat.
posted by Fnarf at 5:08 PM on December 31, 2012

Unlike phunniemee and shakespeherian, though, I guessed right the first time.

Yeah, well, you smell.
posted by shakespeherian at 5:13 PM on December 31, 2012 [2 favorites]

Binary search. I don't have to play this game now.

Wrong, because you don't know what word is exactly halfway between orumulu and trunk. (Consulating an alphabetized word list is cheating.) This is a surprisingly challenging game.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 5:22 PM on December 31, 2012

My binary search program starts off on LUGES. It's going to be fun typing LUGES over and over again when I compete every day.
posted by scose at 5:23 PM on December 31, 2012

Dammit. I got all the way to "between [thing I'm vaguely familiar with] and [word I've heard but am not familiar with]" before giving up and it turns out it was [OTHER WORD I MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE THINGS TO SAY ABOUT]?! Grreeaaaarrrggghh.
posted by psoas at 5:24 PM on December 31, 2012

blam, 12th on the leaderboard for mike's word with 17 guesses. i guess 2012 was OK after all.
posted by thedaniel at 5:26 PM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]

I LOVED mike's WORD AND I BEAT SOMEONE HERE THIS IS GREAT
posted by psoas at 5:28 PM on December 31, 2012

I got Mike's word in 17 guesses... I think I'll be drinking tonight!!
posted by yaymukund at 5:34 PM on December 31, 2012

Yeah,well,you smell.

Having just got out of the shower after working from home last week and then spending all weekend at home as well, you have no idea how on the nose that insult was at the time you posted it. But I'm clean now. So HA!
posted by MCMikeNamara at 5:40 PM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]

eh.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:44 PM on December 31, 2012

I wouldn't have gotten today's word if it weren't for that MeFites handle.
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:46 PM on December 31, 2012 [4 favorites]

Fucking "-------"? Fuck you, Harvard.
posted by maxwelton at 6:03 PM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]

Edited since I didn't realize this wasn't random, according to the comments above.
posted by maxwelton at 6:05 PM on December 31, 2012

(I'd hate to spoil the "fun." I chose the wrong week to be uneducated.)
posted by maxwelton at 6:06 PM on December 31, 2012

13 guesses, 3:02
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:08 PM on December 31, 2012

Very fun! I added the blog page to my Reader feed, too.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:14 PM on December 31, 2012

13 guesses, and it elicited a an odd collection of words from me, which create a scene that could only take place in the Victorian parlor of a zoo. And I didn't think to use a dictionary because I looked at the site before I read the comments.
posted by Peach at 6:34 PM on December 31, 2012

there seem to be a lot of cheaters on the leader board...
posted by Saxon Kane at 6:45 PM on December 31, 2012

Coughfuckthatgamecough.
posted by Shutter at 6:47 PM on December 31, 2012

In eight! Feels like it should have been in ten or eleven but I guess I was on the right wavelength with the designer.

The cheating is mildly hilarious.
posted by cortex at 6:50 PM on December 31, 2012

Well done wintermind! You guessed it in 5:56, using 18 guesses. Come back tomorrow for another word.
posted by wintermind at 7:05 PM on December 31, 2012

Well done HotToddy! You guessed it in 5:24, using 16 guesses. Come back tomorrow for another word.

I'm especially proud of this because I did it while repeatedly yelling BE QUIET I'M TRYING TO CONCENTRATE while Mr HotToddy badgered me to watch the guy on Antiques Roadshow who took the picture of Johnson being sworn in on the plane after Kennedy's assassination.
posted by HotToddy at 7:51 PM on December 31, 2012

P.S. that was for Mike's word
posted by HotToddy at 7:51 PM on December 31, 2012

P.P.S. and unlike a lot of you cheaters I didn't cheat!
posted by HotToddy at 7:58 PM on December 31, 2012

1566 guesses!
posted by bz at 8:12 PM on December 31, 2012 [3 favorites]

Man, that Kayrat must be psychic or something.
posted by Spatch at 8:39 PM on December 31, 2012

[Redacted]
posted by ericost at 9:40 PM on December 31, 2012

[PLEASE MAYBE DON'T GIVE THE ANSWER, EVERYONE GETS THE SAME WORD. THANKS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.]
posted by jessamyn at 9:43 PM on December 31, 2012

Oy. I didn't realize it's a game a day. Started over and was amazed it was the SAME WORD
posted by Miko at 9:44 PM on December 31, 2012

Totally sorry if I ruined your game by not understanding that we didn't all get a different word.
posted by Miko at 9:49 PM on December 31, 2012

I feel like even with cheating, I couldn't break 13. How are you crazy people getting it in eight?!
posted by aint broke at 9:56 PM on December 31, 2012

Eight shouldn't be possible without ridiculous luck, since there are way more than 2^8 (256) words.
posted by madcaptenor at 10:00 PM on December 31, 2012

I'm thinking of a word that starts with the letters HE and ends with the letters HE.

And the more you try to figure it out, the more your brain hurts.
posted by twoleftfeet at 10:15 PM on December 31, 2012 [6 favorites]

don't give it away quickly, plz. (it has more than two letters.)
posted by twoleftfeet at 10:16 PM on December 31, 2012

Okay, I'm thinking of a word with three sets of double letters, all in a row.
posted by SPrintF at 11:05 PM on December 31, 2012

Bookkeeper!
posted by sourwookie at 11:09 PM on December 31, 2012 [5 favorites]

Oh, are you fucking kidding me? This guy beat me on Jeopardy. Like, the game show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eraWBjfjhzE


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzinNIfRaC8
posted by Tesseractive at 11:11 PM on December 31, 2012 [12 favorites]

twoleftfeet: headache!

to mirror your he/he theme, I'm thinking of a word that ends in "she" and begins with "gal" (but is usually used in the plural).

The game in the post is driving me a little crazy, because I thought I had a game app on my tablet that played just like this (beginning with nothing you guess the word, and the only clues you get is whether the word is before or after in the alphabet)... but I can't find it, so maybe it was something on my Nintendo instead. I can not remember the name, but it's really a nice version of this.
posted by taz at 12:18 AM on January 1 [1 favorite]

2/26/11: Mike has written an iPhone app called Lexicographer based on Guess My Word.
posted by BrotherCaine at 12:23 AM on January 1

Oh, yeah – I meant to say: I did look for that, but it didn't come up in my search for iPad apps.
posted by taz at 12:27 AM on January 1

12 guesses in 2:04 with no cheating. Pretty proud of myself.

Then I saw the leaderboard and the cheating and um won't be playing again.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 1:48 AM on January 1

[Reminder: Hey, guys, don't give away the words, please! Everyone gets the same words!]
posted by taz at 1:53 AM on January 1

Is one in a pair of galoshes a galoshe?
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:09 AM on January 1

to mirror your he/he theme, I'm thinking of a word that ends in "she" and begins with "gal" (but is usually used in the plural).

Galoshes woo! Happy new year, taz.
posted by ersatz at 4:11 AM on January 1

I was eating CAKE! Cake is better than refreshing the page.
posted by ersatz at 4:12 AM on January 1

galoshe! galoshe! galoshe! Yes! It's my happy new word for the happy new year!
posted by taz at 5:29 AM on January 1 [1 favorite]

11 guesses on today's word. I win 2013. See you next year.
posted by meinvt at 6:36 AM on January 1

I gave up on today's word. I should have persevered. it is too early to lose 2013!
posted by jessamyn at 7:04 AM on January 1

I got mike's word. I am hopeful again!
posted by jessamyn at 7:20 AM on January 1

I got it in sixteen but didn't do any sort of cheating or looking things up I am just smart with words hahaha.
posted by sweetkid at 7:55 AM on January 1

Tip of My Tongue is a wonderful cheatery cheating tool for cheating at this game. Cheater.
posted by arcolz at 8:15 AM on January 1

What's the html tag where you can hide text? There's one at least that's legal here.
posted by Trochanter at 8:31 AM on January 1

Found it. So I couldn't think of a word between this word and this one.

So, I got that close in 16.
posted by Trochanter at 8:46 AM on January 1

Got Mike's word in 16. Well actually I bumbled around for 15 then got up to feed the dogs and make coffee while mumbling various words to myself, then Mr HT said "______?" and I ran back to bed to type it in and that was it. Happy New Year everyone!
posted by HotToddy at 8:54 AM on January 1

I cheated and still needed about 20 guesses for each word. (I worked through the words for other days as well as todays for both Mike's and Joon's words.)

At the very bottom of this page, where it says "By Letter:", and has links for each letter of the alphabet, you can get a list of all words starting with each letter.

A very fun game. I just wish they had more words available to play. Thanks for posting this.
posted by marsha56 at 8:55 AM on January 1

In a weird way this seems like the human-cognition equivalent of an NP-hard task.

"Find a word Q that's between words X and Y in alphabetical order" is actually pretty challenging and takes a pretty long time.

On the other hand, "Confirm that word Q is between words X and Y in alphabetical order" is basically effortless.
posted by and so but then, we at 8:57 AM on January 1 [3 favorites]

I got Mike's word in 17, but I guessed this on my 16th. I should get a special hug type prize.
posted by Trochanter at 9:05 AM on January 1

Well done Jubal! You guessed it in 12:15, using 26 guesses. Come back tomorrow for another word.

This game is harder than I thought! At least I can feel my neurons a-limbering.
posted by Jubal Kessler at 9:36 AM on January 1

15 guesses on joon's, 3:37. 11 on Mike's, 1:48.
posted by no relation at 10:40 AM on January 1

Although I said that I didn't have to play this game, I did. Joon: 16 guesses, 2:35. Mike: 16 guesses, 1:58.
posted by madcaptenor at 11:20 AM on January 1

I got joon's December 27th word in 41 seconds on 8 tries. I think that's the best I could possibly do in this game, god bless it.
posted by Spatch at 12:38 PM on January 1

The guess histories, discounting of course those of the participants who actually take the time to work out the answer anonymously and then submit it in one go inside of a second on a separate visit, are by far the most entertaining things I've read all year. Hover and empathize with those near you on the board. Me and Pam took the same number of quite similarish guesses and a similar time on mike's, and I reckon we'd get on famously.
posted by hatchiban at 1:50 PM on January 1

Why can't I see the guess histories? I tried in Firefox and Safari but when I mouse over, nothing.
posted by HotToddy at 2:07 PM on January 1

Never mind, I don't know what was wrong before but it works now.
posted by HotToddy at 2:28 PM on January 1

Never mind what I got for yesterday's (seriously, it was sad), I got today in FIVE! Whoo! Better lucky than good, as they say.
posted by solotoro at 3:26 PM on January 1 [1 favorite]

I got joon's today in 15/1:55 and gave up on mike's after 18 and I shouldn't have.
posted by jessamyn at 6:37 AM on January 2

19 tries, 12:34 for joon's word and 15 tries, 16:09 for mike's word.

I didn't realize how much slooooooowwwwwer I am than everyone else.
posted by marsha56 at 8:17 AM on January 2

Curses! Jessamyn beat me by :05! Tomorrow I have my revenge!
posted by HotToddy at 8:35 AM on January 2

Dude don't mess with librarians.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:43 AM on January 2

Joons took a while at 20/6:26, but I guess I got better after that. I got Mike's at 14/5:51. Cool game!
posted by blurker at 10:57 AM on January 2

Ack, I gave up on Joon's after 13 guesses (shouldn't have given up)... but I got Mike's in 15/2:31 with an accurate stab!
posted by not_on_display at 11:59 AM on January 2

Dang it! I would have had mike's word on my third guess (just a random word guess, state tree for the state I was born in), but I typoed it into another actual word and ran with it anyway. Took me 19 guesses to eventually get there.

So close. 3 guesses would have been epic. Damn.
posted by phunniemee at 12:25 PM on January 2

Oops don't check out the leaderboard for joon's today if you want to remain spoiled. (I actually don't know if that's possible without guessing.) I thought I still hadn't guessed it for some reason and put a guess in the spot for my name (23 guesses)

mike's took me 20. And I even had phunniemee's hint (though I didn't remember it until about 4 guesses or so)

This game is ridiculously fun for me and I can't quite figure out why.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:35 PM on January 2

Good guess histories on the mike one (16 guesses, which beats joon by one, though he/she was quicker, and had much flashier guesses than me) today, lots of people doing the joon one (14 guesses) daringly guessed "guess".
posted by hatchiban at 1:58 PM on January 2

I love this game.
posted by bq at 9:12 PM on January 2 [1 favorite]

Guessed them both today: 21 and 25 guesses respectively. I am getting the hang of it!
posted by jessamyn at 7:17 AM on January 3

Having learned the valuable lesson yesterday that it's first coffee, then Guess My Word!, today I got Joon's in 15 and Mike's in 20 (pretty slow, though). I'm so glad there are only two a day, it's just perfect!
posted by HotToddy at 9:00 AM on January 3

I wish they would do overall placements by number of guesses AND time, combined, though, to break the large number of ties. It's somewhat unsatisfying to be one of 17 people placed 57th (or whatever).
posted by HotToddy at 9:04 AM on January 3

I wasted four guesses on mike's word because I forgot where "n" was in the alphabet. D'oh!
posted by phunniemee at 9:09 AM on January 3

mike and joon both seem to favor the beginning of the alphabet.
posted by moonmilk at 10:49 AM on January 4

The English language favors the beginning of the alphabet.
posted by madcaptenor at 11:04 AM on January 4

Yeah, well, the English language doesn't favor me. I had to give up on both of them today. I need a cheat sheet with the alphabet on it.
posted by HotToddy at 12:54 PM on January 4

I got confused today because mike and joon's words were sort of in the same part of the alphabet and I've done the same word there before and been all RRRARARARAR. I think I gave up on mike's for that reason. Please tell me that MeFites aren't responsible for the sudden influx of pottymouthed leaderboard usernames?
posted by jessamyn at 1:27 PM on January 4

I think the Mefites' leaderboard trolling peaked around Jan 1. Yesterday seemed more normal. Today's seems to be more of a fark influx, maybe? Maybe it was posted to reddit? Who knows.

My results:
Joon's word: 20/2:45
Mike's word: 20/4:28 (despite the clue that they were similarly situated)
posted by not_on_display at 2:08 PM on January 4

I got confused today because mike and joon's words were sort of in the same part of the alphabet and I've done the same word there before and been all RRRARARARAR. I think I gave up on mike's for that reason. Please tell me that MeFites aren't responsible for the sudden influx of pottymouthed leaderboard usernames?

Weirdly, I just had the same sort of 'haven't I read this before' reading this comment and this one near each other in my Recent Activity. Like "didn't I just read another comment by Jessamyn about swearing?"

I also took an embarassingly long time on whatever my second word was without the clue.

I think I was better at this before I started playing it every day. Now I'm second guessing myself with things like "mike/joon woudn't choose that word" when I have no idea what mike or june would actually choose.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:41 PM on January 4

I got so confused. I thought after I did joon's word that it would automatically give me mike's. So I started doing it, quickly got to about the same place that I had just gotten on the last word, was all WTF? and typed in the answer, and found that I was doing the same puzzle over again. So then I went back, made sure I was on mike's, and AGAIN quickly got to the same place that I had just gotten on the last word, was all WTF? and typed in the answer, but that wasn't it! So I wasted a try and also by that time was completely discombobulated. Also I think I might be getting the flu. Please let me not be getting the flu.
posted by HotToddy at 3:02 PM on January 4

Hah, the word cloud for one of them has the answer for the other one in big-font. Makes sense.

Hope you don't have the flu. Plenty of water/tea with honey, and rest! [on edit: choice of drink would be eponysterical.]
posted by not_on_display at 3:06 PM on January 4

The eponym was chosen when I had the flu and was drinking one. :)
posted by HotToddy at 3:14 PM on January 4

Good God. I went and had a look at the pottymouth leaderboard usernames. I bet it's one person responsible for all of them.
posted by HotToddy at 3:27 PM on January 4

Is this a safe place for bragging? I'mma brag:

Well done phunniemee! You guessed it in 1:17, using 9 guesses. Come back tomorrow for another word.

::does dance::

This is officially my best one yet. (mike's)
posted by phunniemee at 10:52 AM on January 5 [1 favorite]

Yay phunniemee!! I had my best one ever on that word, too (but was incredibly thickheaded on joon's word, finally gave up and asked my husband to guess, and he got it grrrrrrr).
posted by HotToddy at 10:57 AM on January 5

10/0:44 on Mike's today. My best yet, too. High five!

o/*\o
posted by not_on_display at 8:48 PM on January 5

Yay n_o_d!!
posted by HotToddy at 9:19 PM on January 5

Gave up on both yesterday, got them both today! joon: 17/3:04 mike: 15/1:32
posted by jessamyn at 8:18 AM on January 6

Holy wtf.

Well done phunniemee! You guessed it in 0:54, using 8 guesses. Come back tomorrow for another word.

not_on_display, we must both be hungry.
posted by phunniemee at 8:33 AM on January 6

I just came in to say holy shit, phunniemee. That was impressive!
posted by HotToddy at 10:35 AM on January 6

Today's mike: Well done moo! You guessed it in 1:49, using 12 guesses. Whoo!

I'm glad that people keep posting in this thread, because it keeps reminding me to come back and play each day.

Some days I try to do all my early guesses with 3-letter words; other days I try to use fanciful words.
posted by moonmilk at 11:54 AM on January 6

I keep thinking it would be fun to try to make the guesses form a coherent narrative for as long as possible. But I don't think I have enough neurons to actually do that.
posted by moonmilk at 11:56 AM on January 6

Gave up on joon's, but got 14/2:06 on mike's. Joon's hurt cause I was just watching youtubes of my favorite pinball game from 1990, and that word was featured in that pinball game.
posted by not_on_display at 12:18 PM on January 6

Some days I try to do all my early guesses with 3-letter words; other days I try to use fanciful words.

I try to give all mine a theme. I think my favorite was -ic words. Misanthropic. Gnomic. Bucolic. Beatific. Anaphylactic. Tomorrow I'm planning to do words with double letters.

I lead an exciting life.
posted by phunniemee at 3:52 PM on January 6 [4 favorites]

Wahaha! Well done HotToddy! You guessed it in 1:59, using 11 guesses. That was Mike's word. My record so far is 7 in 0:59 and that was Mike's word, too. I like Mike.

I'm in awe of you people with your fancypants guess themes. My strategy is to try to remember the English alphabet.
posted by HotToddy at 8:58 AM on January 7 [1 favorite]

The trick to feeling awesome about this is to do them at like 9:06 in the morning when you will rank high on the leaderboard as long as you finish.
posted by jessamyn at 9:08 AM on January 7 [2 favorites]

I managed to get a sort of short story into each of my guesses today. Whoo!
posted by moonmilk at 9:59 AM on January 7

The trick to feeling awesome about this is to do them at like 9:06 in the morning when you will rank high on the leaderboard as long as you finish.

Sure, if you live on the East Coast. I'm not waking up at six.
posted by madcaptenor at 10:27 AM on January 7

Right, was just coming in to say that on Pacific time that means you have to start drinking your coffee by 5:30 at the latest which is distinctly at odds with feeling awesome.
posted by HotToddy at 10:31 AM on January 7 [1 favorite]

11/1:46 on joon's, and 23/4:58 on mike's. Glad I didn't give up on mike's, but it is kinda funny to see myself at penultimate slot at the bottom of the rankings, after I did so well at joon's.
posted by not_on_display at 11:27 AM on January 7

Oh, by the way, "Lexcavator," listed in the related posts below, is addictive. Install with caution.
posted by not_on_display at 11:29 AM on January 7 [1 favorite]

I got the dude I'm currently seeing hooked on this game. He's working through the backlogs, and this morning he texted me:

"manatee, fun, cut, boat, [spoiler]. 5 guesses, 22 seconds."

Aside from his boring taste in guess words, I think I've chosen wisely.
posted by phunniemee at 11:55 AM on January 7

Today's joon word is the word I misspell most. (Other than seperate separate.) So getting it relatively quickly wasn't nearly the triumph of spelling it right the first time.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 4:00 PM on January 8

I think I've chosen wisely.

I would be a little afraid to be dating a precog.
posted by jessamyn at 5:40 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]

I knew you'd say that.
posted by not_on_display at 8:10 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]

I punted on joon's today and got mike's in some decent amount of time.
posted by jessamyn at 7:26 AM on January 9

Same here! I almost had joon's, but couldn't scrape the exact word from the walls of my wordbanks.
posted by not_on_display at 9:08 AM on January 9

Exact opposite--I had to give up on Mike's but got Joon's in 14 (slow) guesses. I got so absorbed I forgot all about the peppers I was roasting and they're just about incinerated now.
posted by HotToddy at 9:20 AM on January 9

Joon's: 17 guesses, 1:26
Mike's: 19 guesses, 4:03

Mike's had me doing the "type four letters then 'a', 'b', 'c' ... " for a loooong time.
posted by not_on_display at 8:50 AM on January 11

Joon: 20/2:12, punted on mike's. ARARARARARARAR.
posted by jessamyn at 8:53 AM on January 11

Mike, 15/7:20, Joon 16/2:58. My goal is to stop wasting guesses going in the wrong direction in the alphabet.
posted by HotToddy at 10:36 AM on January 11

I do that "type four letters then 'a', 'b', 'c' ... " thing too, not_on_display. That's all that got me to mike's word today.
posted by moonmilk at 10:40 AM on January 11

Doing it early in the morning IS much better for one's self-esteem. (I'm not going to lie; I only look for names I recognize from here on the leaderboard.)

I have no idea where I came up with Mike's today. I swear it wasn't cheating of any kind, yet when I look at the list of words, I have no idea how I got there. I guess I've improved whatever code is running in my head so it can run in the background.

(Keep in mind, this is the code that knows the alphabet - so maybe it's one that should always be there. But I can't tell you how many guesses I've wasted trying to guess a fourth letter somewhere between k and t and realize that I, too, was going in the wrong direction.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:35 AM on January 11

You shouldn't need any boost to your self-esteem, Mike! Out of all of us you've been kicking the most ass lately.
posted by HotToddy at 12:49 PM on January 11

Grar. Today's word (joon's) took me 20 guesses! Jeez.
posted by misha at 12:06 PM on January 18

mike's word for today is the only one I've seen so far that turned out to be something I've never even heard of. What in the hell is ██████, anyway?
posted by reprise the theme song and roll the credits at 3:06 PM on January 18

I actually got today's in, I think, 14 and 16 guesses, but it was Mike's from the 16th that was a word I'd never heard of, and am pretty sure there's more than one cheater on the leaderboard for that day!
posted by HotToddy at 4:38 PM on January 18

I guessed them both which is unusual for me and especially after joon's word yesterday which was the first one I'd never heard of.
posted by jessamyn at 6:20 PM on January 18

Now that it's no longer in play: the word that baffled me was "fescue". Seems like Firefox has never heard of it, either.
posted by reprise the theme song and roll the credits at 10:58 AM on January 19

I guessed them both which is unusual for me and especially after joon's word yesterday which was the first one I'd never heard of.

Since it's already been played: I was slightly surprised that the first word I could think starting with ano- was anodyne.
posted by ersatz at 11:24 AM on January 19

Oops, I meant Joon's word. Animadversion. Anodyne came right to me, despite not really knowing what it means. But I'm quite sure I have never encountered animadversion before and refuse to believe anyone else has either.
posted by HotToddy at 2:04 PM on January 19

Wow, Jessamyn! Nice going today!
posted by HotToddy at 10:29 AM on January 20

14 and 16 today, though I should have had it in 13 (thought it was after a word it was actually before). Surprising how challenging this is. Fun, though!
posted by misha at 2:43 PM on January 20

I missed joon's word but got mike's in good time. Every time I think I'm losing my edge, I do really well. Glad that it remains variable in difficulty given the simple structure of the game.
posted by not_on_display at 7:55 PM on January 21

Woot! Got Mike's in 9 guesses. That's my best yet.
posted by misha at 12:57 AM on January 22

I got joon's in nine but it was so hard I came in second! Pow!
posted by jessamyn at 7:43 PM on January 22 [1 favorite]

I hate you people I haven't gotten one in under ten.
posted by sweetkid at 7:52 PM on January 22

*tries to look on the bright side*

This will be a great way to track my cognitive decline as I age.
posted by HotToddy at 8:24 PM on January 22

19/22 today. Sometimes I overthink the plate of beans. :p
posted by misha at 10:51 AM on January 23

Themes, just for fun:
animals (platypus, bonobo, lemming)
bad guys (villain, infamous, scoundrel)
birds (cardinal, flamingo)
unique (inimitable, quixotic)
high seas (bosun, frigate)
lodging (mansion, igloo)
posted by misha at 11:19 AM on January 23

[slight spoiler for today's mike word] Who would have thought my two semesters of Japanese would have helped me with something like this?
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:13 AM on January 24

It took me forever to get mike's word today, but I'm proud of how long I managed to stick to my theme. (I guess as 'moo' in case you want to go over there and marvel at my handiwork)
posted by moonmilk at 11:05 AM on January 24

I will have you know that my real time on that one would have been terribly impressive if my dog hadn't decided he had to pee rightthisverysecondhurryhurry just as I was closing in on it. (Also, very nice, moonmilk!)
posted by HotToddy at 5:44 PM on January 24

SIX!

Entirely due to lucky starting guesses ( ''cause I was trying to stick with a theme), but still I'M DOING MY HAPPY DANCE!
posted by misha at 10:25 PM on January 25 [1 favorite]

Mumblemumble sycamore mumble
posted by not_on_display at 3:48 PM on January 27

I know! That one was a killer, not_on_display.

Joon's in 9, yay!

Mike's in ridiculously high number, which I can almost justify blaming on spellcheck. Twice, it tried to 'help' me, and I didn't catch it in time. I am calling the spellcheck issue 'The Whelk.'

Oh, hey, am I the only one that gets interrupted, and then comes back and stupidly guesses a word that's been ruled out retroactively?

For instance (no spoilers, don't worry!), I might guess anemone and amiable and know the word is between them, but when I come back I guess, I don't know, phonetically or something, and submit amenable before my brain gets back in gear. It's like a selective dyslexia.

wouldn't dyslexia be a great daily word?!
posted by misha at 12:32 PM on January 28

I find that I do a lot better when the word is between two words that I have guessed in alpha order and not in reverse alpha order. So [again these are not spoilers] if my situation is that the word is between

dog
duck

I will have an easier time than if it is between

duck
dog

Also, in this game and nowhere else, I type all words that begin with E as if they began with A and I have no idea why.
posted by jessamyn at 12:45 PM on January 28 [2 favorites]

Fecking autofill. I wasted three tries because of it today and that's not the first time.
posted by HotToddy at 5:14 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

17/21 today. Ugh.

Thought I would solve Mike's word in no time, as I got to the first letter pretty quickly.

Nope!

I think I used every other Scrabble word beginning with _ before I finally got to the right one.
posted by misha at 9:41 AM on January 31

Huh. Looking at the guess histories, it appears I wasn't alone (Wow, McMikeNamara, you are my hero today!).
posted by misha at 9:44 AM on January 31

Bow before me
posted by bq at 9:47 AM on January 31

I am fairly confident that they're now just making shit up.

I don't know about the vocabularies you guys have got, but I'd consider mine to be fairly robust, and we've hit a few words-I've-never-even-heard-of lately. The game ceases to be fun if there's no way I can guess it. :(

I guess I'll just have to be a McMikeNamara fanboy. (I'm ok with this.)
posted by phunniemee at 10:31 AM on January 31

True fact: I guessed mike's word (after coming back to it after a while) and then had to look up what it meant. T be fair to myself, I did remember the meaning once I saw it, but I'm still not quite sure you could call what I have is a "good vocabulary" as much as a weird memory, a youth spent reading, and maybe a lot of crossword puzzle solving.

(And on joon's, I misspelled the final word multiple times and am continually glad they don't ding you for that.)

Also, if you want a hero (other than bq - because jeez), yesterday's #1 in mike's word (for both guesses and time) is also a Mefite. (I was informed of this via tweet last night and it made me laugh on the train in such a way that my fellow passengers were probably quite disturbed.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:47 AM on January 31

Also, I have no idea how I'm going to remember to play this now that the thread is almost at the 30 day limit and it won't show up in Recent Activity. I'm seriously thinking about putting it on my to do list.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:48 AM on January 31

Even as the thread fades into obscurity, we will always have this brief time together.
posted by moonmilk at 11:59 AM on January 31

Even as the thread fades into obscurity, we will always have this brief time together.


I almost said "I see what you did here" because I thought you chose one of the words here because it was one of today's words, but on checking it was just kind of close. Like I said, weird memory.

Now that we're coming to the end: I cheated on 'fescue' and have felt horrible about it ever since.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:25 PM on January 31

That is by far the best I have ever done on either word. By an order of magnitude.
posted by bq at 1:04 PM on January 31