• Lodra@programming.dev
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    4 months ago

    lol I don’t know how anyone solves these puzzles. I’ve been trying for a week or so now and have failed every one. I need way more than 4 failure attempts!

    • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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      4 months ago

      The puzzles rely heavily on homonyms and using different sets of them where one of the words might fit in one group or another. Fir example one group might include bulldozer and backhoe so when you see that you immediately add “crane” to that group. Unfortunately there is also another group with bird names like parakeet, finch, and magpie that is actually the correct group for crane.

      • Emotional_Series7814@kbin.melroy.org
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        4 months ago

        And the tricky part is if, say, you know that “bulldozer, backhoe, crane” are working vehicles, so it is one potential grouping, and you also happen to know that “parakeet, magpie, crane” are birds but you don’t know what “finch” is and looking it up feels like cheating, so you just guess. So you guess “finch” is a vehicle and bam, wrong.

        spoiler for the linked puzzle

        I had no idea that “fluke” was a kind of fish, as well as a chance occurrence. So that caused a similar situation to the above.

        Sometimes you can use process of elimination with the other groups, but if you can’t solidly make a group of four (especially if you know you, say, have a potential bird group but you are aware you do not know that many birds; and likewise with a potential working vehicle group) you often end up guessing.

        And sometimes I just cannot figure out what category they are going for, even if I could place it given the category name. I am a native English speaker and like to think I am not below average intelligence.

        • Pandantic [they/them]@midwest.social
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          4 months ago

          I definitely have times like that. The other day, Mariah Carey songs was the topic and I had no idea, which wouldn’t have been a problem but one of the other categories stumped me as well, so there was no way I could win.

          • Emotional_Series7814@kbin.melroy.org
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            4 months ago

            Same issue as you! I wonder if this is mainstream knowledge I should be expected to have, but like most tech nerd types celebrities and pop culture are a gap in my knowledge (which, to be honest, I have no interest in correcting), or if this is honestly obscure stuff that manages to masquerade as mainstream knowledge because a big-name celebrity is attached to it. I mean, her high school graduation year is probably on Wikipedia but not something you should reasonably expect anything but her fans, former classmates/teachers, and family to know.

      • Lodra@programming.dev
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        4 months ago

        Ya that all makes sense. And I can see it when viewing the answers too. I just need to be allowed more wrong attempts to solve.

      • Pandantic [they/them]@midwest.social
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        4 months ago

        The one that got me like that was a couple of days ago. It was jug band instruments, and jug was one of the options but it went with something else, and it took me a while to figure out it was saw.

      • Lodra@programming.dev
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        4 months ago

        I sure do. And I can understand the groups afterwards. I think it’s just a struggle for my personal style of thought and analysis. I look at the words and can really only think of how to group them by related definitions. I still enjoy trying the puzzle though!

        • Zagorath@aussie.zoneOP
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          4 months ago

          I’ve never used it myself so I don’t know how helpful it is, but there is a “hint” button (💡) in the corner to help you out if you need a hand.

        • Pandantic [they/them]@midwest.social
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          4 months ago

          I will just say, I understand. This is one I struggle with too. Wordle is no problem, and I’m getting better at that word search one, but this one still gets me. I don’t know how you play, but if you don’t mind hints, check out the hint page and the comments.