Semantle: Can you think like a computer?

also there's apparently a reddit but i think you knew that
https://www.reddit.com/r/Semantle/

Just got my friends onto it and they're trying today's, they've been stuck on marvellous, amazing, breakthrough, eureka. After 200 guesses they've got onto religion but despite being Christian haven't made the link yet. It's pretty entertaining watching them try and figure it out!

I don't know if I'm the typical type of user, but I wouldn't use an on-page chat. Too much possibility of random assholes and spoilers. And keeping stuff simple seems like the best idea to me.

I solved Semantle #21 in 132 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 5.82. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #10. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 20.87.

My route was baby, then medical terms, then deliverance which put me on the right track.

I'm desperate. I've got a whole screen of green but where is this going?? On #105.

I solved Semantle #21 in 88 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 21.53. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #4. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 41.68 (985/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

This one was a little tricky, despite the fact I solved it in under 100. My brain just wasn’t going there until I started plugging in all the related words I could find.

37 today, personal best!

ugh 92 today

I'd say the magic's gone, kid. But tbf anything less than a hundred is actually pretty good!

Every day around three I start counting down the minutes until the new semantle arrives.

Ahahahaha I gave up and checked the answer and now I'm so annoyed after spending all day at 994 but unable to just get all the way there. I was on the wrong track for a while because I got high scores with NIGHTMARE, DREAM, and TRAGEDY, which seemed to lead another direction.

On #21 I got a (low) green on my 2nd guess, then doubled the score on my 3rd by typing its antonym, which was very exciting but didn't help me at all in the end, as I took 399 guesses to get the word. Oh well!

I got stuck in a very similar rut to in orbit, stuck in the 800s with tragedy, calamity, misfortune and similar for ages. Even when I branched out to religion via rapture & armageddon it took me a long old time.

It's past midnight so I could do #22 now but I probably should go to bed at a somewhat reasonable time instead.

I solved Semantle #22 in 134 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 6.54. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #9. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 2.12. https://semantle.novalis.org/

satisfying, i usually tap out once im over 100ish or so guesses. had prob two dozen guesses in the top 90% for this one

I solved Semantle #22 in 60 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 4.50. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #20. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 2.97. https://semantle.novalis.org/

I couldn't wait until the morning, my first half decent score.

for a dyslexic who frequently misses words when typing and is a complete idiot. I feel like I'm getting quite good at this!

gave up on #22 despite having many many little green lines including 998/1000 - couldn't quite find that last mental zag, just kept zigging

I solved Semantle #22 in 25 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 2.12. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #11. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 21.00. https://semantle.novalis.org/

woo! also probably never topping this score again lol. The solution was imo very similar to the only green word I got, so I thought at most it would be another green - wasn’t expecting it to be actual word

when I get to 25 I'm going to bake a cake

Incredible feat!

fuck this sucks

I solved Semantle #22 in 173 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 1.52. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #22. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 21.53 (113/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

i had cleared 30% similarity by guess 32, and just kept grinding and couldn't get the precision needed to find the right word.

gah, this one took me 208.

I'm starting to know when I've won, even before the screen changes - I start to get a sense for which words are too close to what I've already entered, and then when I hit on a word with the right amount of distance, and connections to everything I've typed in so far, it just feels right.

389 for #22. Synonyms, man.

I gave up at 104 but I had been at 998 and 997 since the 50s.

I also said the word out loud and thought I entered it, but had not.

I solved Semantle #22 in 85 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 1.10. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #7. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 38.83 (988/1000).

…I started guessing synonyms around my 75th guess and zeroed in on it!

Personal stats are likely at some point -- they're in the top-five or so requested features. A leaderboard is not happening, because (a) the game is so deeply unfair and (b) it would be immediately filled up by cheaters, and (c) it's about the journey. But also it would require me to store stuff on the server, and that sort of programming is less fun than my day job.

"it's about the journey"

yep.

101 today, got to 970 within 30 but struggled after that. Think I put too much weight on synonyms, when I put an antonym in got it within 6 guesses.

Been stuck on 992 for 150 guesses, I have so much green pointing in one direction but either that's hugely misleading or there's a synonym (or antonym) that's eluding me.

Gave up today, frustratingly was 10 words away on my 28th guess but I wandered off the correct track, gah.

Ooooh got it in 66! That makes a nice change from recent hopelessness.

Very hungover, took me 205. Had a look at the nearest words and this one stood out as quite WTF: 872 footcandles 28.76 ?!?!?!

Forgot to do #21. Just got #22 in 14.

I was very close on #20 but never got it.

I solved Semantle #22 in 100 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 1.84. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #4. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 9.51. https://semantle.novalis.org/

emil.y that's hilarious! And..........inexplicable? Computers wtf.

the thing I'm realizing about synonyms is that I often tend to guess ten dollar words when the answer is a 5 cent word.

have to remind myself the answer is more likely to be simple, not shit like "sesquipedalian".

I was so mad yesterday because I knew exactly what the answer was looking forward, but I kept missing the synonym because I was getting too cutesy with it and the answer was of course much easier than what i was guessing.

ffs I guessed echelon, percentile, quadrant before I could think oh shit, "level"

Personal stats are likely at some point -- they're in the top-five or so requested features. A leaderboard is not happening, because (a) the game is so deeply unfair and (b) it would be immediately filled up by cheaters, and (c) it's about the journey. But also it would require me to store stuff on the server, and that sort of programming is less fun than my day job.

― David Turner (semantle), Sunday, February 20, 2022 8:01 AM bookmarkflaglink

that's awesome! and agree on the leaderboard, that would actually hurt my enjoyment of it a little. thank you for this new daily addiction :)

I solved Semantle #22 in 430 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 7.40. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #10. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 29.43 (895/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

And I cheated with a thesaurus. Was stuck on low (992) forever, tried all variations and antonyms, had a wall of green that all pointed towards ranking / grading. I never considered equality, though I've just tried 'equal' and it's cold, wtf. What were some words higher than 992?

surely using a thesaurus isn't cheating? lol I'm a total cheat if that is true. And sometimes I think using a thesaurus actually makes it harder in some ways!

well maybe not harder but it will send you in many more wrong directions

i used one last night but that was the first time and I also had a friend venting to me in a crisis so I couldn't focus like normal

it did cause me to waste guesses I woldn't have otherwise wasted as well

I think my definition of cheating would be using a thesaurus that was constructed using the same word algorithm semantle uses. But a human constructed thesaurus is a potentially useful tool if you use it well, but not a cheat.

I agree tbh. I mostly find it easier to just go from my own brain. it actually caused me to blow 30 guesses yesterday lol, and the thesaurus didn't pick u pthe right word.

Ah you can now see the top words after winning! The top ten is pretty bonkers imo and I'm not sure it would have helped me, even with a thesaurus.

good choice for baiting the hook for new players and for teaching people how to THINK LIKE A COMPUTER

hey dave you should post pictures of your pottery in here as it is fucking amazing