Semantle: Can you think like a computer?

Well, that was a little lucky: I solved Semantle #28 in 22 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 6.42. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #9. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 53.67 (983/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

I got the 995 blues.

yeah me too.
Yesterday's I was so close to getting, I think I probably assumed I'd already done all versions of that word, but hadn't.

Oh, FINALLY. My big blind spot was discounting adjectives and assuming nouns - I must have guessed every "ism" there is.

I thought I'd guessed every ist or equivalent but I guess not.

the answer to this thread's title is: no, I can't. I give up.

I gave up. top guess was 'political', must have entered every political persuasion bar cornish independence; I did try to think more generally and I had 'dogmatic' but couldn't make the link.

I solved Semantle #29 in 107 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 6.42. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #82. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 47.24 (581/1000).

wacky one, took me 82 guesses to get in the green and then 4 guesses later i had 999, and then i honestly thought i might not get it. expected it to be something directly related to violins at least, especially after yesterday had 996-999 all some variation of the answer itself

Got it in 44. Pretty straightforward once you get into green

Gave up on #28 but got #29 in 44 as well. Guessed a cluster of words in the twenties having to do with writing, got from there to poetic, which was almost in the green, and from there it was an easy few jumps to lyrical --> musician --> music --> guitar --> piano.

Yep, followed a very similar route

I solved Semantle #29 in 21 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 4.58. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #9. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 8.79. https://semantle.novalis.org/

dumb luck but felt good

I always guess "tree" first. only cos it gets me going and often ranges between 8-10 percentile

holy fuck, that was the easiest one for me yet

I solved Semantle #29 in 39 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 13.99. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #39. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 0.71. https://semantle.novalis.org/

only got in the top 1000 once...when I guessed the word.

that is awesome!

all of my guesses had to do with vehicles, and then pedal almost got me into the top 1000, but other things like 'pedal' weren't working, so I thought of a pedal for a piano, and...that was it

I solved Pimantle #4 with 229 guesses and no hints!

https://semantle.pimanrul.es

someone made a clone with a 2D visualization, though i can't say i got any use out of it at all

I solved Semantle #29 in 48 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 2.01. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #12. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 77.56 (996/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

Phew, much less agony than yesterday. This game either provides a nice little lunchtime (AEST) diversion, or completely eviscerates my day.

After 400 guesses on #28 — and being stuck at 995/1000 — I went to a family get-together and couldn’t get back in time to SURELY solve that maddening thing. DNF! Then…

I solved Semantle #29 in 30 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 6.01. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #28 (923/1000 woot). My penultimate guess had a similarity of 54.14 (826/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

…which is the best I’ve done and it felt pretty good.

Neanderthal, mine was 28, 29, 30: accordion >>> keyboard >>> bingo!

I solved Semantle #29 in 80 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 1.25. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #40. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 58.69 (918/1000).

Fun one.

I wonder if the pimantle guy is a Mel Croucher fan.

I am now stuck on the 999/1000. I am absolutely baffled as to what it can be given that I guessed the words that obviously seem like the closest words.

I'm baffled that you're baffled! It's amazing how this game reveals the different types of semantic leaps people make. I didn't get 999 but I got a very similar one in the high 990s and then immediately guessed the answer. But then there have been games where I've had several in the high 900s and still given up.

no i understand being baffled! i had pretty much 990-999 and for ages was unable to see what it could possibly be - i guess if you work your way up via a particular route, it can kind of obscure some other possibilities

I solved Semantle #29 in 98 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 20.22. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #84. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 72.63 (991/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

Phew, scraped in under 100.

Lots of extremely niche words in the top 1000, which explains the difficulty (for me anyway) in getting the first green.

I solved Semantle #29 in 114 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 7.72. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #75. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 73.12 (993/1000).

There are so many words related to music that it could have easily taken me 30 more guesses to get there, or indeed 30 fewer.

I solved Semantle #29 in 125 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 15.51. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #71. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 44.22 (428/1000).

I like the text he's recently added to the preamble:

By "semantically similar", I mean, roughly "used in the context of similar words, in a database of news articles."

I find it really helps to keep that in mind. It's not about synonyms, it's about words in the same wheelhouse.

I solved Semantle #29 in 149 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 8.83. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #30. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 24.66. https://semantle.novalis.org/

i definitely quibble with the semantically similar calculations -- thinking about my guesses for #29 that the game said were way off base, and then finally getting it, I was like, "uh, those two words tend to go together quite a bit?"

I solved Semantle #29 in 58 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 34.50. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #32. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 63.51 (970/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

Nice and simple! My first guess was both good for me in being close but also a bit of a distraction, lots of guesses about art before making the leap to music. And then of course my brain tried sousaphone before it tried the real answer.

29 guesses for #29

certainly found the last few a bit easier than the ones about a week ago

426 bloody guesses for today's. 371 before I got a single green, yet millions of 20-30+ colds. (mainly furniture and house related objects, "sofa" was top of the list for a long time )

(ie Semantle no. 29)

Puzzle 24, today's: I am at 999/1000 lol

Sorry 29, not 24.

I solved Semantle #30 in 162 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 9.82. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #27. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 6.78. https://semantle.novalis.org/

hard one!

Despite hitting the green at guess 6, I'm still completely lost at guess 99.

I solved Semantle #30 in 322 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 26.76 (509/1000).My penultimate guess had a similarity of 15.14. https://semantle.novalis.org/

my first two greens were guess #1 and guess #143

I solved Semantle #30 in 93 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 11.69. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #14. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 29.21 (718/1000).

I got 963/1000 at #19 and then it was a slog

Yep - 963/1000 is my top green so far, and I've tried everything and am no closer

My new rule is to give up if I haven't got it by 200 guesses, so I don't destroy the entire day with it. Accordingly, gave up on this one despite a sea of green - but I wasn't conceptually that close to getting it, highest guess was 982/1000. Tough one indeed!

I'm baffled that you're baffled! It's amazing how this game reveals the different types of semantic leaps people make. I didn't get 999 but I got a very similar one in the high 990s and then immediately guessed the answer. But then there have been games where I've had several in the high 900s and still given up.

― Zelda Zonk, Sunday, 27 February 2022 07:13 (yesterday) link

Now that I know the answer I remain baffled. The 999/1000 word was “violin”. I thought for sure that meant it had to be viola or cello. From a musical perspective piano is so much further away than any number or other possible musical instruments or words.

I didn't get 'violin', but I did get 'guitar', so I just immediately thought common musical instruments. Of which, piano was the first to come to mind.

I solved Semantle #30 in 137 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 8.37. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #26. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 11.28. https://semantle.novalis.org/

Trickier! But not brutally unfair I don't think - again, was stuck on a certain line of thinking and had to make a little conceptual nudge sideways.

Now that I know the answer I remain baffled. The 999/1000 word was “violin”. I thought for sure that meant it had to be viola or cello. From a musical perspective piano is so much further away than any number or other possible musical instruments or words.

Yeah I was really fixated on "members of the orchestra" for this one - whereas if you're looking more broadly at "musical instruments" then it shakes loose a bit I think.

I was down to racking my brain for orchestral instruments past timpani before I took a flier on piano on that one.

not finished the last few - flailing around in the 700s/800s - pleased to get back on track.


I solved Semantle #30 in 33 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of -1.15. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #5. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 56.11 (996/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/