Semantle: Can you think like a computer?

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/

interesting that my penultimate guess at 996 would have probably had me giving up if i’d come at it from a different angle. not sure idve made the leap.

I solved Semantle #30 in 139 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 0.28. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #95. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 62.64 (997/1000).

Best ever!

I solved Semantle #30 in 39 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 7.03. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #22. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 22.94.

Jesus, totally stuck on this one. Highest is 963, I have a definite subject area my greens are all in - military shit - but not everything there hits and can't seem to find the right tangent.

I solved Semantle #30 in 613 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 5.90. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #85. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 17.08. https://semantle.novalis.org/

ugh well i sure made a meal of that.

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

It's not about a strictly musical perspective though. Say you're reading a magazine article about music. If the article mentions the violin, then it's more likely to also mention the piano than it is to mention either the viola or the cello.

I solved Semantle #30 in 177 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 4.54. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #12. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 46.44 (979/1000)

Can’t tell if I’m getting better at this or not

I solved Semantle #30 in 51 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 7.63. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #12. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 22.83.

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.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Monday, February 28, 2022 4:09 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Totally same. I tried every band and orchestral instrument, musical terms, component parts like "reed" and "armature," and would never have guessed piano because I don't think of a piano as part of the orchestra (rightly or wrongly). Too much human brain!

One thing I think a lot is that often the answer is something much easier and more common/less specialist than I think it is. Except for IDEOLOGICALLY or whatever.

I solved Semantle #30 in 291 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 20.38. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #96. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 22.24.

High number of guesses because my first green bars were romance, fling, tryst.

I solved Semantle #30 in 172 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 6.69. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #163. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 17.64. https://semantle.novalis.org/

i was stuck for ages on movie, drama, bikini, watch lol how did I not get it until immediately after i got a green with secret

I solved Semantle #30 in 117 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 7.90. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #33. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 19.96. https://semantle.novalis.org/

I've found I'll quite frequently get it after a very cold guess, because at that point I'm searching around a bit more widely than just using synonyms for my top guess. Big exception was getting ideology when I knew it should be a different form of the word, that's my only jump from 999 to the correct answer I can think of. My route today was through crime and criminals, getting up to hackers and terrorists and assassins, then to the right answer.

route for me was via oft used helicopter, airplane, rocket, satellite, intelligence. if i’d hit intelligence at 997 without coming in via satellite, i would have been doing a lot of guessing in the wrong area!

Heh kinder that wasn’t my route (which was similar to emil.y’s) but I got it immediately after that last green too.

I’ve also found that I tend to waste a lot of guesses trying out different forms of a word which was very confusing today cause assassin was ranked higher than assassinating, but hoaxing was higher than hoaxer, and pretending was green but pretender was not even close to warm

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/440366-semantle-never-give-up/code

also:
https://lirnril.gitlab.io/stolen-semantle-mirror/

Tried it today for the first time, got it in 153. Interesting feeling to look at your old guesses and see how they're connected to the answer, especially the cold ones hovering around 25 similarity. Started to get it with "assassin" but still took me another 50 guesses to figure it out.

This was naaasty

I solved Semantle #31 in 158 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 3.26. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #65. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 19.99. https://semantle.novalis.org/

118 guesses. Not the easiest...