Semantle: Can you think like a computer?

YES, finally. Got #34 in 70.

I solved Semantle #34 in 119 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 14.86. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #15. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 3.59. https://semantle.novalis.org/

Another grind into the 100s, first dozen greens were almost entirely unhelpful. 'Size' but not mass or length or width or height so I don't know why I persisted with 'volume', but that led me towards 'sales'.

I solved Semantle #34 in 11 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 3.49. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #11. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 20.01. https://semantle.novalis.org/

incredible luck, but I was owed

the weird thing is that haggle to value is super straightforward but haggle wasn't even top 1000.

I solved Semantle #34 in 46 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 1.24. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #19. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 13.42. https://semantle.novalis.org/

This game isn't really about synonyms at all. They can point in the right direction initially or to find the final word when you are close, but if I'm not making clear progress with each series of guesses, it's time to switch up the strategy.

Also, words in the 800s aren't really that close sometimes. Often you are just as well off thinking of a completely new path, than trying to get from 800 to 1000 if you are stuck.

I solved Semantle #34 in 39 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 9.89. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #27. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 23.20. https://semantle.novalis.org/

the highest green I got was 626 with profit and it didn't take many guesses after that because it was very close really.

Gave up at 256. I'm just getting worse everyday lol

Well, I was feeling good about my 54, but looks like most of you beat me. Bah.

I actually think my prime enjoyment game is where it takes me about 90-odd. Just scraping in before the hundred, lots of guesses to play with, not too frustrating but difficult enough to provide a challenge.

I solved Semantle #34 in 139 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 8.82. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #36. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 24.27 (57/1000).

Good lord it took a lot of circling around for me to get there.

I solved Semantle #34 in 91 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of -0.80. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #57. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 48.66 (996/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

took ages to hit green!

words 510 to 513 are the highlights today

I solved Semantle #34 in 79 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 5.06. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #33 (straight in at 943!) My penultimate guess had a similarity of 20.53.

I solved Semantle #35 in 24 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 13.93. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #13. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 33.73 (770/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

meh I shoulda got this sooner

I solved Semantle #35 in 113 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 21.56. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #22. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 20.94. https://semantle.novalis.org/

stuck on 998

I don't know the word xwoba.

it's from Shaggy's "Boombastic"

Mr Xwoba Xwoba

57 for me. Took over 50 guesses to get in the green but it was quick from there

I solved Semantle #35 in 52 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of -2.51. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #7. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 55.80 (997/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

thought for a hot second it was gonna be the Shane Warne Memorial Semantle

I solved Semantle #35 in 54 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 6.47. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #16. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 5.55. https://semantle.novalis.org/

just got that one out of nowhere but also feel it was a decent enough guess. my nearest prior guess was 826.

47 swing 35.88 826/1000
38 play 31.87 707/1000
41 game 30.32 645/1000
16 wood 27.72 443/1000
48 frame 27.40 408/1000
32 wooden 25.68 165/1000

interesting how much cricket dominates the domain list (id been wondering about US/UK corpus bias) RIP Warne

also it’s a word testing the question of whether you get multiple meaning domains - here would bat as in pipistrelle also feature in the wordlist - no is the fairly obvious answer - these are semantic fields - but my early “going up” scores with “tree” and “garden” did have me wondering.

actually that’s baloney cricket doesn’t appear until 864. ignore me, it’s usually best and i haven’t had much sleep.

Interesting how completely one-sided Semantle seems to be when it comes to words with multiple meanings. I mean 'bat' as in the flying mammal is not exactly a rare usage, but there's virtually no association with it at all in the top 1000. 'Echolocate' comes in at 693.

yeah that’s weird. i’ve read over the word2vec document again and my assumption that the semantic domain will define the meaning of the word (where there are multiple meanings/polysemous) looks wrong. so it must be predominant usage in the corpus?

ZZ I tried exactly that after arriving at the answer from the other direction ball, pitch, racquet - I then tried 'echolocation' which was 599 and 'bird' which was 477 but 'fly' was cold

I solved Semantle #35 in 80 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 8.25. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #13. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 43.34 (953/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

Could have chopped 40 guesses out v easily. Oh well.

I solved Semantle #35 in 188 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 10.64. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #24. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 48.38 (986/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

Fuck this game! Got 'play' early on (after mistyping 'fly'); 'game' yep, 'sport' no, 'rugby' no, 'football' no - ah well better not try any other sports then. Bastard.

I solved Semantle #35 in 61 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 22.98. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #12. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 6.99.

Total fluke!

lol ledge i would have been livid.

it’s all about the angle you come in at. small increments at low levels are really unhelpful and you have to force yourself to almost start from scratch and expand the net of “good” guesses. multiply the angles.

I solved Semantle #35 in 26 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 15.42. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #13. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 25.87 (203/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

Apparently I did come at it a different way to you lot, my path was toward the flying animal - my first green hit was 'bird', so I just tried some other flying things and got lucky with the cute lil night friend.

I eventually got there with ball which I should have guessed earlier than I did; I did guess hit which isn't there wtf, though some derivatives are.

Gave up on 418 today.

Ridiculous number of greens (43) which were a combination of words about warfare, weapons, woodwork tools and gardening tools. .

So, totally see how those relate to what the answer is, but I am not sure I'd have ever got there! Well done those who did.

emil.y just swanning in and laughing their way at all the constraints everyone else is wailing about. it’s fascinating how you can create a sub domain out of the main domain and get to the right answer (this happened to me with “bold” where i’d assumed “advertising” out of my words).

ofc get on the wrong tack and omg such a slog.

Got there in 62 guesses today

Gave up today, best was mitt at 959. With my British head on didn’t think about baseball as I’m sure I would have got it if I’d thought of that context.

I got a bunch of early hits on guns, rifle - but no other army/violence/injury words - then “projectile” led to “ball” and it was a relative waltz from there, but in my mind was definitely cricket rather than baseball - “wicket” scored quite highly i think

I solved Semantle #35 in 59 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 11.28. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #4. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 46.21 (974/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

I went from wood to door to doorknob to opener and stump and as soon as I tried some cricket words is was straightforward top hits from there!

I solved Semantle #35 in 69 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 22.98.
My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #5 with “home”.
Got all the way up to 477 at #35 with “bird” and 864 at #65 with “cricket” while being totally on the wrong track (or was I?) (I was thinking flying animals), and then, when I wanted to rule out the *other* meaning with “wicket”, I struck gold. But ironically, it turned out to be a flying animal after all!
My penultimate guess which was “wicket” had a similarity of 46.21 (974/1000).

That’s a pretty great encapsulation of what makes this game infuriating/fun. I suddenly feel sorry for the poor computers tasked with trying to make sense of this dumb fkn language.

I solved Semantle #36 in 30 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of -2.47. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #27. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 44.35 (990/1000)

I felt like I was doing a much better job of swivelling through possible domains this time (allowing that there’s always a great deal of luck involved in getting onto the green).

I solved Semantle #36 in 45 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 7.38. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #11. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 39.12 (986/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

I solved Semantle #36 in 139 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 16.88. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #42. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 3.99. https://semantle.novalis.org/

i got 2 words above 800 and struggled. getting the answer didn't really feel like "getting" it even though the answer isn't really far off from what i was stuck on.

I solved Semantle #36 in 63 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 3.98. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #36. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 20.42 (317/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

slow start but fairly quick once I got into the greens

I solved Semantle #36 in 114 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of -5.71. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #42. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 54.97 (996/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

I solved Semantle #36 in 86 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of -12.47. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #36. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 54.97 (996/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

I solved Semantle #36 in 76 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 6.26. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #53. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 52.26 (995/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

Can't be unhappy with that but I wish I'd tried my customary 'option' sooner, it only took me three guesses after that.

I solved Semantle #36 in 66 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 24.42 (766/1000) with “input”, and I had “team” (558/1000) at #5, but I still couldn’t get back in the green with any of the workspace or management speak words I tried until “process” at #47, and I only saw the light at #51 with “diversity” (874/1000).
My penultimate guess ”array” had a similarity of 32.60 (960/1000).

I solved Semantle #36 in 66 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of -8.42. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #10. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 35.45 (976/1000). https://semantle.novalis.org/

it took me another 10 guesses after select which is what I presume ledge meant by customary 'option'.

lol nice score, breastcrawl!

I solved Semantle #36 in 44 guesses. My first guess had a similarity of 5.74. My first word in the top 1000 was at guess #35. My penultimate guess had a similarity of 52.26 (995/1000).
The word that clinched it this time was when I hit on menu.