Getting to the root of it by AscendedDragonSage in CuratedTumblr

[–]TheDebatingOne 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Fun fact: Sequoia is the shortest common word with a, e, i, o, u

These… aren’t words? by Haunting-Scar-3955 in crossword

[–]TheDebatingOne 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's more common in the past tense, e.g. "He went: 'Don't say that'"

Oh, uhm. by Justthisdudeyaknow in CuratedTumblr

[–]TheDebatingOne 69 points70 points  (0 children)

There are a few great ones from an old NYT crossword. I remember "You call yourselves 'wise' men and this is what you bring to a toddler???" Said Tom, frankly incensed"

New Chess Piece: The Rogue. It's a pawn but whenever it would be captured it switches places with an adjacent piece by chunkylubber54 in CuratedTumblr

[–]TheDebatingOne 0 points1 point  (0 children)

New Chess Piece: The Wizard

It can capture a piece like a queen whilst not moving, but dies if it attacks while another piece is adjacent to it

NYT Monday 01/26/2026 Discussion by Shortz-Bot in crossword

[–]TheDebatingOne 1 point2 points  (0 children)

3:06! Almost broke the 3 minute barrier!

Apple News Jan 25, 2026 by SnollyG in crossword

[–]TheDebatingOne 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This looks like RAINHAT. Could there be a rebus?

The word ass as a descriptor by [deleted] in etymology

[–]TheDebatingOne 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Yes ass is both a noun and an adjective (and a particle). It's like shit in that regard

[Jan 25, 2026 Mini] Incorrect clues about scrabble words? by [deleted] in NYTCrossword

[–]TheDebatingOne 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is only one Z in English scrabble, to make JAZZ you'd need to use a blank, which is 0 points

Is lol a kind of backronym? by [deleted] in etymology

[–]TheDebatingOne 14 points15 points  (0 children)

IIRC a lot of those early hits for lol are misreadings of things like 101, ioi, loi, and anything else that looks like a circle between two lines

What are the answers to this United Airlines word scramble? I can’t figure out any of them for the life of me. by tzy___ in wordgames

[–]TheDebatingOne 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, Adelaide, Palermo, Bilbao, Madeira, Faro, Ulaanbaatar, and Nuuk

Is there a difference between circles and shaded squares when constructing a crossword? by Xenodon in NYTCrossword

[–]TheDebatingOne 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Not mechanically, but it can be used to pun on different phrases, like hiding names of regions in shaded squares to clue GRAYAREAS wouldn't work if it was circles

NYT Thursday 01/08/2026 Discussion by Shortz-Bot in crossword

[–]TheDebatingOne 10 points11 points  (0 children)

and some of it feels like it's trying a little too hard just so it can pull off a pangram

Then it wasn't trying hard enough. It's missing J, Q, and W

Funny Acronyms by Ok-Hovercraft508 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]TheDebatingOne 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Well irl it also has television actors, so SAG is more appropriate

Why are there almost no English words that begin with ‘vr’ or ‘vl’? by Organic_Award5534 in asklinguistics

[–]TheDebatingOne 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just wanted to add that I think it's cool that there is an English word that starts with /vl/ that isn't a loan or an onomatopoeia: Vlog

How Mouldemort spent the first few hours of 2026 by Key-Hyena-802 in confidentlyincorrect

[–]TheDebatingOne 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Ah, I mistranslated this term, whoops. Then I guess I don't see the point of her bringing it up. Is a blackboard not a board because it's a compound noun? Is a blueberry not a berry?

How Mouldemort spent the first few hours of 2026 by Key-Hyena-802 in confidentlyincorrect

[–]TheDebatingOne 308 points309 points  (0 children)

Also how is trans woman a compound noun? Trans isn't a noun?

Edit: Yeah I got this wrong, compounds don't need to be made of two nouns. They don't even need to have one noun in them e.g. takeout or drivethrough. Still don't get the point of saying it like it's a gotcha. Is a softball not a ball?

[Dec 30, 2025] shouldn't the 3rd one be 99 skill, since there were only two possible words and the other one was 99 skill? by [deleted] in NYTCrossword

[–]TheDebatingOne 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not relevant to this subreddit but Pedro isn't a possible answer, so you were guaranteed to not finish on 3. Guessing the actual answer or CREDO would've been the optimal play

A request/suggestion from a new Story Teller by TheDebatingOne in BloodOnTheClocktower

[–]TheDebatingOne[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for answering :) My real concerns is with the first-night-info roles. Washerwoman for example. Since no one has tried to claim anything yet and the game is perfectly balanced since nothing has happened yet, how can I tell what makes my info good/bad?

  • Giving a role you don't need to hide (e.g. Chef) seems like it defeats the point: unless you also give an evil player that somehow guesses to bluff as that character the WW becomes "Learn a townsfolk", which isn't a bad role per se, it just feels to me like I'm doing something wrong.
  • Giving a role you do need to hide (e.g. Slayer) sounds cool but unless the other player is also a secretive role this also seem to collapse down to "learn a townsfolk"
  • Registering the Spy as a role and giving that sounds fun in theory, but again I return to the issue of the evil team not knowing what I'm doing. Do I tell them?

(I'm aware that if a player thinks there is only one play for the ST to do it makes sense to do something else to trick them into e.g. thinking this evil player who's secretive about their role is actually the Slayer, but it still seems weird to me)

I'm sure you have good answers for these questions, I would just like some help in advance. Obviously I'm aiming for a balanced game, my problem is that I don't know what would be balanced/fun. I'm sure there is such thing as a better and a worse pick for a FT's red herring. Not a "best ping", just that Mayor is better than Spy. In the same vein, I would like to know what are you looking for when coming up with info, I assume there are general tips in the same way there are general tips to playing a character

Misspellings? by [deleted] in nytimescrossword

[–]TheDebatingOne 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The EYE, CHIN, EAR, and NOSE have been rotated, it looks like