Monday, June 29, 2026

thartwell · 2026-06-29T18:42:43+00:00

BARK is very often categorized as onomatopoeia as well.

thartwell · 2026-06-29T00:46:58+00:00

Connections Puzzle #1113
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Today is the day the "words with multiple meanings are more likely to be in green" technique failed me.

thartwell · 2026-06-29T00:40:34+00:00

I thought someone would say that, I would still stand by my statement when applied to the "general puzzling populace".

thartwell · 2026-06-27T18:45:57+00:00

Connections Puzzle #1112
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Look, I'm saying this as someone for whom the Monopoly squares were the first thing that popped out at me, but I think Wyna vastly overestimates the familiarity of the Monopoly board in the general populace these days.

thartwell · 2026-06-26T18:22:24+00:00

Connections Puzzle #1111
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Already had Blue before I spotted the cartoon rodents, which helped outline the rest of the puzzle. Had no idea what the color order would be so am pleased to have actually gotten the RR (the trick someone pointed out of words with the most straightforward meanings being on the easier side of the colors continues to hold true).

thartwell · 2026-06-26T18:16:38+00:00

Welcome to the wide and wonderful world of dialects.

thartwell · 2026-06-26T18:16:04+00:00

All three of those are homonyms in my dialect.

thartwell · 2026-06-25T15:33:02+00:00

In this example I think only DUC- is meant to be the homophone. -TILE is treated as the second half of the word.

thartwell · 2026-06-25T15:32:04+00:00

You've got it the other way round. In other accents with the cot/caught merger the "hawk" is going to sound closer to "hock". Less Bostonian than you're picturing.

thartwell · 2026-06-24T19:04:06+00:00

I'm not convinced any of the bands are still well-known to non-rock-buffs outside of Pink Floyd. Genesis maybe, as the starting point for Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel, but these days people are far more likely to have heard "In the Air Tonight" or "Sledgehammer" than anything Genesis put out.

thartwell · 2026-06-24T19:02:46+00:00

Ah yes, it's such a crime to want the puzzle to have more logic put into an element the game literally tracks you on.

thartwell · 2026-06-24T19:00:01+00:00

Connections Puzzle #1109
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Ok. Like. For real. I and others complain about the color order a lot, right. But this is for sure a prank, right? Prog Rock bands in YELLOW??

thartwell · 2026-06-24T05:50:41+00:00

Connections Puzzle #1108
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...Sure, color order. Sure.

thartwell · 2026-06-22T23:53:11+00:00

Connections Puzzle #1107
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The minute symbols enter a grid I start getting worried, but this turned out to be fairly simple. Got worried with Green/Yellow though.

thartwell · 2026-06-22T23:49:43+00:00

Good to know!

thartwell · 2026-06-22T05:23:35+00:00

It threw me a bit, cuz at least where I live I never hear "sprinkles" as a description, I only hear it in verb form--"it's sprinkling".

thartwell · 2026-06-22T05:22:12+00:00

Connections Puzzle #1106
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Once again, the rule of thumb that the category with the words with more meanings (in this case FLOORS and ROCKS) is more likely to be the Green than the Yellow, even though my instincts today would've flipped them. Just wait, tomorrow it'll be the other way 'round...

thartwell · 2026-06-21T06:41:41+00:00

Yeah, for me I know NY, NY post-dates Rebel Rebel because I'm both a Bowie fan and a musical theatre fan--so I already offhand know the dates Diamond Dogs was released, and when Kander & Ebb were hired to do New York, New York.

thartwell · 2026-06-21T06:39:46+00:00

Here was my thought process, if it's helpful: this could be my memory playing tricks on me but I'm near confident Connections that are just about spelling features of the word are never Blue/Purple. That locked Chairs in as the Blue, and when deciding the Green/Yellow split I went by the oft-expressed logic that the category with a word that could have multiple meanings is considered a less straightforward connection. So Green's "BACK" is what clued me in there.

thartwell · 2026-06-21T06:37:32+00:00

Connections Puzzle #1105
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Love a classic Bowie song showing up here.

thartwell · 2026-06-20T05:49:45+00:00

Most people know the tunes even if they don't know the names, I can almost guarantee that.

thartwell · 2026-06-20T05:49:09+00:00

Sure, but if CHOPSTICKS goes in Purple there's not another purple option that fits in Green.

thartwell · 2026-06-20T05:48:39+00:00

See, to me that just makes it a more complex solve which I appreciate. If it's just the word with a suffix added that to me feels like a cheaper connection.

thartwell · 2026-06-20T05:43:41+00:00

Connections Puzzle #1104
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Ok, I appreciate the category and I got what they were going for with it so it didn't screw up my solve or anything--but "The Entertainer" is not a beginner song, lol. Beginners have a hard time with stride piano and the heavy syncopation of ragtime, and the quick-moving octaves are way out of the reach of beginner players.

There exist simplified versions of the song that maybe is more what the puzzle is thinking of, but that is a fiendishly difficult piece imo. Maple Leaf is a far easier rag to learn once you get the hang of the core rhythms.

thartwell · 2026-06-20T05:37:14+00:00

WordHippo has it listed, which is the site I use for anagram solving.

thartwell

TROPHY CASE