Search found 257 matches

by Simon Myers
Thu Nov 25, 2010 6:48 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: RE- or -ER?
Replies: 12
Views: 2551

Re: RE- or -ER?

A quick naive count (using my probably slightly out-of-date list) yields 307 RE- and 435 -ER conundrums. Of course, many of them are false positives (like REASONING and REDDENING, or SALTWATER and SCRAGGIER) and some are a win-win (RECLAIMER, REFRESHER). Can't always rely on those though, because th...
by Simon Myers
Wed Nov 24, 2010 11:38 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Cheating: What it is, and why you shouldn't do it
Replies: 257
Views: 195358

Re: Cheating: What it is, and why you shouldn't do it

Presumably it's cheating to have a list of your tables out in front of you when doing numbers games. But sometimes I write stuff down during the round, so is it cheating if something I've written from a previous round happens to help me in a later round, although I may not intentionally look at it?...
by Simon Myers
Thu Sep 09, 2010 12:43 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: General feedback
Replies: 284
Views: 52398

Re: General feedback

iii) As heretical as it sounds, some days I don't really want to do the Duel (like today's 15s Hypergoat). Is there a possibility you could enable the "decline challenge" button for the duel? Yes. Might want to have a think about this one before implementing it - what if you accidentally ...
by Simon Myers
Tue Aug 03, 2010 1:49 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Inserting Keys
Replies: 20
Views: 3730

Re: Inserting Keys

Dmitry Goretsky wrote:All topics and posts (c) 2010 Dmitry Goretsky. Quoting or replying without permission is prohibited.
Hey, how about a quote key?
by Simon Myers
Sun Jul 25, 2010 7:32 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Summer Open 2010 Week 5
Replies: 35
Views: 6337

Re: Apterous Summer Open 2010 Week 5

Open:

Tom Rowell 73 - 76 Simon Myers
Tom Rowell 68 - 98 Simon Myers
by Simon Myers
Sat Jul 17, 2010 2:06 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Summer Open 2010 Week 4
Replies: 52
Views: 7107

Re: Apterous Summer Open 2010 Week 4

Innis Carson 110 - 75 Simon Myers
Innis Carson 107 - 70 Simon Myers

Better numbers game performances might have given me a shot at a crucial with Innis, but he blitzed me on the conundrums anyway. Well played.
by Simon Myers
Wed Jul 14, 2010 12:32 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: You know you're playing too much apterous when...
Replies: 114
Views: 55808

Re: You know you're playing too much apterous when...

You know you're playing too much if you get excited when you see an obscure word "in the wild".
by Simon Myers
Tue Jul 06, 2010 2:00 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Should Technology Be Introduced In Football?
Replies: 121
Views: 9315

Re: Should Technology Be Introduced In Football?

So I'm just nodding the ball into the empty net. You can punch the ball, but that would still be a goal. Or you can punch me in the face, which is only a penalty. That's fairer? You don't improve anything by knee jerk reactions to everything that happens. Punching the ball away from the goal. Punis...
by Simon Myers
Sun Jun 27, 2010 1:52 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Summer Open 2010 Week 1
Replies: 69
Views: 9659

Re: Apterous Summer Open 2010 Week 1

Open result:

Simon Myers 111 - 46 Andrew Herbertson
Andrew Herbertson 54 - 69 Simon Myers
by Simon Myers
Fri Jun 18, 2010 4:22 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Summer Open 2010-Last minute registration
Replies: 68
Views: 9408

Re: Apterous Summer Open 2010

Dale Levell wrote:In please
Likewise.
by Simon Myers
Wed Jun 09, 2010 12:54 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Strange Games
Replies: 295
Views: 32596

Re: Strange Games

XX would be, but it's not in the current conundrum list IIRC. There are two nine letter words using XX, one of them is a plural. You can't set XX as an Omeletteundrum, because it has two answers, even if one is a plural. You wouldn't say SEATMINES is a valid conundrum now, would you? A fair point I...
by Simon Myers
Mon Jun 07, 2010 8:06 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Strange Games
Replies: 295
Views: 32596

Re: Strange Games

Charlie Reams wrote:
Nope. In fact QQ is a valid Omeletteundrum, so apterous was clearly feeling merciful that day. Couldn't think of any other 2-letter ones but others may exist.
XX would be, but it's not in the current conundrum list IIRC.
by Simon Myers
Mon May 17, 2010 9:29 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Derren Brown - The Events
Replies: 584
Views: 70662

Re: Derren Brown - The Events

Charlie Reams wrote:
Kirk Bevins wrote:I had memorised pi up to 257 decimal places at A-level and it was fun to recite it.
Necro'd.
<3 SMBC. Almost as good as PBF comics.
by Simon Myers
Mon May 17, 2010 6:28 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Feature requests
Replies: 1956
Views: 432322

Re: Feature requests

I think Simon has already suggested these idea, but I like them so much, I'm posting them again just to make sure they haven't been missed out/to check when they will be up. -Break down of top letters players by number of vowels, much like the breakdown for top numbers players by larges. -Breakdown...
by Simon Myers
Sun May 16, 2010 3:12 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Analysis of 4 large
Replies: 38
Views: 7570

Re: Analysis of 4 large

Wouldn't you be able to do this fraction method if you used brackets in the notes declaration, but not if you left it to the methodology thing, which doesn't have brackets and would leave you unable to commit to a non-integer? Nope, all the internal arithmetic is done with integers. The method inte...
by Simon Myers
Sun May 16, 2010 2:59 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Analysis of 4 large
Replies: 38
Views: 7570

Re: Analysis of 4 large

So basically, as i undertand, you are suggesting that clicking [2] [/] [3] [*] [75] would give you 50, but it would give you 2/225 because of bidmas. With BIDMAS, division and multiplication have the same priority so you read from left to right, giving you 50 (you can verify this by using a calcula...
by Simon Myers
Thu May 06, 2010 12:53 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Bug reports
Replies: 2157
Views: 435749

Re: Bug reports

Omelette scoring seems to sometimes have a problem for letters, as I beat the max in this round with a sub-optimal declaration.
by Simon Myers
Mon May 03, 2010 9:00 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Words You Would Have Thought...
Replies: 479
Views: 160640

Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Ryan Taylor wrote:
Michael Wallace wrote:
Ryan Taylor wrote:Shocking
Err...
That's at least some relief that the word exists, but quite frightening how bad my spelling is!
You're not the first to have made that kind of mistake...
by Simon Myers
Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:05 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: CountMax errors
Replies: 727
Views: 90928

Re: CountMax errors

PANFORTE is listed as some kind of cake, so I am guessing you could ask for two PANFORTES when ordering your pudding in a restaurant. PRONATES+F From what I can tell with my Google-fu, the plural of PANFORTE in Italian is PANFORTI, but I think its use in English is too uncommon (likewise the singul...
by Simon Myers
Fri Apr 16, 2010 3:54 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Feature requests
Replies: 1956
Views: 432322

Re: Feature requests

Any chance of making an ipad compatible version? Doesn't the Mac version work on such contraptions? Depends whether the iPad supports Java, which it probably doesn't. So yeah, if it works it works and if it doesn't then I won't bother to port it. I tried when I was in the Apple store on launch day,...
by Simon Myers
Tue Mar 09, 2010 9:23 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Masters (formerly COMA) 2010
Replies: 249
Views: 29801

Re: Apterous Masters (formerly COMA) 2010

Yeah I spectated those games "live" and the matchup would've made a very worthy final. Well played both.
by Simon Myers
Tue Mar 09, 2010 12:37 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Pro Ranks
Replies: 34
Views: 7020

Re: Apterous Pro Ranks

A couple of minor bugs - the page linked to on the apterous front page as being the new pro ranks is period 104885 dated March 8th, but that appears to be the pro ranks page that has been around the last few days at least. I think the correct page is period 104886 dated March 15th. Another minor bug...
by Simon Myers
Sun Mar 07, 2010 12:20 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Good idea for a variant?
Replies: 277
Views: 38031

Re: Another variant idea

Here's the beginnings of an idea I've had... I don't have the time to think about this in depth right now but an immediate thought to stop Q, Q, Q or always going K, A, I, etc is to have some limit on the numbers of each letter that can be played. For a 15-rounder you'll be playing a total of 50/49...
by Simon Myers
Sat Feb 13, 2010 3:22 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Largest non-max
Replies: 24
Views: 4338

Re: Largest non-max

Feel free to write the wiki page, as I cba. Enjoy: AEIOU - ARGENT AEIOU - ATTRNS AEIOU - BATING AEIOU - BATTER AEIOU - BGGING AEIOU - BLNDER AEIOU - BRIDES AEIOU - BTTERS AEIOU - CANTER AEIOU - CASTLE AEIOU - CHKRAS AEIOU - CLOSER AEIOU - CNTERS AEIOU - COSTED AEIOU - CREEDS AEIOU - CRKING AEIOU - C...
by Simon Myers
Fri Feb 05, 2010 4:33 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Masters (formerly COMA) 2010
Replies: 249
Views: 29801

Re: Apterous Masters (formerly COMA) 2010

In where appropriate please.
by Simon Myers
Fri Jan 29, 2010 3:18 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Feature requests
Replies: 1956
Views: 432322

Re: Feature requests

Or implement a "foe" feature like on the forum, I suppose.
by Simon Myers
Thu Jan 28, 2010 3:00 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Bug reports
Replies: 2157
Views: 435749

Re: Bug reports

Dunno if this is a bug but the "never been spotted" lists claim to update every day but hasn't been updated for some while...for instance SAUGERS and ARGUSES have both been spotted, yet remain on the list. I think a few of the statland pages aren't quite working as they should, including ...
by Simon Myers
Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:49 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Will anyone achieve a perfect score?
Replies: 67
Views: 6146

Re: Will anyone achieve a perfect score?

There was a thread (at least one) where people came up with possible shuffles that would result in nines in every round, while keeping the standard distribution of letters. This doesn't make it remotely likely of course, but I think it's theoretically possible. It should be quite easy to guarantee ...
by Simon Myers
Mon Jan 18, 2010 10:51 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Feature requests
Replies: 1956
Views: 432322

Re: Feature requests

Bash room. It's good. If two people are in there, and they both get it, maybe the next word should be offered immediately? Also, themes. e.g. 15 minutes of words that exceed a certain obscurity rating, 5 minute speed (10 secs / word ) and so on. This. Still not sure I enjoy the Bash Room as much as...
by Simon Myers
Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:33 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Feature requests
Replies: 1956
Views: 432322

Re: Feature requests

On the front page with the latest pencils, can you only show pencils obtained from English ODE games? (or at worst put the French stuff in another box.) I saw DESIGNEE in the list and thought that's worth learning until I realised it's invalid and was obtained in a French game. Or you could colour ...
by Simon Myers
Thu Jan 14, 2010 1:10 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Monosyllabic Conundrums
Replies: 46
Views: 4617

Re: Monosyllabic Conundrums

Gavin Chipper wrote:GRAUNCHED is another one.

STRAIGHTS is a 9-letterer but a plural so wouldn't be a conundrum.
GRAUNCHED won't come up as a conundrum on apterous either, as it has an anagram.
by Simon Myers
Tue Jan 12, 2010 4:17 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Buzzing for Conundrums
Replies: 47
Views: 5221

Re: Buzzing for Conundrums

If Michael's concerns are right, we may have a large increase in "stolen" conundrums, where player 1 buzzes in wrongly with RECCURING or PROPELLOR and player 2 then uses that incorrect guess to then get RECURRING or PROPELLER (etc). As far as guessing the first letter, sometimes you can do...
by Simon Myers
Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:42 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Scrabble puzzle
Replies: 8
Views: 2902

Re: Scrabble puzzle

sorry that the letters don't align properly Not sure what alignment you're trying to achieve but if you put it between the Code tags then the font will be monospace and should align the way you want. EDIT: Actually you might want to wait on that, because I'm not sure if Code tags let you change the...
by Simon Myers
Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:39 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Bug reports
Replies: 2157
Views: 435749

Re: Bug reports

I offered BODHRAN in the duel and it came up that I'd got a pencil. Checking the game the pencil icon didn't show and on this page it said the pencil hadn't been got yet. I thought that was because the duel was still being played by some and so it doesn't appear, as not to give the game away to oth...
by Simon Myers
Sat Jan 02, 2010 5:14 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Conundrum Affixes - A Statistical Approach
Replies: 26
Views: 3308

Re: Conundrum Affixes - A Statistical Approach

I've finally got around to doing the newly added apterous conundrums. There are only about 1100 of these so I've lowered the threshold for inclusion to 6 instead of 20. Due to the smaller sample there are a few differences between this and the main list. When the two lists are interpolated, the actu...
by Simon Myers
Sat Jan 02, 2010 2:25 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Feature requests
Replies: 1956
Views: 432322

Re: Feature requests

I've been scouring the many pages of this thread hunting down the better overlooked ideas from the past, and have some new ideas of my own. I thought collecting them all here would make things easier than having them spread over 13 pages. Variants and similar Lockdown - players type in the best word...
by Simon Myers
Sun Dec 20, 2009 11:15 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Keyboard or Mouse?
Replies: 9
Views: 2125

Re: Keyboard or Mouse?

Gavin Chipper wrote:I think that if you click on the screen, the vowel button is to the left of the consonant button, whereas it's the other way round on the keyboard. I think it would be nicer if they matched.
Without checking, I think it matches the show.
by Simon Myers
Thu Dec 17, 2009 8:09 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: What do you dislike most about Countdown?
Replies: 164
Views: 17044

Re: What do you dislike most about Countdown?

Liam Tiernan wrote:My suspicion is if there is any advantage to choosing first/second it will only be the top levels, in which case we're into quarter-final territory, where the chairs are chosen randomly anyway.
Not true, despite it coming across that way on the show.
by Simon Myers
Wed Dec 16, 2009 9:06 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Largest non-max
Replies: 24
Views: 4338

Re: Largest non-max

What I also find interesting are the words that despite being made entirely/mostly of nice letters, seem to be lacking in stems. IDOCRASE and GODETIAS are good examples, both only having one stem. Anyone got other words which fall under my description? I too find those interesting; the best "s...
by Simon Myers
Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:06 am
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Monday 14th December 2009 (Series 61, QF 3)
Replies: 18
Views: 2592

Re: Monday 14th December 2009 (Series 61, QF 3)

You missed GRANITES (99% obscurity rating, can't be right, surely) Yeh for some odd reason it isn't in CountMax. Meh. It's a bit of an oddity, this one and it depends on the vintage of the CountMax. At first it was included because it was (erroneously) included in the Official Countdown Words, but ...
by Simon Myers
Sun Dec 13, 2009 1:17 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Winter Closed Week 5
Replies: 58
Views: 6559

Re: Apterous Winter Closed Week 5

Early result for (I'm told) next week:

Matt Bayfield 0 - 2 Simon Myers

Matt Bayfield 43 - 60 Simon Myers
Simon Myers 58 - 31 Matt Bayfield
by Simon Myers
Sat Dec 12, 2009 1:23 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Strange Games
Replies: 295
Views: 32596

Re: Strange Games

I see. I played Prime in bullet numbers yesterday, and found that Carol was beatable in at least 7 of the 20 games. So I did what any right-minded person would do. I challenged Rex to a normal-time numbers attack. I've not finished the game yet, but needless to say, I ain't gonna win it. It wouldn'...
by Simon Myers
Sat Dec 05, 2009 3:09 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Winter Closed Week 4
Replies: 55
Views: 6485

Re: Apterous Winter Closed Week 4

Speed Demon

Simon Myers 2 - 0 Andrew Herbertson

Simon Myers 45 - 26 Andrew Herbertson
Simon Myers 54 - 14 Andrew Herbertson
by Simon Myers
Fri Dec 04, 2009 7:43 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Winter Closed Week 4
Replies: 55
Views: 6485

Re: Apterous Winter Closed Week 4

Championship Flight

Kirk Bevins 2 - 0 Simon Myers

Simon Myers 76 - 94 Kirk Bevins
Simon Myers 76 - 114 Kirk Bevins
by Simon Myers
Thu Dec 03, 2009 9:32 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Winter Closed Week 4
Replies: 55
Views: 6485

Re: Apterous Winter Closed Week 4

Speed Demon (actually week 3 result)

Simon Myers 2 - 0 Oliver Garner

Simon 58 - 50 Oliver
Oliver 56 - 61 Simon <- on for a max game (points-wise) but Oliver didn't notice and just managed to beat me to the buzzer.
by Simon Myers
Thu Dec 03, 2009 8:57 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Winter Closed Week 4
Replies: 55
Views: 6485

Re: Apterous Winter Closed Week 4

Speed Demon

Simon Myers 1 - 1 Nick Wainwright

Nick 46 - 55 Simon
Simon 38 - 70 Nick
by Simon Myers
Sun Nov 29, 2009 11:37 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Feature requests
Replies: 1956
Views: 432322

Re: Feature requests

In Superstats, could we see words that used to be unique, and perhaps the person that stole the uniqueness, following that, maybe a page of stolen uniques? You're pretty much asking for a list of all the words for which a player has earned a pencil. Some players have thousands of these, most of the...
by Simon Myers
Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:31 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Official Thread of Brag
Replies: 1176
Views: 166435

Re: Official Thread of Brag

Probably my best performance to date: http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=151979 . I had the conundrum but couldn't find the key in time. Against an easier opponent with a full 30s it might've been a max game. I think this is probably your best performance to date - including records of highe...
by Simon Myers
Sat Nov 28, 2009 3:50 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Official Thread of Brag
Replies: 1176
Views: 166435

Re: Official Thread of Brag

Probably my best performance to date: http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=151979. I had the conundrum but couldn't find the key in time. Against an easier opponent with a full 30s it might've been a max game.
by Simon Myers
Fri Nov 27, 2009 12:30 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Ranking the variants in order of difficulty
Replies: 13
Views: 2397

Re: Ranking the variants in order of difficulty

I think your list isn't far off in terms of the human apterous-playing population's general fitness wrt differing variants. Whether this represents true "difficulty" is up for debate. What I mean by this is that the majority of players practice particular variants, and that your list may c...
by Simon Myers
Fri Nov 27, 2009 12:18 am
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Largest non-max
Replies: 24
Views: 4338

Re: Largest non-max

On the subject of the best 8 letter stems, does anybody have a clue about which selection of 8 letters with no valid anagrams stems the most 9s? AEIOLRST, which makes a nine with 11 letters, looks promising. I think it probably is, and they are all worth noting. Are there and selections like this w...
by Simon Myers
Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:32 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Play Countdown online?
Replies: 32
Views: 3716

Re: Play Countdown online?

http://www.miniclip.com/games/anagram-magic/en/ Hmmm. Just tried that. Apparently RAVINES is not a word. :x Got addicted to destroying chumps that can only spot 4s and 5s. The selections are often quite poor, the dictionary is odd (HEPTANE is ok but GENITURES isn't), and my "conundrum" gu...
by Simon Myers
Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:28 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Game of the Week Noms: 23 - 29 Nov
Replies: 20
Views: 2612

Re: Game of the Week Noms: 23 - 29 Nov

Are multiple nominations going to be used as a means of voting? I'm not sure if that's a good idea. One may be deterred from nominating a game they think deserves mention but is not their favourite. It also favours games played earlier in the week as they have more opportunities to gain nominations...
by Simon Myers
Tue Nov 24, 2009 4:43 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Bug reports
Replies: 2157
Views: 435749

Re: Bug reports

This isn't a bug report, but anyway: For those of us with standard QWERTY keyboards, is there a quick way to enter Greek characters and accented vowels? Thus far, I can only think of: (a) remembering a stack of the relevant alt-codes for the upper case characters (b) copying and pasting individual ...
by Simon Myers
Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:23 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Interesting Contestants??
Replies: 24
Views: 3894

Re: Interesting Contestants??

It's ok,it's back (But doesn't always go on) Maybe it's my computer? I believe it's designed that way: Blocking the downloading of images a second time (so soon after the first) is a good way of reducing load on the server. It happens to all of us (except admin, maybe). ;) You'd hope your browser w...
by Simon Myers
Sun Nov 22, 2009 10:27 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Words you like like to get
Replies: 38
Views: 4544

Re: Words you like like to get

I came across XENOPHYTE whilst browsing the 2 pages of x words in my dictionary, so I looked it up on apterous, and was puzzled to find that it has been a conundrum just once; here . Any reason why its been used just the once up to now? (I couldn't find anywhere to post this, so thought I'd put it ...
by Simon Myers
Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:42 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Wilkommen!
Replies: 10
Views: 1399

Re: Wilkommen!

Feel free to name anyone at the finals who I forgot to add. Nice to see this forum set up. Well done Ben. There were quite a few more forum members present. You might want to include some of them. There was the lady in the green dress who got the conundrum in the first SF. I think her name was Dino...
by Simon Myers
Fri Nov 20, 2009 10:11 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Winter Closed Week 2
Replies: 50
Views: 4869

Re: Apterous Winter Closed Week 2

Speed Demon rd2

Innis Carson 67 - 29 Simon Myers
Simon Myers 40 - 82 Innis Carson

The second game is of some note as an 8/9 max game for Innis.
by Simon Myers
Fri Nov 20, 2009 2:45 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Largest non-max
Replies: 24
Views: 4338

Re: Largest non-max

PRAETORS/PRORATES (SEPARATOR, PERORATES, PRIORATES, OPERATORS, PTEROSAUR) if you choose 4 vowels. Otherwise probably just the 7 letter words here . There is another 8-letter word (aside from PRAETORS) that is never a maximum if you choose 4 vowels, can anyone else find it? EDIT: Sorry Kieran, since...
by Simon Myers
Thu Nov 19, 2009 3:26 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: ARTLEPOOL
Replies: 4
Views: 754

ARTLEPOOL

One night last week a few of us were in Aptochat (Kirk, Paul, DOD, Innis, Chris, James Hurrell and Shaun Hegarty) giving out scrambles to some tougher words for others to solve. I think the festivities can be found here , here (in particular) , and here . The series final conundrum looked quite fami...