Incorrectly disallowed words

[Ben Hunter]

If there's already a thread for this sort of thing I couldn't find it, so I'm posting it here.

In this game http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=12399 I got GAUZES, which was disallowed by Apterous Susie, but in this game http://www.countdownwiki.com/Episode_3819 (which Jon kindly found) it was allowed by Human Susie. Have the rules changed since then?

[Charlie Reams]

Somewhat unintuitively, this stuff is normally posted here.

[Callum Laddiman]

In a speetgoat game where I played Apterous Nude there was a selection that looked like this - PFTYRHOUL - and I got fourty but for some reason it was dissalowed! Stupid apterous.

[Kai Laddiman]

In a speetgoat game where I played Apterous Nude there was a selection that looked like this - PFTYRHOUL - and I got fourty but for some reason it was dissalowed! Stupid apterous.

FORTY.

[Phil Reynolds]

In a speetgoat game where I played Apterous Nude there was a selection that looked like this - PFTYRHOUL - and I got fourty but for some reason it was dissalowed! Stupid apterous.

Because, like 'dissalowed', 'fourty' is not a word. You'll find that not being able to spell is a distinct disadvantage on Countdown.

[Phil Reynolds]

In this game http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=12399 I got GAUZES, which was disallowed by Apterous Susie, but in this game http://www.countdownwiki.com/Episode_3819 (which Jon kindly found) it was allowed by Human Susie. Have the rules changed since then?

Same happened to me today. The term 'gauze' is frequently used in theatre as a synonym for 'scrim', which is a countable noun, as in: "During this scene change we'll need to drop in a gauze". Stupid, stupid OED.

[Clare Sudbery]

Is there anywhere online you can go to independently verify what's in and what's not? I've had a few disallowed by Apterous lately which have surprised me, for instance:

GOODS
BRASSED (as in "brassed off?")
REROUTING

OK, so I can see that BRASSED and REROUTING could be dodgy, but GOODS? As in goods for sale, goods yard, goods van, perishable goods? Surely not?

[Charlie Reams]

Is there anywhere online you can go to independently verify what's in and what's not?

There is an Oxford online dictionary but I don't know if it corresponds well to the ODE2r. You're quite unlikely to be encountering any real errors.

I've had a few disallowed by Apterous lately which have surprised me, for instance:

GOODS
BRASSED (as in "brassed off?")
REROUTING

BRASSED only occurs in combination. REROUTE is hyphenated. As for having GOODS disallowed, um, no you haven't.

[Phil Reynolds]

Is there anywhere online you can go to independently verify what's in and what's not?

Here.

GOODS isn't disallowed by Apterous (I just checked with the Stemmer). Either you had something else, or you didn't have the right letters for GOODS.

[Charlie Reams]

Either you had something else, or you didn't have the right letters for GOODS.

In fact you must've had something else, because doing a Word Search for GOODS shows it being offered by various people but not Clare.

[Dan Vanniasingham]

Insomniac to the rescue!

Clare had "dorritos" disallowed in round 9
Waldorf had "goods" disallowed in round 9 for obvious reasons

[Clare Sudbery]

Insomniac to the rescue!

Clare had "dorritos" disallowed in round 9
Waldorf had "goods" disallowed in round 9 for obvious reasons

Argh.

[hangs head in shame and embarrassment]

[Clare Sudbery]

Ooh, have encountered a problem... don't suppose anyone can help?

In the guidelines they send out to competitors, it says the following:

"Please be aware that comparitives of adjectives can be risky. Words like GREEDY do have specified next to them their logical comparative (GREEDIER, GREEDIEST) whereas words like LARDY do not. The rule of thumb for Countdown is that comparitives of all 2-syllable adjectives must be specified in the dictionary or they will not be allowed on the show."

So they seem to be saying that "LARDY" is a 2-syllable adjective which has no comparative specified... and therefore LARDIEST would be disallowed. Whereas I happen to know that it is allowed on Apterous, cos I have it on my list of stems (which I used Apterous to generate)...

Can anyone shed any light?

[Michael Wallace]

Ooh, have encountered a problem... don't suppose anyone can help?

In the guidelines they send out to competitors, it says the following:

"Please be aware that comparitives of adjectives can be risky. Words like GREEDY do have specified next to them their logical comparative (GREEDIER, GREEDIEST) whereas words like LARDY do not. The rule of thumb for Countdown is that comparitives of all 2-syllable adjectives must be specified in the dictionary or they will not be allowed on the show."

So they seem to be saying that "LARDY" is a 2-syllable adjective which has no comparative specified... and therefore LARDIEST would be disallowed. Whereas I happen to know that it is allowed on Apterous, cos I have it on my list of stems (which I used Apterous to generate)...

Can anyone shed any light?

Looks like their information is out of date - LARDIER and LARDIEST are both specified in the ODE2r.

[Clare Sudbery]

Aha, I hoped it was something like that. Thank you.

[Clare Sudbery]

Something else that isn't stated in the guidelines...

When adding -ER to verbs, do they have to be specified in the dictionary, or is it one of those one-syllable things, or what? For instance, a BAKER is one who bakes. That'd definitely be in the dictionary, but what about an INSTILLER or a FLOPPER? Hmmm, I suspect they have to be specifically specified no matter what.

[Adam Dexter]

I got the 9 letter word LEARNINGS... which I could see how could be used... hmmmm disallowed... interested to see I'm the first person to have offered it!

[Michael Wallace]

Something else that isn't stated in the guidelines...

When adding -ER to verbs, do they have to be specified in the dictionary, or is it one of those one-syllable things, or what? For instance, a BAKER is one who bakes. That'd definitely be in the dictionary, but what about an INSTILLER or a FLOPPER? Hmmm, I suspect they have to be specifically specified no matter what.

Verbs like that have to be specified. The one syllable rule is only for comparatives (and even then we have shenanigans, cf. FUNNEST).

[Jon Corby]

Did I see GOTHIC disallowed somewhere the other day? That's wrong, it's definitely okay.

[Clare Sudbery]

It was

Did I see GOTHIC disallowed somewhere the other day? That's wrong, it's definitely okay.

It was me, in my daily duel day before yesterday. I doubt it'd make that much difference to my overall score if I got given the points for it though. And anyway it makes sense to me that it might be capitalised. I thought it was dodgy when I declared it.

[Jon Corby]

It was

Did I see GOTHIC disallowed somewhere the other day? That's wrong, it's definitely okay.

It was me, in my daily duel day before yesterday. I doubt it'd make that much difference to my overall score if I got given the points for it though. And anyway it makes sense to me that it might be capitalised. I thought it was dodgy when I declared it.

The main entry is capitalised, but there is (at least) one definition given with without capitalisation. It's definitely fine.