tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2571384408188974384.post389029398245355031..comments2023-06-02T12:22:11.624+10:00Comments on Playing Letters and Numbers: My tussles with SamGeoff Baileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11150696891132723600noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2571384408188974384.post-14971097240704815132012-03-13T00:15:31.907+11:002012-03-13T00:15:31.907+11:00Oh, my; I had not thought that my posts might come...Oh, my; I had not thought that my posts might come across that way. It certainly intend to continue indefinitely with this blog. Thank you for your comments, Karen, and I'm glad that you have been enjoying it.<br /><br />Thanks also to Mark -- I look forward to hearing about how you do. The good thing is that you'll inevitably improve through the process of playing, so at some point you'll be able to look back at your performances and see that in action.<br /><br />And Sam: Thanks for your expansive comments, and the friendly competition throughout. You've definitely kept me on my toes!<br /><br />And heh about the other finalists. *chuckles*Geoff Baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11150696891132723600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2571384408188974384.post-71823290357222176272012-03-12T22:18:36.717+11:002012-03-12T22:18:36.717+11:00Thank you Karen! Yes, Geoff's last blogs did ...Thank you Karen! Yes, Geoff's last blogs did have an eerie air of finality...Sam Gaffneynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2571384408188974384.post-73043518996867442792012-03-12T21:39:36.841+11:002012-03-12T21:39:36.841+11:00Geoff, I had wondered whether Friday/Saturday may ...Geoff, I had wondered whether Friday/Saturday may have been the last of your blog posts so I am pleased that you are going to continue. I, for one, am definitely a regular reader and, in fact, look forward each day to reading your latest post. <br /><br />Along with Mark, I might also work on learning my 75 times tables. I am fairly good on the numbers for the most part, although occasionally I am let down by my lack of speed with multiples of 75. I am less concerned with multiples of 25 because I find that easier but there is definite room for improvement with my number work.<br /><br />P.S. I thought at the time, and I still do, that POLEDANCE was a stroke of genius!Karen Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12924754962528782434noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2571384408188974384.post-39413479453216106312012-03-12T13:35:57.712+11:002012-03-12T13:35:57.712+11:00Hi Geoff, I enjoyed your statistical breakdown!
I...Hi Geoff, I enjoyed your statistical breakdown!<br /><br />I do feel that I came back from my holiday much stronger on letters play. The first reason I would put this down to is freshness, which I find helps me on letters rounds in particular (though it doesn’t influence numbers rounds greatly). The other reason is that I worked on my technique a little, making an effort not to get bogged down for too many seconds trying one idea (e.g. -IEST). I actually started to run out of steam at about Ep391 from doing two episodes per day, I would be surprised if doing so many in a short space of time had any benefit.<br /><br />You raise some interesting points about full monties - I always find it interesting that so many nine-letter words get solved in conundrums, yet only three were found in letter rounds by contestants in all of Series 4. My theory on that has two elements:<br /><br />1. It is much easier to find a nine-letter word when you are looking for it. When you only have, say, a six or seven-letter word, your attention is often fixed on looking for a word one letter longer, particularly when you have a strong opponent sitting next to you in a tight situation. Having said that, there is no guarantee that I would have found MIDSTREAM or ESTABLISH if they had been conundrums.<br /><br />2. Friendly letter mixes. One full monty that came up in the series was LATENCIES – a word like this is likely enough to be put up by Lily because of its common letters. The difficulty with these nine letters is that they can be shuffled around in all sorts of ways, nothing specific jumps out. Contrast this with the components of EQUIVOCAL, which have very few ways of being assembled, and are unlikely to be found in a letter round.<br /><br />Incidentally, I have the worst Full Monty performance of all the L&N series winners, only finding ABDUCTION. I can't count the number of times I've seen Andrew, Tony and Jacob huddled together, pointing and laughing at me. I missed MIDSTREAM and ESTABLISH, along with three other words that I had never heard of at time of filming. I do feel that I was a trifle unlucky (along with my Ep345 opponent, Andy) not to have POLEDANCE counted - even if it's not in the dictionary, one still has to find it!<br /><br />As for Mark, it would be great to see you putting your answers up on this blog, and learn your 75x table ASAP! Next would be the 25x table - this requires triple the work, but is crucial in mixes where 25 is the only large number.Sam Gaffneynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2571384408188974384.post-61175655125190317172012-03-12T06:16:18.834+11:002012-03-12T06:16:18.834+11:00Ok, at the risk of embarrassing myself, I'll h...Ok, at the risk of embarrassing myself, I'll have a go at writing down my answers and posting them on your blog. I'd better start learning multiples of 75!Marknoreply@blogger.com