Getting the Error Message when the puzzle is solved correctly

[GriffinGirl57]

I've read several posts about having what you think is the correct solution but still getting the ERROR message when you hit submit (as well as several suggestions about how you can possibly check your work), but I have to say, I think there is something wrong with the programming. This has been happening to me more and more frequently (at least two or more times every time I am online). I'm pretty thorough about checking for errors and blank letters, I check numerous times, I delete words and ask for hints etc., etc. and yet I still get the ERROR message when I submit a puzzle. THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING. When it gets to this point I would very much appreciate the opportunity to see the puzzle solution. There must be some way to offer this option. If I'm asking for the solution without solving the puzzle, I wouldn't expect to be earning any points for it. Is that a possibility?

[darleneve]

This sounds like you have words that are in the wrong place -- sometimes its a the or an and that needs to be put in the right place.

[redpicker]

I have had this happen, too. However, I have always found an error in my solution. They can be difficult to catch, sometimes, but I always work on it until I find it. I have run across quotes that are incorrect. One that comes to mind was a quote on "modern mathematicians" of the 1930s where the quote included a word (I forget the exact word) that is popular with computing. According to the internet sources I consulted, the word was coined in the mid 1950s. I went further and found the quote in google books where their OCR rendering misread the word (and, consequently, had appeared in error on several other sites). I was able to run down an image of a page with the quote and found the error. It was something like the word "conning" being identified as "coming" (that is not the error, just an illustration) and with the quality of the printing, it was easy to understand the mistake, and since both words were legitimate words in today's vocabulary, it would be difficult to catch. I reported the error, but never heard anything of it. The quote, as given in the puzzle, doesn't make sense, but since the quote is wrong, to correct it would require changing all the clues, which I suspect isn't practical, so they either just left it or deleted the puzzle, I don't know. As far as making an option to reveal the answer is concerned, I am against it. With such a feature, it would be a trivial exercise for someone to write a script that did nothing but "harvest" the quotes and put all solutions in a database, where they could be used to enable people to achieve unbelievable solution times. While there are some errors is some of the puzzles, the problems that could arise from the ability to easily display the solution are worst than the disease.

[GriffinGirl57]

Thanks, Redpicker. That makes sense to me. However, for those times when I cannot find any error I made and the puzzle refuses to solve, I would really like to be able to see the solution so I can figure out if it was my mistake or the system's. As for solving times, I can attest that knowing the solution prior to typing does not necessarily lower solving time. I've seen several repeated puzzles and recognizing them has never helped me achieve the fastest time. My typing can be atrocious, my "g" key often doesn't register when I press it, sometimes I type entire words or phrases before realizing that my fingers have been poised over the wrong keys, etc. Conversely, there are times when I get virtually every clue immediately, make no typing errors, and I still don't earn the fastest time. I guess that's part of the game.

[SippyGurl]

hi!
having spent much time looking for elusive errors i suggest trying all those little words - as/is/us, if/i'm/in/is/it, ,etc... or, what/that, when/then, would/could, etc... that's where i usually find my mistakes. also found "TV" - but that may have been drop quotes or other type of puzzle. also, y or e at the end of a word. even though they waste time, like you i go and carefully read the quote and all the answers underneath, and also the first letters of those answers. as for fastest times, lol, i'd have to be first to do the puzzle - and i'm a pretty good typer! anyhoo, hope that you keep at it and have fun!