New Scoring

[sewaneesue]

You're brave, redpicker. I also have long solve times, because I select the longer puzzles, so that I can score higher. But they are headachy. I see that Hootmon seems to be taking a well-deserved rest, but Mersey is still competing!

[redpicker]

redpicker, please explain going "back to the next day". How could one do that?

Simple. I don't close the window until I solve the puzzle. If there was a record for "longest" time to solve a puzzle, I'd have that one. I isn't uncommon for me to go to bed with a puzzle open, particularly if I have used all 5 hints and still can't figure it out. After sleeping on it, I always figure it out. I just don't let ridiculously long solution times bother me much.

[sewaneesue]

redpicker, please explain going "back to the next day". How could one do that?

[sionnach57]

Yes! I have been choosing longer puzzles all this month, with a view to maximizing my average puzzle score. So, of course it would be nice to have this acknowledged in a monthly contest.

[redpicker]

sewaneesue, I understand, now. I don't keep up with mine (although I wish the website would let you go back more than two months). Before the new scoring, I was actively improving, to around 300. With the new scoring, I jumped past 300 and currently I am able to keep it above 400.

I just take the puzzles as they come. It has been quite a while since I haven't been able to finish one, although some I have had to come back to the next day. Often, if I distract myself doing something else, the answer to a clue that I couldn't figure out will become clear when I return.

[sewaneesue]

redpicker, sorry if my wording wasn't clear. I meant whoever averaged the highest score each month. These folks are unrecognized (I'm not one of them). For example, briang, crabstick, kellnerin, and stonnach have very high average scores, ranging from 900 to 1200. Do you tally your average score? Mine has risen to 850 because I play the long puzzles, but sometimes I can't even finish them because they are so hard, and I run out of clues!

[admin]

Highest Average Score might be an option down the line as a third contest, as long as it doesn't prove confusing.

[redpicker]

Dear Administrator, could there also be a Highest Scores competition? There is already a Fastest Scores competition and Highest Accumulated Scores competition.

By "Highest Scores competition" are you talking the player who made the highest score on a single puzzle for the month? Or, something else? I can see a competition for the highest score for a single puzzle, as with the current scoring system, this would be a combination of speed and length for the puzzle, and would encourage the playing of the longer puzzles. I like the idea. If you mean something else, I don't know what you mean.

If adopted, the current "Highest Score" competition would have to be renamed to "Highest Accumulated Score" to avoid confusion.

[sewaneesue]

Dear Administrator, could there also be a Highest Scores competition? There is already a Fastest Scores competition and Highest Accumulated Scores competition.


Mersey is in the lead today for March's highest accumulated score. But it's neck and neck with him/her and SweetCC and Hootmon!!

[PatienceCrabstick]

Sue, not any more - I've not been in the mood the past few days so my ranking is slipping. And, LOL, you're right about those +800 second puzzles. It really does seem like 90% of them are about landscapes and/or the sea, with long vocabulary lists of colors, birds, trees, and flowers. It makes them easier to solve - you can fill in "mountain" for any 8-letter word in the solution and you'll probably be right!

[sewaneesue]

Patience, we're neck and neck!! And you've always been a super high scorer. When those very long nature quotes began, I hated playing them because they gave me headaches and I got zero points. I'm playing them now and averaging 800 points! Therefore, my headaches are not nearly so bad now.

[SweetCC]

I haven't even been looking at the statistics, I mostly just play. That isn't to say I'm not competitive. I love setting the new record on solve time for a given puzzle. I tend to play a lot more of the shorter puzzles because they feel like less commitment than the longer ones. As I've said before, I play to relax my brain. I like that even when I feel like I'm fumbling through everything else in life, I can still solve an Acrostics puzzle. It's reassuring.

[hootmon]

I like your comments. The Juggler is very fast but the new format means that playing short puzzles means lower scores per puzzle. My average time has gone way up because I like the challenge of the longer puzzles. The short puzzles are fun, but are often repeated, meaning you are just plugging in an answer from your brain instead of really working to solve

[sewaneesue]

We're only one week into March. But, jugl11 is still the fastest solver. The highest average scores today are: briang 1147, crabstick 989, kellnerin 976, and stonnach 918. Just as important as these scores is paying lots and lots of games, like mersey, hootmon, and sweetcc do. As you know, hootmon and sweetcc have been burning up Puzzle Baron Acrostics. Us players have in common that we love figuring out words. If someone thinks that I should not post any of this, please let me know. Stay safe.

[sewaneesue]

halfdutch, I have seen your name over and over, having set many new records. glad to see you back playing.