Solving Strategy - Third Last Letter Is An 'I'

[MadDoctor]

I used to try this one on a regular basis, but lately it hasn't helped at all. I'd pretty much forgotten about it till I got this quote.

"Most human beings have an infinite capacity for taking things for granted. "
— Aldous Huxley

I was stuck for ages. I finally resorted to this long forgotten strategy and, ta da, it worked.And it only took me 1072 seconds to solve it. I didn't have any 12312145 letter pattern words in my list either. I tried checking. I think I will note CApACity

Any other tips that help out when the usual fails?

[Eureka]

Thanks for sharing this, MadDoctor. I'd never have thought of it, but have now noticed with many long words, it is often the case! I've been trying to come up with an unusual strategy to share, but I can't think of anything. I am sure everyone is familiar with the methods I use. Some patterns seem to come up frequently for common words like "that", "people", "which", "always", etc. I think the more cryptograms you do, the quicker the patterns emerge. I still haven't gotten to the point where I can solve the whole puzzle in my head, like some people on here. Maybe my brain just doesn't work that way or I simply need more practice!

[LLapp]

Here are some frequently used words with recognizable letter patterns:

123345677 = haPPineSS (9 letters)
1234225 = bEtwEEn (7 letters)
1213456789 = EvErything (10 letters)
1234516 = NothiNg, PerhaPs, InherIt (7 letters)
12345627 = aNythiNg (8 letters)
121345674 = EvErYbodY (9 letters)
123425 = aNyoNe (6 letters)
12 314 = He wHo (2-3 combo)
12 324 = dO nOt (2-3 combo)
12324425 = tOmORROw (8 letters) -- especially when you also see a 5-letter word starting with the same 2 letters -- "TOday"
123244567 = nEcESSary (9 letters)
123455453 = beGINNING (9 letters)
123242567289 = cIvIlIzatIon (12 letters)
123345226 = hOLLywOOd (9 letters) -- especially when the speaker is an actor, director, screenwriter, etc.

[kahvecowgirl]

1233411--success is also very easy to recognize, but almost ensures the quote will not be worth solving.

[MadDoctor]

There are already threads dedicated to Letter Patterns a new one for Word Patterns. I was looking for other odd-ball schemes that seem to help now and then when you get stumped.

[LLapp]

One thing I do when I get stumped is check the difficulty level. If it says "easy," then I figure I was overthinking it and I erase everything, then restart using only the most common words. This has helped me many times.

Another thing I try if I'm totally stumped is to type any letters at all into the squares, without trying to decode anything. This really is a last-ditch desperate tactic, but for some reason I notice the letter patterns better when I see the letters inside the boxes instead of underneath them. Plus, with random typing, there's a chance I may type a correct letter, and that helps too. More often than not, though, I use this tactic just before giving up and clicking "Play."

[LLapp]

MadDoctor, here's one more in line with what you were looking for:
When two words are hyphenated as a unit and the first word has 4 letters, try "SELF" for the first word.

[Fudi]

Something I did early on at this site when I got stuck was to print out the puzzle and then work on it using pen and paper. I don't know why that sometimes helped, but it did back then. Maybe because I didn't feel the time pressure when I was working that way ... I haven't used that trick in ages, though. I'm not actually sure if your puzzle time continues to accrue when you're off the site and come back later and solve. I'm thinking it does?

[oddcouple]

"Something I did early on at this site when I got stuck was to print out the puzzle and then work on it using pen and paper. I don't know why that sometimes helped, but it did back then. Maybe because I didn't feel the time pressure when I was working that way ... I haven't used that trick in ages, though. I'm not actually sure if your puzzle time continues to accrue when you're off the site and come back later and solve. I'm thinking it does?"

Yes, Fudi. Once you start a puzzle the time continues until you solve it or the maximum time has elapsed. If you never go back to it, the puzzle is regarded as unsolved and affects your monthly solving percentage. But if you abandon it, your average time for solving doesn't change. Example: Quote is being worked on but your wife calls you for supper. You take 30 minutes to eat and clean up afterwards. That 30 minutes is part of your solving time if you return and complete it. Permanently abandoned, your average solving time doesn't change.

[Fudi]

Thanks, oc. I thought that's how it worked. Though, admittedly, I had no idea how it worked when I first started playing here. I probably thought, then, that I'd found a little loophole. But probably not, actually. I think I wasn't worried about my time, then, so much, or the stats, generally. I just was frustrated when I couldn't finish a puzzle. (I've gotten over that ... and happily just press Play and move on when I can't solve one now.) Even though the time pressure was still there, it didn't *feel* like it was, to me, when I was off-site, just solving a paper puzzle. So it was magical thinking on my part, I guess. But still, sometimes, it helped me find a solution when I otherwise couldn't. So maybe it's something that would help MadDoctor if he found himself stuck again.