"Display letter frequencies"

[puffybob]

I just noticed that you can uncheck a box that says "display letter frequencies" on each puzzle. Does anyone really do these puzzles without displaying the letter frequencies? That's unthinkable to me.

[azhang941]

I turned off letter frequencies for a few months. It's sort of a new challenge I guess, and you can still view the box summarizing the frequencies on the side. For the most part I noticed very little of a difference in solve time with the letter frequencies on or off.

[Descifrador]

I don't pay much attention to them. Part of MY approach to solving is to try to see if I can fit the most frequently ocurrinng letters in generall (E, T, N, etc.) , in the most likely places of words with certain letter sequence.
In fact, it would help my speed a bit if they were to remove the box with the stats to the right of the puzzles, so that each line could fit more words and I wouldn't have to waste time scrolling down to see the whole thing.

[puffybob]

Wow, that amazes me, azhang and descifrador -- I'd be utterly lost without those little numbers. As you may have noticed, Mohamm has sometimes left comments in the form of cryptograms, and I usually try to solve them when he does, but it takes me forever. (Of course, not having the autocomplete makes it harder too.) I agree, though, Descifrador, that having to scroll is a big pain on the longer puzzles. Sometimes I Ctrl-minus to shrink the screen.

[Descifrador]

Sometimes I Ctrl-minus to shrink the screen.

Ah, yes. I do that sometimes when I can plug the laptop to my TV. Other times I put on a pair of +4.00 glasses I bought for other purposes.

[azhang941]

Autocomplete is such a time-saver. Quotes that I can solve in 20 seconds or less here might take me 2-3 minutes to solve printed. I do wish though there was an option to turn off autocomplete for the purpose of practicing printed cryptograms.
Just in general, I find playing on 80% zoom makes almost every puzzle fully visible, although the smaller size may not be ideal for everyone. Also plugging into a TV to solve seems fun, I might have to try that sometime.

[Niall6556]

ok, I will do it