New Long Word?

[Spike1007]

I just saw ENCEPHALOMYELORADICULITIS. I couldn't put the thing together in time (I was too slow in filling in the -RADI- part). Anyway, this is a 25 letter word that I don't remember seeing before. Anybody else seen it here before?

[the cryptogram keeper]

It looks new to me!

[lalatan]

Nope, Spike, I haven't seen that one before and probably wouldn't have strung it together because of the -radi- part (I couldn't help thinking it was rather radiculous). I was thinking of you this week when I found FRIGGATRISKAIDEKAPHOBICS and 3 days later FRIGGATRISKAIDEKAPHOBES. You were the first to find a variant of those words. Recently I played BALLISTOCARDIOGRAPHICALLY, which you found first. I remember how fantastic that was at the time. I think that was the first 25 letter word anyone found. Do you recall if it was?

I think you are one of the all-time long word greats and pioneers. I'm glad to see you're still in the game.

[Spike1007]

lalatan, thanks! I don't remember if the form of FRIGGATRISKAIDEKAPHOB- I found was 25 letters, but I remember being very surprised that adding FRIGGA- actually worked. (In retrospect, finding the -RADI- should have been easy compared to that.)

You're the reason I got into long words here, especially using the frankenword approach. I'm glad that you're still here too. The number of boards with your name listed for best and/or longest word is amazing. Are you still setting records for records? (Metarecords?)

[lalatan]

It was crazykate who inspired me to come up with frankenwords after she crafted SPHAEROCOBALTITE. I thought there must be more such words and so there were, even more so now.
I'm still collecting best/longest word records in 4x4 and 5x5. I'm coming up to a major milestone so I'm starting to get impatient to get there. I find that there are sometimes no games worth playing since a host of speed players started adding long words to their games months ago. If there are no worthwhile games to play after 50 clicks I stop playing and sometimes try again later. After playing Wordtwist for 10 years I really thought I'd be bored by now but I'm not and take a crack at it almost every day...

[Naboka]

Nothing to do with "new long word," but what the hey... hey?

Apparently, there is uncategorisable, but not categorisable.

Unless my 3 failed tries were the result of my incessantly flawed typing.

Cracks me up the odd things here.

But, that's part of what makes it so much fun. The unexpected. The random unpredictability.

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PS: lalatan, doing the best that I can to recylce long words on 4x4 boards, but am too often just not up to the task.

[Naboka]

lalatan, your comment about clicking through 50 games made me wonder: what criteria do you use to determine when to play?

For me it's usually easy: 130 UR words properly distributed, or someone scoring over 600 points. Though, sometimes I do games with fewer words for various reasons.

I've played games with a 16 letter word discovered and almost nothing else there. Meager boards hiding a jewel. You'd never know it was there looking at the initial stats.

There are lots and lots of games with (for example) a high best word of 10 points--but with several UR words of 7+ letters available. Even the worst 7 letter UR word gives you 12 points.

Seems like getting the best/longest word that's only 7, 8 or 9 letters still counts as a record. And there are far far more boards like that available.

Though 12, 14, 16, 18 point words do hurt an ultra-high average score, they're the bread and butter of accumulating records here.

Just curious.

[lalatan]

Nothing to do with "new long word," but what the hey... hey?

Apparently, there is uncategorisable, but not categorisable.

Unless my 3 failed tries were the result of my incessantly flawed typing.

Cracks me up the odd things here.

But, that's part of what makes it so much fun. The unexpected. The random unpredictability.

PS: lalatan, doing the best that I can to recycle long words on 4x4 boards, but am too often just not up to the task.

That has happened so many times in the 94k games I've played that I don't take note of it anymore. Like you it just prompts a guffaw from me, a "That's WordTwist for you." thought and I move on. Consequently I can't think of particular examples. I think IRRETRIEVABILITIES is one. That is accepted but not RETRIEVABILITIES.
I came across the most glaring disparity I've seen recently: I found PINEALECTOMISE. Only worth 16 pts. I kept it anyway since I never saw or played it before. A week later I found EARTHSHATTERING for 28 pts. Ok... I never heard pinealectomise spoken in my lifetime but the other I heard plenty of times. Then to put the cherry on the top, when I searched my "words I set records with" folder I got 27 pts for PINEALECTOMIES in 2018. That's WordTwist for you.

Lol, thanks for your efforts to recycle games for me on 4x4. I don't judge you at all when you fall short. I know you're doing your best. I play 5x5 most of the time; I switch to 4x4 after 50 tries. Then, if I have to take 50 tries on 4x4, I quit playing, usually for the day. It's like being a fish in a home aquarium; you're never sure exactly when the food is going to come.

lalatan, your comment about clicking through 50 games made me wonder: what criteria do you use to determine when to play?

I was asked this before and I declined to divulge that on a public forum. I'm still sticking with that decision. It's my interpretation of the stats combined with my past successes in bettering the current record holder. For example, I've taken you on in a few games where the stats told me there might be room to find a better word. I have never bettered your word even once so if I see you're the record holder with a 14 pt word, I will pass on playing that game. The only exception is people who have accused me of cheating like the trogs. If there is a sliver thin hope of beating them I'll try it every time.

Enjoy the idiosyncratic games...

[crazykate]

It was crazykate who inspired me to come up with frankenwords after she crafted SPHAEROCOBALTITE.

I don't remember that at all! If I saw this board again, I probably wouldn't find that word. But I'm glad my momentary success inspired you

[Naboka]

(don't know how to do partial quotes so...)

From lalatan

"I was asked this before and I declined to divulge that on a public forum. I'm still sticking with that decision. It's my interpretation of the stats combined with my past successes in bettering the current record holder. For example, I've taken you on in a few games where the stats told me there might be room to find a better word. I have never bettered your word even once so if I see you're the record holder with a 14 pt word, I will pass on playing that game. The only exception is people who have accused me of cheating like the trogs. If there is a sliver thin hope of beating them I'll try it every time."

Gotcha.

There are things I've discovered that I sometimes feel like posting to help people improve their games, then I realize doing so would muddy the waters for others who have put in the time and effort to learn the same stuff. So...

Sometimes I finish a game and realize that I missed the longest/best word. Thought I'd typed it and really didn't. Or I failed to pick up the non-, re-, de- etc. My immediate thought is,
"there goes one to lalatan." Not to mention, a lot of the long/best words I find are esoteric scientific/medical stuff that often don't get into public circulation because only the first 16 letter word is noted publicly --same with the 30, 31, 32, 33 etc point words. So a lot gets hidden from view. It might be worth playing the games and finding the weird ones because they're going to show up again soon enough. If I don't recirculate the board, there are a handful of people who will see that I almost did and jump on the chance to do it.
Including anyone running computer assists.

Just played a game where you had a 16/30 with re-ster..... Would have probably gotten the ster... but not the re- part if I hadn't known you had found it. Too often my brain gets foggy and I lose track of what's what and in what sequence. I play a lot of words that aren't on the board. The letters are there, just not the right sequence. Most of the long/best words result from educated guessing rather than following the existng letter trails. I seldom, seldom, seldom actually see the word. Thus a lot of dumped boards, crash and burn.

Sure am glad I haven't told anyone about How to Beat Your Father at Wordtwist co-authored by Cesar Chavez and Kim Jong Un. Available on Amazon for 20 easy payments of 399.99.

Having that knowledge has made a galaxy of a difference.

Idiosyncratic tends to be far more interesting. It's why I gave up on playing common and wide words. Makes it interesting. Makes it challenging.

[Naboka]

lalatan,

for example: just played a game that contained a couple of 14/28's and 15/30's. Terms from organic chemistry involving glycosides. Complex mfer's that put an 18" speedbump in the road to recycling the game. (which didn't happen, so the game's sitting there)

You might appreciate them.

But, shhhh.

[lalatan]

I understand what you're saying. I guess the ultimate game for you (other than a personal best) would be to capture all the records and recycle the game with your high score. I suppose that happens occasionally. That'd be quite an accomplishment.

The sciences are a treasure trove of long words, many of them mind-bending if not seen before. 2 days ago I found CYANOETHYLATION in 4x4 for 28 pts. Although the Great Game Distribution Algorithm works in mysterious ways for years I noticed it has what I think of as "theme week" or month. Last month I found a -glyco- word, some -naphtho- words, then came -phenyl- and now maybe -cyano-. It seems I should also BOLO for more -glyco- games in 4x4.

[Naboka]

I understand what you're saying. I guess the ultimate game for you (other than a personal best) would be to capture all the records and recycle the game with your high score. I suppose that happens occasionally. That'd be quite an accomplishment.

The sciences are a treasure trove of long words, many of them mind-bending if not seen before. 2 days ago I found CYANOETHYLATION in 4x4 for 28 pts. Although the Great Game Distribution Algorithm works in mysterious ways for years I noticed it has what I think of as "theme week" or month. Last month I found a -glyco- word, some -naphtho- words, then came -phenyl- and now maybe -cyano-. It seems I should also BOLO for more -glyco- games in 4x4.

Interesting about the theme week/month. Wonder if that has to do with discovering a batch of long words , then forming new boards.

Often, when I'm reading/studying, I come across words that would make interesting longest/best words for boards. Wonder if we should start a thread of suggestions for Stephen.

Another oddity is seeing a particular player 3 or 4 times in a row with the most total points for those games. Makes me wonder about how both recycled and redistributed boards are allocated for play on any given day. Often we find unplayed games at any given time during the day. Doesn't seem that everything is dumped at once. But, maybe it is and no one has found that board yet.

On most sites, archived posts are sequential. Everyone viewing the posts will see them in the same order. Wonder if we are all seeing the same games in the same order, adjusted for whatever game is temporarily sidelined while being played. Don't think two of us can play the same game at the same time.

The words I mentioned actually didn't contain glyco-. Lot of complex glycosides that don't. Did contain x and y. Love that you found CYANOETHYLATION. I've become a bit stingy and secrative about posting long words. Too many of the rarities have become commonplace.

You're correct: the challenge is always to get as many bests as possible while recycling the board. Have mixed feelings about it. Don't want to take anyone's records. But I do like meeting the green star challenge. Gettng a perfect 4 out of 4 always brings a little thrill.

Got this board immediately after reading your comment. Wouldn't normally post it, but seems apropros. And the long word is common enough, so...

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However, I'm not competing with anyone. Not here or anywhere else these days. Like to see everyone do the best they can. Just love personal challenges.

ps: came up to play a game or two while waiting for the wife's birthday pizza to come out of the oven. (me cook) you must be good luck. first game was this. think that's two all-greens in a row. though might have played another. dunno.

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[lalatan]

Interesting about the theme week/month. Wonder if that has to do with discovering a batch of long words , then forming new boards.

Often, when I'm reading/studying, I come across words that would make interesting longest/best words for boards. Wonder if we should start a thread of suggestions for Stephen.

I doubt that Stephen creates boards manually. My guess would be that he has automated board building to grab words from a database. It'd be interesting to know though. Maybe you should put the question to him and see what he says. New words I haven't seen before have been coming out regularly for years now. Some long words I see fairly often, some rarely. Some seem to be one hit wonders. I set 2 records for playing UVULOPALATOPHARYNGOPLASTY (48/25) April 2021. I've never seen it again. Also it's never been in the best words played list that I noticed.

Another oddity is seeing a particular player 3 or 4 times in a row with the most total points for those games. Makes me wonder about how both recycled and redistributed boards are allocated for play on any given day. Often we find unplayed games at any given time during the day. Doesn't seem that everything is dumped at once. But, maybe it is and no one has found that board yet.

On most sites, archived posts are sequential. Everyone viewing the posts will see them in the same order. Wonder if we are all seeing the same games in the same order, adjusted for whatever game is temporarily sidelined while being played. Don't think two of us can play the same game at the same time.

Yeah, it's a mystery to me. I've been awake in the middle of night, played some games and found 10-20 records in an hour. Sometimes mornings are good. It's happened more than once when there were no worthwhile games to play in the morning, I tried in the afternoon and it was better. I always take late afternoons and evenings off so don't know about then.
While I was pondering the issue I remembered when Stephen set all the stats on games to zero Feb 2021. He also added new words on new boards. Wow, I went into a feeding frenzy. I set my personal bests of 130 records set in 1 day and 2,401 set in 1 month. Those were the days...

The words I mentioned actually didn't contain glyco-. Lot of complex glycosides that don't. Did contain x and y. Love that you found CYANOETHYLATION. I've become a bit stingy and secrative about posting long words. Too many of the rarities have become commonplace.

Sad and true. I let the occasional 1 slip but if folks want to see what I've played for records they'll have to play the games. I used to post lists of what I thought were interesting words I found once in a while. Didn't get likes or thanks so no point in doing it.

You're correct: the challenge is always to get as many bests as possible while recycling the board. Have mixed feelings about it. Don't want to take anyone's records. But I do like meeting the green star challenge. Gettng a perfect 4 out of 4 always brings a little thrill.

Got this board immediately after reading your comment. Wouldn't normally post it, but seems apropros.

Very impressive! Something I'll never do.

[lalatan]

(don't know how to do partial quotes so...)

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I click the quote button on the post I want to quote. Then I just copy the info between the square brackets and then paste wherever I want to reply. I tried including an example but the forum always formatted it as a quote so I included a screenshot so the formatting could be seen.

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