Math Is Fun Forum

phrontister

Real Member

From: The Land of Tomorrow

Registered: 2009-07-12

Posts: 4,877

Re: Word Search Puzzle

New record for me too, with this new version!

Had to clean out my temporary internet files to access v0.653, as it was stll wanting to play v0.651.

The copy function works well...Ctrl+A, then Ctrl+C.

Last edited by phrontister (2010-07-20 22:59:58)

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"The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do." - Ted Nelson

phrontister

Real Member

From: The Land of Tomorrow

Registered: 2009-07-12

Posts: 4,877

Re: Word Search Puzzle

If anyone wants to solve it in a smaller version, here. It's not perfectly readable, but I partially fixed it.

I fixed it some more and prettied it up a bit. It prints out clearly in A4 size in either portrait or landscape orientation.

An alternative to using paper and pen is to solve it in a graphics program. I just tested it in OpenOffice Draw, and it works well there. To cross out solved words in the grid and the word list I used a 4mm thick navy blue line that was set to 80% transparency (because you need to see the letters at word intersections).

Has anyone solved this puzzle yet and found the mystery phrase?

Last edited by phrontister (2010-06-20 04:21:08)

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"The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do." - Ted Nelson

phrontister

Real Member

From: The Land of Tomorrow

Registered: 2009-07-12

Posts: 4,877

Re: Word Search Puzzle

Hi MathsIsFun,

Here's an image of a puzzle that has TRIANGLE completely overlapping ANGLE in the second column. I don't know if you meant to allow this, but I think it's more usual to have just partial overlaps.

Other pairings that come to mind where this might happen: FACTOR/FACTORIAL and METER/DIAMETER. And plurals...I know your game has some, but I don't recall noticing if their singular forms also occur.

A word search generator program I have contains an "avoid word and sub-word" option that enables me to avoid having such related words appear in the same puzzle. That allows me to use custom choice lists with various forms of root words and still produce a puzzle with words that don't swallow each other or are too alike.

Last edited by phrontister (2010-06-20 11:29:15)

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"The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do." - Ted Nelson

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,713

Re: Word Search Puzzle

Thanks phrontister.

It may not have done that intentionally, as I found "angle" elsewhere. But it let you get a score for "angle" when you found it in "triangle" because it likes you

Yes, removing such words may help.

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"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

phrontister

Real Member

From: The Land of Tomorrow

Registered: 2009-07-12

Posts: 4,877

Re: Word Search Puzzle

It may not have done that intentionally, as I found "angle" elsewhere.

Ah, yes...I knew there was something I'd intended to do before I posted, but I'd forgotten what it was. And there it is, in the upper right-hand corner.

Last edited by phrontister (2010-06-28 15:45:10)

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"The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do." - Ted Nelson

phrontister

Real Member

From: The Land of Tomorrow

Registered: 2009-07-12

Posts: 4,877

Re: Word Search Puzzle

Hi MathsIsFun,

Word Search has a cross-eye error (see pic). 

ENLARGE, SAMPLE & UNITS derailed when I joined their first letter to one vertically or horizontally adjacent to, and the same as, their last. The derailed answers were accepted as valid.

I couldn't get a derail other than by that 'rule'...and I only tried the forwards direction (ie, starting from a word's first letter).

The error appears in other Word Search puzzles too.

Last edited by phrontister (2010-09-01 22:55:28)

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"The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do." - Ted Nelson

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,713

Re: Word Search Puzzle

Thanks! Will look at soon.

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"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,713

Re: Word Search Puzzle

OK, think I fixed it. V0.66

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"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman