Solving Tips

[Lurker]

For those who could have sworn they typed everything correctly, yet keep coming up with the "you're wrong" page:

Some of these quotes have British spellings (colour, humour). One quote has the word "busyness" in it.

Other times, two words with similar spellings can work in context (could/would; size/side).

Not all two-letter words are real words. "TV", "Mr", and such are in here.

The best way to figure out these is to reset the puzzle, type slowly, and watch the remaining letters line at the bottom. At some point, you're bound to discover the letter you duplicated and fix the problem. Or, if you can decide which is the problem word, just keep trying all the remaining letters until you get it right.

[gryhnd51]

What a lot of good tips....wish I had thought to start this conversation when I first started!

Another tip: longer words ending in a letter followed by 2 letters that are the same (IE ....
ogg, eff, ncc, wpp,etc) are frequently words ending with "ESS" or "ALL"
Like:
happiness
greatness
baseball
football

If the ending is ESS, it is almost always preceded by an "N", but sometimes by an "L".......as in worthless

Hope this helps a bit

PS don't let Pootie fool you....she's an AMAZING solver and the first one to try to help with questions!

[gryhnd51]

I'm not sure if anyone else has mentioned this, but I always keep a window minimized in the task bar, already set to whatever search engine I prefer. If you solve PART of a quote, you can often do a "search" for the rest. Works well if you also add the author or even "hungarian proverb" to the search

for example:
"all men look behind.........."quote by george lucas <enter> or if you only have the end of the quote:
"....... the last days of summer" quote by george lucas

Also, there are many sites you can search for quotes by people, if you have no clue where to begin.IE.....type in.....quotes by george lucas <enter> will give you a list of those sites. Some are easier and quicker than others. Brainyquote is always in alphabetical order so if you have the first few words it's easier.

[fishbum]

The subject of this thread is "solving" tips. Googling up the quote is not "solving".

[afulton]

Oh! and as the end of the month draws near - don't be mid puzzle when the clock runs out! I ruined a perfect 100% last month by not finishing while the clock turned over. How very disappointing. That is, if you care about percentages. :-(

[Lurker]

Excellent point, afulton! I usually give myself 15 minutes to solve the last puzzle of the month. Others give it a few hours, just to make sure nothing unexpected comes up.

Wait a minute after the last puzzle, check your stats, then log out until the new month starts. You can still chat and play, but it won't hurt your scores.

[Humphtriptz]

I see these puzzles being solved in 10 or 11 seconds I get most of them on my own within 100 seconds which I think is pretty amazing timing is there a way to turn off the timer or is it automatic I mean come on 10 secs I cant even type that fast lol

[pootie49]

You can play non competitively and the time or points wont count.

If you want to play competitively then the timer is auto and with practice
your time will get better.

The more ya play the faster you will get. If speed is your goal.
There are points and accuracy competitions as well.

Have fun and welcome to the site!

[Lurker]

Humph, when I started, I couldn't believe the times either. And that was with everyone in the chat saying I was fast for a newbie. I now have one 6-second record and one 5-second. (Partied quietly to myself for days on that one. ) Eventually, you do pick up speed.

More important, it's fun to solve these! They're great for your critical thinking, language skills, and TYPING ability. Thanks to Admin adding the bios, you learn about new authors, political thinkers, and cultures. And you meet interesting people in the chat box and forum.

If the competitions did not exist, I probably wouldn't play every single day, but I would definitely play a lot. Do these puzzles because you enjoy them, and go easy on yourself for the first six months or so.

[Humphtriptz]

True to that the reason for doing these puzzles is for shear enjoyment which is what I do receive from doing them. I have loved solving these puzzles since I was a young child, I am just blown away since I always believed that I ruled supreme at solving them fast, I had no competition never even met anyone in person who knew what a cryptogram is. LOL anyhow yes I do enjoy them and yes will keep playing and yes I will rule the cryptogram world so watch out yall here I come keep look out for Humphtriptz thanks for replies Luv ya's