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Square Theory

aaronson.org

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Re: Square Theory

#11

Post by kps »

lisper wrote: post #2

Aargh! I hate it when people quote text as images because it makes it impossible to cut and paste. > Jet black/Jet Blue ... catnap/dognap My favorite examples are how prepositions can change the meanings of idioms. For example, to be "down for" something and "down with" something mean the same thing, but to be "down on" something means the opposite. (And going down to X means something very, very different from going…

> I hate it when people quote text as images because it makes it impossible to cut and paste.

Yes. In this case the text is in the ALT tag, which would help if browsers exposed it.

Re: Square Theory

#12

Post by JoshTriplett »

oliwary wrote: post #9

> If you’ve ever tried to construct a crossword, you’ll find that the framing of a crossword grid under square theory feels right. When you’re nearing the end of the grid-filling process, finding valid crossings of words to fill that final corner of a grid, there’s a satisfying “clicking” feeling—a sense of magic—when it all fits together, analogous to the wrapping-around feeling of completing the square. If you enjo…

Do you have a version of spaceword that's not a "daily" game? I'd be interested in trying it if so.

Re: Square Theory

#13

Post by lisper »

robinhouston wrote: post #3
lisper wrote: post #2

Aargh! I hate it when people quote text as images because it makes it impossible to cut and paste. > Jet black/Jet Blue ... catnap/dognap My favorite examples are how prepositions can change the meanings of idioms. For example, to be "down for" something and "down with" something mean the same thing, but to be "down on" something means the opposite. (And going down to X means something very, very different from going…

> I hate it when people quote text as images because it makes it impossible to cut and paste. That's much less true than it used to be! I don't know what device you're using, but on my iPhone I can seamlessly copy the text from that image.

I'm using Firefox on a Mac.

Re: Square Theory

#14

Post by oliwary »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #12
oliwary wrote: post #9

> If you’ve ever tried to construct a crossword, you’ll find that the framing of a crossword grid under square theory feels right. When you’re nearing the end of the grid-filling process, finding valid crossings of words to fill that final corner of a grid, there’s a satisfying “clicking” feeling—a sense of magic—when it all fits together, analogous to the wrapping-around feeling of completing the square. If you enjo…

Do you have a version of spaceword that's not a "daily" game? I'd be interested in trying it if so.

There is a weekly mode with 63 letters, thinking of adding a monthly mode as well. Or would you prefer puzzles that are always open?

Re: Square Theory

#15

Post by kelseyfrog »

I'm a big fan of killing time on long drives with friendly word games. One of my favorites is a mix between rhyming and square theory. Here's how it works: one player picks two words that rhyme perfectly. Then, for each of those words, they choose a clue word, usually a synonym, but any kind of related word is fair game. They say those two clue words out loud, and the other players have to guess the original rhyming pair.

What makes it fun is trying to reverse-engineer the original rhyme from the clues. It's like solving a little logic puzzle. It's easy to come up with new puzzles, but cracking them can be surprisingly tricky. Still, the structure gives just enough to keep it solvable most of the time.

1. Somewhat described here https://bestlifeonline.com/jeopardy-rhyme-time-opera-version... It's actually quite difficult to find a description of the category many of us are already familiar with.

Re: Square Theory

#16

Post by joshhug »

The part about dad joke square theory got me thinking about this classic scarecrow joke, which feels like an example from some higher order version of square theory:

"Why was the scarecrow given an award?"

"He was out standing in his field."

The fact that a scarecrow's job is to be "out standing in his field", and that excelling at one's job can be phrased as being "outstanding in his field" is an incredible linguistic coincidence.

Re: Square Theory

#18

Post by SamBam »

This is clever, and I want to spend some more time thinking about it. In a sense, I think this is basically saying that you can put the standard SAT-style analogy questions ("Lumen : Brightness = Inches : Length") in a square, and that most crossword clues could be represented as weird SAT analogies. Or maybe I'm stretching the analogy.

But I think that the "Diagonal" that the author suggests for the connection between "Donkey" and "Elephant" and "Party" isn't quite correct. The key is that both the Donkey and the Elephant are a "Party Animal." You can't ignore the "Animal" part, it describes them: they are each the animal that represents their party, the "party animal."

I'm not sure the correct way to represent this in "Square Theory," but it's not just linking "Party" to the animal in question.

Re: Square Theory

#19

Post by cooperaustinj »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #15

I'm a big fan of killing time on long drives with friendly word games. One of my favorites is a mix between rhyming and square theory. Here's how it works: one player picks two words that rhyme perfectly. Then, for each of those words, they choose a clue word, usually a synonym, but any kind of related word is fair game. They say those two clue words out loud, and the other players have to guess the original rhyming…

Do you know any unfriendly word games I can try?

Re: Square Theory

#20

Post by JoshTriplett »

oliwary wrote: post #14
JoshTriplett wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a version of spaceword that's not a "daily" game? I'd be interested in trying it if so.

There is a weekly mode with 63 letters, thinking of adding a monthly mode as well. Or would you prefer puzzles that are always open?

Puzzles that are always open is exactly what I mean, yeah.

Some "daily" games call this kind of generated puzzle a "practice" mode. But whenever I encounter a daily game, I go straight for that mode, which is what most games would just present as the game itself.

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