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Author Topic: WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis  (Read 11428 times)

Matt Ottinger

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WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis
« on: January 05, 2015, 07:38:23 PM »
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brianhenke

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Re: WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2015, 08:38:35 PM »
     He must have not watched Wheel that much during the seven years analyzed. He says that Vanna still flips letters on the board. She has been touching them since 1997.

     Brian
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TLEberle

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Re: WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2015, 08:40:11 PM »
Some time ago I made an offhand comment about doing something like this, and I remember when Steve McClellan was on the show some years ago I helped him by playing a battery of bonus puzzles with prescribed bonus letter choices to see which ones were the most helpful.
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Travis L. Eberle

Steve Gavazzi

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Re: WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2015, 10:21:58 PM »
Quote from: brianhenke on January 05, 2015, 08:38:35 PM
He must have not watched Wheel that much during the seven years analyzed. He says that Vanna still flips letters on the board. She has been touching them since 1997.

Seriously?  That's your takeaway from this?
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Kevin Prather

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Re: WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis
« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2015, 11:34:56 PM »
I think this article is fascinating.

I've always advocated using CD(M, H or B)A for two reasons: 1) that's four of the most common letters in the English language (which, as the article mentioned, doesn't mean jack squat when the producers are making a point to avoid those letters), and also 2) with ten of the most common letters accounted for, even lots of blank spaces provide valuable information. With large expanses of letters unrevealed, you know you have to click your brain into an alternate mode, and start thinking about compound words and awkward letters like Js, Ks and Ws.

G, H and O make sense since they show up in a lot of adjectives (like "rough" and "tough"), which the writers have liked in recent years.

If this really is the trend, I wonder if contestants will catch on and start migrating towards it.
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TLEberle

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Re: WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2015, 11:47:30 PM »
Quote from: Kevin Prather on January 05, 2015, 11:34:56 PM
If this really is the trend, I wonder if contestants will catch on and start migrating towards it.
It's essentially a long-form series of rock-paper-scissors or choosing the wine: if you believe that the producers have chosen a particular set of letters, pick those. If it works, you're golden. ON the other hand, and the thing you alluded to, you can also glean information from which letters are not in the puzzle as well.
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Travis L. Eberle

SRIV94

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Re: WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2015, 01:59:05 PM »
Quote from: Steve Gavazzi on January 05, 2015, 10:21:58 PM
Quote from: brianhenke on January 05, 2015, 08:38:35 PM
He must have not watched Wheel that much during the seven years analyzed. He says that Vanna still flips letters on the board. She has been touching them since 1997.

Seriously?  That's your takeaway from this?

Well, words do have meanings, after all.  :)
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MSTieScott

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Re: WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis
« Reply #7 on: January 06, 2015, 02:57:27 PM »
This would require a great deal of additional analysis, but I'm curious as to whether a contestant should stay away from apparent "traps." For example, it is my hypothesis that if T_E is showing, then the contestant should deliberately avoid selecting the H -- are the producers hoping to sucker the contestant into wasting a pick on a letter that won't appear anywhere else in the puzzle? (Similarly, is it advisable to not choose the A when there's a single blank space in a non-phrase puzzle?)

In fact, now that I think about it, I wonder how many "THE"s (with no other H's in the puzzle) are affecting these results.
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weaklink75

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Re: WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis
« Reply #8 on: January 06, 2015, 03:35:08 PM »
It's certainly detailed, that's for sure...I'd think A or I would be the most likely vowel to call, not O (because A and I would be the only two possibilities for a single-letter word, so if you call one of them and it doesn't come up, you know it's the other one)...

One thing I'd like to know is what kind of win percentage the producers are shooting for in bonus rounds- seems to me about 30-40% (and if they have a run of wins or losses in previous taping sessions, they can adjust the difficulty of the puzzles accordingly in later ones).
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Dbacksfan12

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Re: WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis
« Reply #9 on: January 06, 2015, 04:18:58 PM »
Quote from: weaklink75 on January 06, 2015, 03:35:08 PM
It's certainly detailed, that's for sure...I'd think A or I would be the most likely vowel to call, not O (because A and I would be the only two possibilities for a single-letter word, so if you call one of them and it doesn't come up, you know it's the other one)...
If the circumstances are right, however, you should able to discern that on your own.  If the category is thing, for example, I'd like to think A is the only possibility, outside of something like iPod (but then it'd all be one word).
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Kevin Prather

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Re: WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis
« Reply #10 on: January 06, 2015, 05:45:45 PM »
Quote from: Modor on January 06, 2015, 04:18:58 PM
Quote from: weaklink75 on January 06, 2015, 03:35:08 PM
It's certainly detailed, that's for sure...I'd think A or I would be the most likely vowel to call, not O (because A and I would be the only two possibilities for a single-letter word, so if you call one of them and it doesn't come up, you know it's the other one)...
If the circumstances are right, however, you should able to discern that on your own.  If the category is thing, for example, I'd like to think A is the only possibility, outside of something like iPod (but then it'd all be one word).
If the category is title, quotation or phrase, it'll be a little more difficult.
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Unrealtor

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Re: WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis
« Reply #11 on: January 07, 2015, 01:45:34 AM »
"O" is a perfectly cromulent one-letter English word as well, but I wouldn't expect to see it anywhere other than in a title.

And if Prince is involved, "U" can also appear in titles.
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Kevin Prather

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Re: WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis
« Reply #12 on: January 07, 2015, 01:51:17 AM »
Quote from: Unrealtor on January 07, 2015, 01:45:34 AM
And if Prince is involved, "U" can also appear in titles.

Beg pardon?
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Matt Ottinger

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Re: WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis
« Reply #13 on: January 07, 2015, 02:36:59 AM »
A Secretary-General of the UN as a Bonus Puzzle?  U Thant be serious!
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This has been another installment of Matt Ottinger's Masters of the Obvious.
Stay tuned for all the obsessive-compulsive fun of Words Have Meanings.

PYLdude

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Re: WOF Bonus Puzzle Analysis
« Reply #14 on: January 07, 2015, 03:40:43 AM »
Quote from: Matt Ottinger on January 07, 2015, 02:36:59 AM
A Secretary-General of the UN as a Bonus Puzzle?  U Thant be serious!

Alright now. Stop.



Hammarskjöld.
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