Learned League 72 - Official Thread

[1stlvlthinker]

You're just going to have to muddle through blindly until some stats start coming in for your fellow Rookies, unless you have some idea of who the person actually is and you know something about them (i.e., graduate of Yale and there's a question about Connecticut this week). Last season I figured out who a particular opponent was in advance of the matchup, learned some more about him and it came in useful in setting defense, to the point that it made the difference in a match.

Also, to your primary point, you're always going to second-guess how to apply defensive points. Just give it the old college try (probably based on what YOU think is most difficult generally to start) and you'll be fine. Just make sure to include a zero, two 1s, two 2s, and a 3.

Makes sense. After the results were revealed, I'm kicking myself a bit for the numbers I set. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't worry about it now since I can't do anything else about it.

Wow, Wow, Wow. I escaped with a tie. Turns out, my post-question thoughts were correct. I placed the 3 correctly, but way biffed on the others. I was kicking myself for not getting Heath Ledger. Turns out, my opponent gave me a 0 on that one.

[1stlvlthinker]

Makes sense. After the results were revealed, I'm kicking myself a bit for the numbers I set. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't worry about it now since I can't do anything else about it.

And this would be an example of something you shouldn't say until the match day is over.

And why not? I did my best to make sure I didn't reference any of the questions, and the statement I made was super generic, or so I thought? I mean, I totally try to post within the spirit of the rules, and thought this was ok.

[badgerfellow]

Makes sense. After the results were revealed, I'm kicking myself a bit for the numbers I set. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't worry about it now since I can't do anything else about it.

And this would be an example of something you shouldn't say until the match day is over.

And why not? I did my best to make sure I didn't reference any of the questions, and the statement I made was super generic, or so I thought? I mean, I totally try to post within the spirit of the rules, and thought this was ok.

I think your original comment may "tell" others there are extra tricks to the questions in general, even if you didn't say specifically which questions. This could either hurt or harm those who haven't submitted yet, either causing overthinking on an easier question or giving hints to someone who wouldn't otherwise think enough through a particular question.

[1stlvlthinker]

Makes sense. After the results were revealed, I'm kicking myself a bit for the numbers I set. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't worry about it now since I can't do anything else about it.

And this would be an example of something you shouldn't say until the match day is over.

And why not? I did my best to make sure I didn't reference any of the questions, and the statement I made was super generic, or so I thought? I mean, I totally try to post within the spirit of the rules, and thought this was ok.

I think your original comment may "tell" others there are extra tricks to the questions in general, even if you didn't say specifically which questions. This could either hurt or harm those who haven't submitted yet, either causing overthinking on an easier question or giving hints to someone who wouldn't otherwise think enough through a particular question.

Fair enough. I'll try to refrain from posting day of from now on.

[sarisson]

This is my seventh season, and I STILL have never lost on Opening Day! With a 9(5)- after guessing Geneva for Davos- I am also #1 in my rundle for the first time ever. I'm projected to go 25-0-0 with 225 match points and 125 TCA, so we know that trend will continue because small sample sizes never lie!

[This Is Kirk!]

Managed a six-pack and had a feeling that would only be worth a tie yesterday. Alas, I was correct! Although I am happy we got a fairly easy set on the first match day.

[Woof]

Managed a six-pack and had a feeling that would only be worth a tie yesterday. Alas, I was correct! Although I am happy we got a fairly easy set on the first match day.

My feeling, too, Kirk. I can't recall an easier set of questions in LL (for me, at least). I was fully expecting a 9(6)-9(6) tie in A Murder, but surprisingly emerged with a 9(6)-8(5) win (so much for my DE). My opponent didn't get from Tavau to Davos.

[ElendilPickle]

Managed a six-pack and had a feeling that would only be worth a tie yesterday. Alas, I was correct! Although I am happy we got a fairly easy set on the first match day.

My feeling, too, Kirk. I can't recall an easier set of questions in LL (for me, at least). I was fully expecting a 9(6)-9(6) tie in A Murder, but surprisingly emerged with a 9(6)-8(5) win (so much for my DE). My opponent didn't get from Tavau to Davos.

I'm glad I didn't play you yesterday, then! 7(5)-7(5) tie for me. I really hope I don't have another long streak of ties, like I did last season.

[This Is Kirk!]

My opponent didn't get from Tavau to Davos.

That was the one I had to think about the longest. At first I was thinking St. Moritz or Zermatt, but neither of those seemed correct. Then I concentrated on "Tavau" and Davos clicked.

[RandyG]

My opponent didn't get from Tavau to Davos.

That was the one I had to think about the longest. At first I was thinking St. Moritz or Zermatt, but neither of those seemed correct. Then I concentrated on "Tavau" and Davos clicked.

That was my one miss. (Seems almost a victory losing to cbec by only 9(6)-8(5).) I answered St. Moritz just for the sake of saying something. Shoulda paid more attention to "geopolitical", which probably would have led me to Davos. Offhand, I didn't know that it was a fashionable resort town and focusing on "T" as the first letter got me nowhere.

[reddpen]

My opponent didn't get from Tavau to Davos.

That was the one I had to think about the longest. At first I was thinking St. Moritz or Zermatt, but neither of those seemed correct. Then I concentrated on "Tavau" and Davos clicked.

That was my one miss. (Seems almost a victory losing to cbec by only 9(6)-8(5).) I answered St. Moritz just for the sake of saying something. Shoulda paid more attention to "geopolitical", which probably would have led me to Davos. Offhand, I didn't know that it was a fashionable resort town and focusing on "T" as the first letter got me nowhere.

Davos was one of just two that I had on first look (Lloyd's was the other), and I thought the geopolitical clue made it pretty obvious so gave bomtr a 1 for it, so of course that's his lone miss (and he gave me 3). He pulls the occipital lobe for 3 and gives me 2 for my lone miss and an 8(5)-7(5) loss. My defensive score can (almost) only go up.

Interesting set. At first look I thought I might get only two or three, but Ledger soon popped up as the best-known young actor who died around then (can't quite believe it's been nine years), and I dredged up Kim Il Sung's name soon after. The Titans clue was nicely worded, but once I clued in on Houston it came to me.

Hat tip on the win to my longtime nemesis and TCONA traveling buddy, against whom I'm now 1-7-2 lifetime. Bring it today, slam--my record is muuuch better against you: 1-4-1.

[Bamaman]

My opponent's worst category was sports and second worst was geography. So I gave him 3 for the Titans and 2 for Davos and he gets both right.

I scored a lucky guess on Ledger (thought he died more recently) and a gift on taking my spelling of occipital. I had never heard of Davos (guessed Geneva) and couldn't pull the Korean guy's name. Ended with a 6(4)-6(4) tie.

[ihavejeoprosy]

Managed a six-pack and had a feeling that would only be worth a tie yesterday. Alas, I was correct! Although I am happy we got a fairly easy set on the first match day.

Ditto

[morbeedo]

Managed a six-pack and had a feeling that would only be worth a tie yesterday. Alas, I was correct! Although I am happy we got a fairly easy set on the first match day.

Ditto

Six! I was pleased to get 4 right and win my first match!

[OSXpert]

Good luck to everyone this season!

IBN was an answer in the NYT crossword puzzle yesterday as well. I always do the crossword puzzle at 10PM the night before, so I was well primed for LL, but I would have answered "BIN" without the puzzle, which was apparently also accepted. Hopefully no one was put into the awkward position of doing the puzzle in between reading the questions and answering them.

I've started off the season with 2 wins - one well earned and one lucky.

[dinghammer]

(playing along the next day...)

Soooo, am I the only one who guessed barnacles for yesterday's Q6? Related to ships, mid-18th century -> Darwin, maybe the names were for their shapes (because I don't think they tend to appear on sails)? Clearly I need to spend more time with Sky Map.

Also, thanks to Lampy for mentioning the Magic connection to some of the the rundle names in his last video. Somehow, despite seeing them numerous times here and playing Magic since Revised (and thus being quite familiar with the original dual lands), I just never noticed it.

[rpg]

Good luck to everyone this season!

IBN was an answer in the NYT crossword puzzle yesterday as well. I always do the crossword puzzle at 10PM the night before, so I was well primed for LL, but I would have answered "BIN" without the puzzle, which was apparently also accepted. Hopefully no one was put into the awkward position of doing the puzzle in between reading the questions and answering them.

You beat me to posting this. I did the crossword a few hours after I did LL, personally. I wonder how many people did the crossword and got the LL question because of it -- I bet it's nonzero.

[countyguy]

On Q6, I instagot the correct answer, thinking "constellations" at first glance (before reading the whole question) even though I am not really familiar with any constellation listed. Probably the category helped.

That's the trouble with playing along and tracking TCA, getting something and realizing maybe you were unfairly advantaged by the extra info.

I usually try not to take into account the category while answering, but that is very difficult to do sometimes.

I used to have similar troubles with the get rates helping me choose whether or not to go for the obvious, but now I either play on my phone (and keep get rates out of view until I've answered the questions), or immediately copy the questions onto a word document so I am not tempted to look at the get rates. The categories, however, are far more difficult to address.

[StevenH]

"Dare" only had a 40% get rate when spotted "Virginia!?" I was seriously expecting that one to go down as one of the easiest questions in regular season LL history. My opponent got it right after I gave them a 0 for it, so no harm done, but they did give me a 2 for it.

I was glad that only one Mexican state was required. I knew Baja California and maybe would have gotten Sonora with some time to think, but I never would have known the other three.

I was also happy to see a "pop" music question that I knew and was thus rewarded with 3 points and a win.

[dnbguy]

Thorsten was generous and gave me credit for "Baja" only. So far, 2 wins in this early season!