I missed barley (rye), Franzen (no guess), Audi (Jaguar), Tolstoy (Dostoyevsky), and NOAA (I saw "hurricane" and "4-letter" and went straight to FEMA, realized my mistake on thorough reading, but could only think of USGS as another four-letter government service). I got spoiled on Aidy Bryant by a Facebook post, but her name is one I've noticed before, and I've definitely heard about the show in the clue and that she stars in it, so I'm giving myself the benefit of the doubt even though I'm not positive I'd have remembered her name.
My misses were Franzen, Audi, Cordelia (I know all 3 names and can never keep their roles straight. Cordelia is the only one I DIDN'T start typing), Bryant (who?) and kiwi. The sad part there is that I started with penguin, realized North Island was referring to New Zealand, and changed to... emu.
(correct per groups of 10 - 8/6/7/6/5 = 32/50 )
I felt this one was easier and was surprised to wind up at "only" 32 (compared to last nights' grind to make 30). I think it was a 8/10 start, and only 4-5 stand and stares. I also left 3-4 on the table due to time, or a brain fart on the Hun (said Khan - D'oh).
Best Wags - Kerouac, the Nile, and the Alps (not a geographer me)
Deadline misses by 5 seconds - Franco (couldn't get the SNL update that he is still dead out of my mind), Saving Private Ryan (D-day brain lock), and Call of the Wild Blue Yonder (detoured to Born Free)
Fails of comfortable wags - Apollo for Gemini, rye for barley.
I thought the same as Matty - I wonder if anybody said Noah / Noah.
Man, that Florida test was easy.
Disclaimer - repeated exposure to author's musings may cause befuddlement.
This played the hardest for me, but I think I had a stupid night. Scored 40 and without going in too deep I'll mention that I read "Madagascar" twice for Mozambique twice, and so I answered Mauritius, because it seems more famous than Comoros, maybe because of the dodo bird.
On the bright side, I noticed that the homonym question was incorrectly labled "synonyms".
Tuesday: Wasn't sure I'd be home, actually was and tried to log in at literal last minute - missing by a few seconds; Took Wednesday from video here and wound up with a 30 - which is far worse than usual.
Wednesday: Not home, so took the next morning and got 39.
Thursday: "Officially" took and posted 38 - which would have been 40 had I finished "Marriage of Fi" and "Call of the Wild Blue Yo".
Now really pleased that I didn't try logging in a few seconds earlier on Tuesday.
40/50 for fun. Tuesday (for real) was my best, but I thought this test was fair
Don't know how I missed Waterloo (blank), closure (resolution) or kiwi (emu - North Island didn't click until after the ping).
Taking credit for Fungus
The quilting question was taken from a semi-recent Jeopardy! show, as many of these probably were
I was watching Jeopardy with a co-worker at lunch yesterday. Guy's never heard of Anna Karenina but thinks he can get on Jeopardy! Got a 20 on the Wed test. Wanted my help but told him he'd make a fool of himself at the audition. All this to say - I think the tests are challenging, but 35 is a fair bar. I used to fall just short of the cut-off and then realized I had to put in some consistent work to get over the line.
Asking us to solve and then type "Call of the Wild Blue Yonder" was a bit harsh. My typing stinks; I think I said "Call of HE Wild Blue Yonder" and ran out of time.
Woppy T wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2019 10:01 am
Asking us to solve and then type "Call of the Wild Blue Yonder" was a bit harsh. My typing stinks; I think I said "Call of HE Wild Blue Yonder" and ran out of time.
And I, after initially blanking, got out The Ancient Marine before time ran out.
Got a 45 playing off the video to go with my 47 on Tuesday and 43 on Wednesday (real thing).
Went with Rye instead of Barley. Said downhill instead of halfpipe (stupidity on my part). Had no guess on Franzen. Said Regan rather than Cordelia. And finally said FEMA instead of NOAA.
Happy to verify that I pulled a 46/50, my best showing over the now 7 times I've taken the test (3 of which led to fruitlessly being invited to jump into the pool).
Now I just need TPTB to give me a call up this time!