Since Ed Collins proposed a new kind of game in the thread one-pointersr and I think that this could be fun, I propose:

\* Name five expressions that fit the expression you have in mind.

\* When the riddle is too hard, extra expressions are allowed to be added one by one.

… let's me think of

1. life,

2. rope,

3. cable,

4. jockey,

5. vacancies

..you'll have to add another.

6. midget ;-)

for 5. did you mean vacancies or vacations?

5. vacations (of course) :-/

As an apology for the stupid “vacanciesvacation”-mistake

7. Todd Anthony Shaw

i don't quite get the rules of the game Thomas has posted…

Things that are too small/short?

Ed got it… (things that are) too short ;-)

Winner should post a new list.

oh, i get it now :)

Game #2:

1. a pair of dice

2. a cigarette

more clues to come, if needed…

Things seen in a casino.

Vices

No. (Not even close.)

1. a pair of dice

2. a cigarette

3. A surprised persons eyes

things you roll

Yes.

If I was a contestant on the actual game show, one of my first answers would have been “a ball” (because I want to help the other player to win the big money) but here, I didn't want to include that because the answer would have then been too obvious.

Your turn…

1. sand

2. blue

Things you see at the beach.

I got it! Types of crabs!

good answers but no.

1. sand

2. blue

3. beach

I got it again! Types of castles!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Castle

http://www.beachcastle.net/

Good one!

Not yet

1. sand

2. blue

3. beach

4. salt

water?

No, it's not water. “Sand water” doesn't make sense to me.

1. sand

2. blue

3. beach

4. salt

5. water

ocean

sea ?

you got it ypercube! It was from the top ten answers of an old old old school puzzle! Good work!!

thnx. Here's the next one:

1.pack

2.hunter

3.teeth

lion?

Wolves

Marius got it!

I'll try a new one:

1. House

2. Family

3. Belong

group

No.

4. Safe

things that protect you

No

Valuable

Home

Things that comfort you.

Or maybe things that provide security. Something like that. (What's throwing me is the word “belong” which doesn't quite fit with my guesses.)

patriotic?

Needs?

Bennok got it right: Home. Your turn, Bennok!

Bennock isn't playing…

I'll play :)

1. India

2. Armenia

3. Bhutan

countries with an “a” in it?

Wrong!

1. India

2. Armenia

3. Bhutan

4. Niger

Countries with something orange in their flag?

Yes. The other countries are Cote d'Ivore, Ireland, Marshall Islands, Sri Lanka and Zambia. :-)

Next!

1. Disgraceful

2. Boyfriends

3. Unforgivable

Composed words (words that are made of two 'words')

Nope.

1. Disgraceful

2. Boyfriends

3. Unforgivable

4. Lumberjacks

brokeback mountain

Nice try, but no. :-)

1. Disgraceful

2. Boyfriends

3. Unforgivable

4. Lumberjacks

5. Backgrounds

words that are hard to guess in the game of hangman

isograms

another word

words with no repeated letters

Robin is right (and also Art).

next game

sorry, i didn't bother to look up isogram. Robin is first, and should be the winner.

ok but one of you must start a new game

That's why you're in parantheses :-)

1. Bolivia

2. Colombia

3. El Salvador

Spanish-speaking countries.

That was my first guess too. Alternatively, the n th entry could be a country starting with letter number pn, the n th prime.

Wrong!

4. Israel

Countries that have nothing in common.

Countries with “L” in their name?

Wrong!

1. Bolivia

2. Colombia

3. El Salvador

4. Israel

5. The Philippines

Countries in alphabetical order %-}

Oh, what the heck:

Countries

Countries the USA has helped in fucking up.

Wrong! Come on… it's not that hard :)

1. Bolivia

2. Colombia

3. El Salvador

4. Israel

5. The Philippines

6. United States of America

Countries in a state of war.

No..

1. Bolivia

2. Colombia

3. El Salvador

4. Israel

5. The Philippines

6. United States of America

7. San Marino

United Nations member states

No.. Hint: There is a list on wikipedia that lists these countries :)

1. Bolivia

2. Colombia

3. El Salvador

4. Israel

5. The Philippines

6. United States of America

7. San Marino

8. Saint Lucia

That's “Status of the porting of the CIA World Factbook” or the

CIA World Factbook itself, knowing e.g. about #7:

[it]s foreign policy is aligned with that of Italy; social and political trends in the republic also track closely with those of its larger neighbor.

But that's not reverse empathy ;(

What?

1. Bolivia

2. Colombia

3. El Salvador

4. Israel

5. The Philippines

6. United States of America

7. San Marino

8. Saint Lucia

9. Mauritius

Random Countries of the world

Countries with native name the same as english name.

Members of the International Civil Aviation Organization

Crelo, that doesn't fit with the Philippines.

Hint: 1. Simon, 2. Christopher, 3. Jesus, 4. Jacob, etc…

countries named after famous people?

Simon Bolivar

Christopher Columbus

The Savior

God changed Jacob's name to Israel

Philip

Amerigo Vespucci

…

finally!

Countries named after people

Congratulations to Robin (and mongoose) !

1. lunch

2. snow

3. punch

cold ?

alternate words ended in unch with words ended in ow

words that are both nouns and verbs

words with an N in the middle.

1. lunch

2. snow

3. punch

4. bits

words with exactly one vowel ??

Things you don't want in your face?

1. lunch

2. snow

3. punch

4. bits

5. heat

Things delivered?

Things that can hurt your mouth, or for bits, a horses mouth.

1. lunch

2. snow

3. punch

4. bits

5. heat

6. parachute

words that are read with a “cheeee”

things that slow you down

Pack?

2nd vote for 'pack', no doubt about it.

i vote for Thomas Werner's answer

I also vote for Thomas Werner's answer.

Congrats to Marius!

“things you pack”

Next one:

1. Rollercoaster

2. Dots and boxes

3. Hole

4. Airplane

Things that have ups and downs.

Things that make your head spin

Things you want to avoid falling into or out of.

None right so far.

5. Repeat

words related to red hot chilE peppers songs.

things that children like.

Things that make you sick to your stomach.

Or is that the same as Tasmanian Devil's?

I can't resist sharing some near-misses, things that connect *some* (but not all) of the words in unusual ways:

Rabbit, or White Rabbit: Hole and (Jefferson) Airplane

(similar, but less inspired connection: Courtney Love's group Hole, and Jefferson Airplane)

Line: Rollercoaster, Airplane (you have to wait in line for each); Dots and boxes (you draw lines);

None right so far…

6. ?

6. Circle

Things that never end.

Things that loop.

things that have a line

Continuous

Congrats to Ed: “Loop” is correct (I think “THINGS that loop” is a bit off when it comes to “repeat”).

You're next, Ed! :-)

Wow - all good words in retrospect. Well selected Marius!

1) a leg

2) hand

3) milk

cow?

Blindness by Jose Saramago

Shake?

Thanks, Phil! :-)

legshake?

Nope - shake a leg…

ah, Yes I went to do a search, probably you are right, I'm not english I don't know such expressions

Yea, that's it. Shake.

Future clues might have been DOWN (a shakedown), FAIR (a fair shake), and A STICK (Shake a stick at).

I wouldn't have understood “Stick”, so I'm glad I got it before that one :-) Next one - and NO NORWEGIANS may participate:

1) Ice cream

2) School bands

3) 1814

4) Games

5) Hooray

6) Red

7) White

8) Blue

9) Norway

Norwegian Constitution Day, May 17

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Constitution_Day

Correct, Art. Too easy, I guess…

“May 17.” was the phrase.

1) wedding

2) baby

3) rain

4) curtain

shower

“shower” is correct. :)

Maybe that was too easy also. :(

Okay, this expression should be much harder:

1) onion

2) feast

3) jolly

4) breast

Turkey stuffing

Thanksgiving

1) onion

2) feast

3) jolly

4) breast

5) pumpkin

halloween

scary!

(All the armchair Freuds may now have a field day…)

Thanksgiving dinner in a pumpkin served at Hooters.

1) onion

2) feast

3) jolly

4) breast

5) pumpkin

6) zebras

7) million

words that you type with one hand

Nice suggestion, Robin. I think you got it…

WoW! I'm impressed. Course, for me, everything is typed with one finger…and sometimes the other hands thumb.

Jolly and zebras might have confused those who use qwertz keyboards (in Germany, Austria, Hungary). However, people who use dvorak get what they deserve!

Robin is correct.

The full expression is “Words that can be typed with just one hand, using the traditional QWERTY keyboard, and using traditional hand placement.”

I figured someone would get it after the word stewardesses, which is “famous” for being one of the longest such words.

Other possible clues might have been abracadabra, monopoly, watercraft, lollipop, and crabgrass.

If I wanted to continue with the “food” theme (and really make it hard) then plump, plum, yummy, and stew could have been possible clues, to say nothing of eat, batter, beer, desserts, eggs, etc.

There 5,221 such words, in my sowpods word list.

1 - Nitrogen

2 - Oxygen

3 - Argon

gases? :)

1 - Nitrogen

2 - Oxygen

3 - Argon

4 - Carbon Dioxide

components of earth's atmosphere

Air

mongoose is next

I think mongoose's right

more precisely :

components of earth's dry atmosphere, ranked by proportion in volume

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air#Composition[/url]

and that's not how you do links…

1. golf club

2. hockey stick

3. baseball glove

items that ou use on sports

sport items you use with your hands

Sports equipment

Sports equipment that comes in contact with the ball or puck.

things in mongoose's wardrobe.

=)

1. golf club

2. hockey stick

3. baseball glove

4. can opener

(can be used as) lethal weapons

open compound words

Things you hold in your non-dominant hand

sexual paraphernalia

1. golf club

2. hockey stick

3. baseball glove

4. can opener

5. scissors

It might have something to do with “one hand.” Things you use with just one hand or things used predominately with one hand or something like that.

or something like that?

how many non-one-armed people hold a golf club with one hand?

Items made specifically for a right-handed or left-handed person.

BINGO!

“things that come in right-handed and left-handed versions”

next would maybe be a guitar?!

Possibly, since I am sure someone has manufactured such guitars. However, unlike the other items, at least for the run-of-the-mill beginner guitar, someone wanting to hold chords with the right hand only needs to turn the guitar over and reverse the order of the strings. Which leads to another interesting point: a left-hander would probably find it easier to play chords with their left hand. So while there are musicians that play backwards, I suspect most people just learn to play guitar the standard way.

yeah.

in the guitar all the hands are important

so if u are learning is stupid to change the strings.

by the way…

im not sure about reverse the order of strings

because the guitars have an hole to put the hand when u are going to touch higher tones.

some guitars do, that is what he was talking about… but others dont have it, such as classic guitar.

Ed, it's your turn again…..

BTW, Paul McCartney was having trouble learning to play the guitar until someone pointed out that he should reverse the strings. He did, and the rest is history.

I don't think there are any left-handed pianos. What about accordions?

I'm still trying to think of a good category. While I think of one, I invite anyone else to jump in and play host.

okey here we go.

1)computer machine

2)bass guitar

3)bed

Main items in KPT's bedroom.

impressive!!!

judy is next.

the next hint was bible.

should be the in the three first.

1. sword

2. cane

3. snake

long things

dangerous long things

1. sword

2. cane

3. snake

4. tambourine

things with leather.

rattle

1. sword

2. cane

3. snake

4. tambourine

5. candelabra

Got it. Props/items often used by a belly dancer

http://www.atlantabellydance.com/Overview/Props.html

Bingo!

The next would have been:

6. basket

7. jug

8. zills

9. veil

10.wings

Ed's up….

The pictures are astonishing, especially the dancer with the candelabra on her head. :-D

how can you find such expressions?

I still can't come up with a good expression.

In the meantime, here are three EASY expressions… the two clues provided are good enough that you shouldn't require any more.

A:

1) a flag

2) your hand

B:

1) a flat glass of beer

2) a fictional horseman

C:

1) shot

2) reading

(If you were playing the $20,000 pyramid, these are the types of clues you ideally want to give, in order for your team member to guess the answer immediately.)

A. Things that wave.

C: glasses

Hic!

B: No head

Correct.

Things that wave, types of glasses, things with no head.

FatPhil should go next with his 2 out of 3.

OK, this one's either very hard, or very easy, depending on how you approach it:

1. Read

2. Broom

3. King

Ribbiting Tales

Words associated with things with pages?

Things that bind, are bound?

1. Read

2. Broom

3. King

4. Few

guessing 5. Butler ?

Correct, except that I was going to do Carroll before Butler, thinking it might add more confusion.

C. Carroll or D. Carroll?

words written with first letter capitalized ?

“I do hereby recommend to the present and future generations the principles of that important document as the best earthly inheritance their ancestors could bequeath to them, and pray that the civil and religious liberties they have secured to my country may be perpetuated to the remotest posterity and extended tothe whole family of man.” C. Carroll.

I think it is Mongoose to provide next RE sentence.

Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration of Independence. I don't see how Broom and Butler fit in.

Signers of the constitution

nice one, should be correct!

mongoose found it. (Right, FatPhil ?)

Lets go for the next round.

1. seal

2. teeth

3. lipstick

cosmetics?

touched by tongue

saliva ?

mouth

WAX things

Lips

lick

4. Venus's flytrap?

without 4. crayon 5. candle

Judy guessed it!

i'm horribly bad at this :)

This may be too easy:

1.religious

2.file

3.1970

easy? nah…

one more owrd please.

1.religious

2.file

3.1970

4.program

icon?

Note: I hold 1970 as canonical but not iconic. But that isn't necessarily Judy's opinion.

Icon ic correct.

I was thinking, in no particular order:

picture

religious

small

computer

file

program

1970's language

trademark

Would you like an easy one or a difficult one?

Make it hard…

1. Cow

2. Dog

3. Rhinoceros

quadrupeds

1. Cow

2. Dog

3. Rhinoceros

4. Alligator

animals

animals with an “o” in the last syllable

1. Cow

2. Dog

3. Rhinoceros

4. Alligator

5. Giant beetle

black animals?

species where males fight each other for female(s)

1. Cow

2. Dog

3. Rhinoceros

4. Alligator

5. Giant beetle

6. Camel

1. Cow

2. Dog

3. Rhinoceros

4. Alligator

5. Giant beetle

6. Camel

7. Duck

animals icons from companies

1. Cow

2. Dog

3. Rhinoceros

4. Alligator

5. Giant beetle

6. Camel

7. Duck

8. Snake

Animals that are/were once revered as sacred?

1. Cow

2. Dog

3. Rhinoceros

4. Alligator

5. Giant beetle

6. Camel

7. Duck

8. Snake

9. Hog

10. Lion

11. Chicken

Animals that can't see many colours ?

Animals Noah took on the Ark

Perhaps it's time to give a different kind of hint:

Which animal were NOT allowed on that list?

1. Cow

2. Dog

3. Rhinoceros

4. Alligator

5. Giant (2 meter) beetle

6. Camel

7. Duck

8. Snake (with conspicuous bulges along its length)

9. Hog

10. Lion (standing on hind legs)

11. Chicken

12. Frog

13. Slug (1 meter tall, living in his own house)

Animals who have been leading actors or characters

1. Cow

2. Dog

3. Rhinoceros

4. Alligator

5. Giant (2 meter) beetle

6. Camel

7. Duck

8. Snake (with conspicuous bulges along its length)

9. Hog

10. Lion (standing on hind legs)

11. Chicken

12. Frog

13. Slug (1 meter tall, living in his own house)

14. Deer (talking about hunter)

Just in case, here's the easy one:

1. High school

2. Java

3. Consciousness

Animals from the Far Side ??

Hot diggety dog, Art has it! The topic is “Gary Larsen's animals”, and the list is the order in which they first appear in “The Far Side Gallery 3”.

1. Vancouver

2. Fortaleza

3. Qingdao

cities with major seaports

far side? what the hell is that?

it's a book.

I thought of answering “animals from a book” but i didn't know if that would have counted.

1. Vancouver

2. Fortaleza

3. Qingdao

4. Yangon

5. Wuhan

ps: As usual, to find out more about “The Far Side”, type it into Google, and see what happens (and, in this case, enjoy!).

cities with a population of at least 1,000,000

1. Vancouver

2. Fortaleza

3. Qingdao

4. Yangon

5. Wuhan

6. Ahmedabad

7. Guangzhou

8. Essen

1. Vancouver

2. Fortaleza

3. Qingdao

4. Yangon

5. Wuhan

6. Ahmedabad

7. Guangzhou

8. Essen

9. Ho Chi Minh City

10. Paris

11. Istanbul

12. Rio de Janeiro

cities containing monuments/buildings listed on the initial list of new wolrd wonders

1. Vancouver

2. Fortaleza

3. Qingdao

4. Yangon

5. Wuhan

6. Ahmedabad

7. Guangzhou

8. Essen

9. Ho Chi Minh City

10. Paris

11. Istanbul

12. Rio de Janeiro

13. Buenos Aires

14. Kolkata

15. Los Angeles

Fact: The full list for this game is finite.

Fact: I have about twenty-something entries total; I'm missing a few more.

Fact: I am reporting the entries I do have in reverse order, in a sense.

Question: What do these entries have in common?

Question: What do these entries not have in common?

Alright, here's the complete list that I have; remember, there's a few others I wasn't able to track down, but only a few:

1. Vancouver

2. Fortaleza

3. Qingdao

4. Yangon

5. Wuhan

6. Ahmedabad

7. Guangzhou

8. Essen

9. Ho Chi Minh City

10. Paris

11. Istanbul

12. Rio de Janeiro

13. Buenos Aires

14. Kolkata

15. Los Angeles

16. Cairo

17. Osaka

18. Delhi

19. Jakarta

20. Mumbai

21. Seoul

22. New York

23. Tokyo

City population smallest to largest

Judy: But why are some cities included, and others not? Hint: Which ones are *not* included? Why not? Remember, my list is practically complete (just missing a few I couldn't track down).

I'm sorry this is so hard. I've overcorrected for the way too easy “shower” I offered before.

Cities that appear in movie titles?

Cities with direct flights to Bejing?

Remember the list is in reverse order, so try listing it starting with Tokyo, New York, Seoul, etc. (sorry, I'm working remotely, it's hard for me to do this for you right now). What order do you think that list is in? Which cities are missing their spot in that list? (Which cities are missing from the list?) Why would they be missing? Big hint: They are missing because of *other* cities ahead of them on the list.

Could you at least tell us which 'list of largest cities in the world by population' you used? Then we know the order.

Well, I think I got it, if my own data is, as I guess, outdated.

My proposition is “Most populated cities in the world in reverse order, when you take out any city smaller than another city beginning with the same letter.” (I'm not native speaker, I hope this is clear).

I couldn't figure out why you were keeping out Mexico and not Mumbai, and then I realized my figures was outdated (2006). So I hope this is true. I note you have no city beginning with “z”, because the number 23 gave me the idea.

Benjamin's got it! A slightly shorter way to name the category is “cities with the most population, among those beginning with the same letter”. I used this list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_by_population

Sorry about any confusion based on when the data is gathered. (And some population statistics are just hard to nail down precisely.)

Note that you have to decide whether you're going to count just the population of the city itself, or the city and its related outlying areas. I went with including the outlying areas, because that seemed to match a more intuitive idea of city size.

I use French spelling, so if there is a name you do not understand, tell me so.

1. Brazil

2. United States

3. Canada

4. Vietnam

This is not 'reversed empathy'. This is 'find the algorithm'. :)

Yeah, in a way you're right. Do you want me to find a more “empathy-like” problem? All, give your point of view, and if most of you want to change, I'll give another list tomorrow.

Give another list.

Yes, GoE does not rely on an order of entries, neither should Reverse Empathy, except for “making it interesting/not too easy”.

The term to search for should result in an unsorted list.

@Benjamin: I was only talking about Art's expression. I haven't tried to solve yours yet.

Robin, MichaelX: Sorry for the difficulty of my game. Mine didn't *rely* on the order, I was putting them in some order as a bit of an extra hint. I started from the bottom to be sure to start with at least one city starting with an “interesting” letter (Q).

In hindsight, I would not recommend anyone using my game as a good motivation for another game.

Ok!

Just to make everything clear, what was the expression we had to guess?

“cities with the most population, among those beginning with the same letter”

or

“cities with the most population beginning with that letter” [less precise, but shorter]

I understand it as

“Characters of the alphabet, represented by the biggest city starting with that character”.

I admit it was so difficult I even did not understand Benjamnin's solution.

Benjamin has obvoiusly enough time to elaborate a non-sorted list name for his given seed, if required.

My suggestion (to get that game running):

Countries with a shore (sea coast)

Countries of which the capital is not the largest city :)

Well, I told you I was not natve speaker and it wouldn't be very clear. But once you understood it was reverse order, you just take the list of the most populated cities and you try very hard to guess why some are missing. It came quite fast for me. Then you try to turn this in acceptable english.

And I would like to give another list - but Robin got it yet! So, your turn to make this more empathy-like.

Have fun!

1. Stan Laurel

2. Vladimir Lenin

3. Vincent van Gogh

dead and famous ?

1. Stan Laurel

2. Vladimir Lenin

3. Vincent van Gogh

4. Peggy Bundy

Born or dead on an exact decade?

1. Stan Laurel

2. Vladimir Lenin

3. Vincent van Gogh

4. Peggy Bundy

5. Princess Fiona

6. Malcolm X

I don't know all of them - they had problems with their univesity?

The answer can be phrased using one word only. Keep it simple.

1. Stan Laurel

2. Vladimir Lenin

3. Vincent van Gogh

4. Peggy Bundy

5. Princess Fiona

6. Malcolm X

7. Boris Becker

8. Queen Elisabeth I

red hair

Crelo got it :)

i thought about it, but Malcolm X really shocked me. Was he red-haired??

This one might be easy:

1.Red

2.America

3.Horns

Bull

The Devil went down to Georgia…

Judy, I didn't know about Primus song and the clip is not available for my country on You Tube.

Chicago Bulls

1.red

2.America

3.horns

4.sea

5.axes

native americans? apache? sioux? comanche?

vikings

or: Erik the Red

right Robin, Eric the Red :-)

It was a good choice for the game before.

1. pig

2. dog

3. rooster

4. monkey

chinese zodiac animals

yes! well done :)

yeeehah :) let me think the new list..

1) Medici

2) Modern Art

3) Samurai

4) Lord of the Rings

Games created by Reiner Knizia?

yeah, too easy if you are in this little world ;)

your turn!

:-D

1) el brikindans

2) el crusaíto

3) el maiquelyason

4) el robocop

arrgh:

1) el brikindans

2) el crusai­to

3) el maiquelyason

4) el robocop

lol

:-D

1) el brikindans

2) el crusaito

3) el maiquelyason

4) el robocop

Para una vez que acierto quiero escribir varios post!

mmmmmm, Rodolfo Chikilicuatre, Spanish representative in Eurovision Contest? ;)

Great!

Is your turn again…

lol, this one I would have guessed as soon as I opened the topic =)

(this one has a bit of “order”, sorry)

1) Switzerland

2) Holland

3) France

euro 2008 participants

4) Holland (uh oh, it's repeated!)

Maybe France will repeat too…

5) France (again! maybe Jordi knows something?)

he he…

winners of the eurovision song contest?

you got it! your turn :)

maybe a little hard

1) 1946

2) 1946

3) 1924

1) 1946

2) 1946

3) 1924

4) 1911

mmmh… let me try:

1) George W. Bush (born 1946)

2) George W. Bush (born 1946)

3) George H. W. Bush (born 1924)

4) Ronald Reagan (born 1911)

Republican Presidents of the United States?

not completely

2) is wrong ;-)

1) 1946

2) 1946

3) 1924

4) 1911

5) 1924

The birthdates of the Presidents of the United States

aaargh…

Robin, fast reply!

birthdates of presidents of the united states from current term of office to past.

ah, oh, sorry, that's robin's answer :)

very good! Please start a new reversed empathy game (so it wasn't that hard after all :))

1. chief of police

2. over the garden wall

3. hell for leather

4. eve or adam

5. emphasis

song/disc titles of a certain group/artist ?

GOLEM in Cockney alphabet?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockney_alphabet

Jordi is correct :)

I hope it's not too difficult…

1. Jason Kidd - Jonathan

2. Lucas - 12

3. dogdog - Jose Maria Grau Ribas

4. perugia - chattytea

5. SlaYer - Tim

I got it… :-D

17. Nevermind - parma

Yes!

Easier than I thought

Your turn!

P.S. GameID number 50000, 100000, 150000, 200000… and so on… 850000 (Nevermind-parma)

Ok, let's go.

1. adopt

2. dim

3. bow

4. cent

5. deny

6. first

7. forty

8. art

9. fist

10. nosy

11. cop

12. defy

13. ant

14. any

15. bent

16. abhor

Thomas…I think you have us stumped!

I don't think so. :-) These expressions have something in common. I have to confess that I tried to pose a hard riddle.

I try to make it less difficult by adding inappropriate counterparts.

1. 'adopt', but not 'adoptee'

2. 'dim', but not 'dime'

3. 'bow', but not 'bowel'

4. 'cent', but not 'century'

5. 'deny', but not 'denial'

6. 'first', but not 'second'

7. 'forty', but not 'eighty' (even though eighty is a “near miss”)

8. 'art', but not 'painting'

9. 'fist', but not 'feast'

10. 'nosy', but not 'nose'

11. 'cop', but not 'cope'

12. 'defy', but not 'defeat'

13. 'ant', but not 'and'

14. 'any', but not 'many'

15. 'bent', but not 'broken'

16. 'abhor', but not 'loathe'

17. 'deity', but not 'god'

18. 'blow', but not 'sex' (makes me think of Bill Clinton) ;-)

19. 'chips', but not 'fish'

20. 'best', but not 'unbeatable'

words whose letters are in alphabetical order

!!

Congratulations, Art Duval wins.

oh my god! and it always was in front of our eyes! ;)

good one, Thomas! And fast reaction, Art, congrats! :D

Yes, Thomas, it was good. I hope the one I"m starting now will be not as bad as the one I did before (big cities beginning with given letters):

1. lobby

2. soap

3. pool

Things you find at a Hotel.

Well-done Judy!!

My motivation is that we're on vacation, staying at a hotel, with a pool. :)

1. novocaine

2. tremors

3. sleeper

movies

movies that include Kevin Bacon in the cast

Mongoose has it.

1. wolf

2. deer

3. reward

1. wolf

2. deer

3. reward

4. dog

5. paws

Words that spell another word when written backwards.

wolf = flow

deer = reed

reward = drawer

dog = god

paws = swap

ah man! i didn't even get to add 6. diaper or 7. stink

Well done, Ed!

Thanks.

1) dishwasher

2) motorcycle

3) automobile

10-letter words?

(I hope it won't be this easy…)

words with an “e” in the last syllable ;-)

compound words?

Machines men just HAVE to have!

1) dishwasher

2) motorcycle

3) automobile

4) contact lens

1) dishwasher

2) motorcycle

3) automobile

4) contact lens

5) metal detector

1) dishwasher

2) motorcycle

3) automobile

4) contact lens

5) metal detector

6) Kodak hand camera

Things invented in the 19th century?

Close. Be more specific.

1) dishwasher

2) motorcycle

3) automobile

4) contact lens

5) metal detector

6) Kodak hand camera

7) ballpoint pen

Things patented in the 19th century

1) dishwasher

2) motorcycle

3) automobile

4) contact lens

5) metal detector

6) Kodak hand camera

7) ballpoint pen

8) electric fan

9) seismograph

words that have definitely nothing to do with sex

not if you are creative

) dishwasher

2) motorcycle

3) automobile

4) contact lens

5) metal detector

6) Kodak hand camera

7) ballpoint pen

8) electric fan

9) seismograph

10) gasoline engine

11) blowtorch

Things invented between 1880 and 1890?

That's it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_invention#1880s

You guys got to much time on your hands!

:-) Easy…

1.- Marco Firnhaber

2.- Glenn C.Rhoads

3.- Roman Bocka

4.- Lin Liu

5.- bachkiesel

ooops…

6.- sm9

Little Golem players

with some in common…

7.- Petr Trojek

LG players not appearing in the list of players when n4? :)

But well, based on what i saw in bachkiesel, sm9 and Petr's profiles : players with ID between 1000 ad 1100?

Oh, another idea :

Players registered in march of 2002. Or very old players that stopped playing recently. Or both :).

2002 is the year but you need some more specific…

8.- BIG BAD WOLF

Another one that isn't in the list :(

Oh, i said march of 2002 and not only 2002. But, based on the three players i can see : registered between the 6th and the 16th of march, 2002. :)

Ok, here's something more serious : winners of early championships (i'd said Championship#1, but sm9 is concerned by Championship#2). Or maybe, best players at a game in the end of 2002?

:-)

yes! Winners in 2002 championships.

Your turn!

Here we go!

1/ Johann Sebastien Bach

2/ Jimi Hendrix

3/ Bill Gates

4/ Jeanne d'Arc

People who contributed nothing new to the world after 1970.

People who were, should or would like to be burnt alive.

lol

people who were the first in something

They would have liked to go shopping in Ned Flanders' leftorium.

Well, with Bill Gates in the list, it was bound to be something sinister.

Famous people who are at least partially left-handed?

@Phil: You mean the classic Latin meaning of sinister?

According to List_of_famous_left-handed_people, Jimi Hendrix “Wrote right-handed, but played guitar left-handed.”

According to noir-lait-blanc.blogspot.com, “My niece, however, writes with her left hand and does everything else with her right hand. As does Bill Gates, apparently.“)

Some sources list Johann Sebastian Bach as left-handed, some sources only list his son Carl P.E. Bach.

Almost at exactly the time I opened this page and saw Benjamin's puzzle with Bach at top of the list, the radio started playing a Bach piece.

Which just goes to prove…something. Or not.

:)

Were you turning the button with your left hand? :D

Ypercube, your answer made me laugh so much i'd like to give you the price (though, I don't think Bach belong to this class). But the good answer were : people which main work was done with left hand.

I was told when little that Bach was left-handed, and I knew that Hendrix was left-handed only for the guitar and Bill Gates only for writing and typing (hoping I was not wrong). I thought it would add a bit of difficulty.

Now, Thomas Werner's answer was good, but Marleyghost's was more accurate. Your turn, so!

I accept. Go, go, ghost!

6,670,903,752,021,072,936,960

pardon?

My friend Frazer knows that number well.

Just type Ed's number into Google. I won't spoil the answer.

I don't get the beauty of the number, even when I put it into google…

Please start a new game :) I want to guess again :D

1. Robert Frost

2. Archibald Macleish

3. Peter Viereck

4. Carl Sandburg

Winners of Pulitzer prize

Yes, they're all winners of Pulitizer prizes, but it's way more specific than that.

5. Maxine Kumin

Left-handed winners of the Pulitzer prize?

LOL! I really don't know anything about their handedness.

1. Robert Frost

2. Archibald Macleish

3. Peter Viereck

4. Carl Sandburg

5. Maxine Kumin

6. Robert Penn Warren

Poets winners of Pulitzer prize

Yes, they are all Pulitizer prize poets. Kpato (That is you, isn't it?), you may start the next game.

However, the topic that these names are drawn from has one more condition and everyone is welcome to guess the additional condition. Here are all the remaining names that match the topic I have in mind. There will be no more for three more years.

7. Rita Dove

8. Louise Gluck

9. Lisel Mueller

10. Mark Strand

11. Paul Muldoon

a new one.

1.Ed Collins

2.Bill Collins

3.Ypercube

4.Marius Halsor

Highly skilled LG players.

in that case

1.kpato…

---———-

1.Ed Collins

2.Bill Collins

3.Ypercube

4.Marius Halsor

5.kpato (anyway…)

Is there a special reason for writing kpato without the fist letter capital and ypercube with Y capital?

Winners of Reverse Empathy!

Male winners of Reverse Empathy.

Winners of Reverse Empathy, in chronological order.

marley…your first answer is correct.

bennok is after marius…

so is not chronological.

your turn.

Let me jump in first… I've got a good one.

1) suit

2) shoe

3) cap

Go ahead, Ed. Meanwhile, everyone is welcome to guess what's different about the eleven Pulitzer prize poets, and why there won't be a twelvth for another three years.

clothes…

@MarleysGhost

Please tell me that I am wrong… the mentioned persons have recieved the Pulitzer Price for Poetry in a year which is prime. (This is just a guess, because most of them recieved their price in an odd year. And… the next prime year will be 2011, because 2008 is divisible by 2, 2010 also, 2009 is divisible by 7.)

This is not true… You can't be serious. :-)

@Thomas: Genau! You got it. Seriously. The topic is prime-year Pulitzer prize poets. Doing the ProjectEuler.net puzzles got me thinking in terms of prime numbers.

Thomas! That's it! Good work!

I can't believe that didn't occur to me. I was thinking of doing the same thing, but with Little Golem players. (Using our ID numbers.)

1) suit

2) shoe

3) cap

4) plow

1) suit

2) shoe

3) cap

4) plow

5) storm

Words that follow SNOW…

Correct! Words that, when added to the word SNOW, form other words. (snowsuit, snowplow, etc.)

Other candidates might have been ball, fall, man, bird, flake, and mobile.

It is still Thomas Werner's turn to post the next list.

No, Kpato was the deemed winner of Pulitzer prize poets. Thomas Werner found the bonus condition.

I was the winner of Kpato's Reverse Empathy winners. Ed claimjumped me, which I am willing to tolerate because 1. I'm a tolerant kind of guy 2. I didn't have a topic ready to go and 3. The only rules at LittleGolem are the ones that the server software does not let you break (We don't need prisons for people who break the laws of Physics, either. :) ).

At this point, Judy, please go ahead with a topic. I would rather guess than make up a topic.

That is, Judy, unless you want to pass the privilege to Thomas Werner.

P.S. I suspect you are not the Judy Collins whose music I listened to in college.

Hey, I don't feel I claimjumped! :)

Note my 5-17-08 post. I had correctly deduced the answer to the previous game, but I allowed anyone to jump in, since I didn't have a good category ready at the time. I was only reclaiming my right to play host for the time I missed!

:)

I'd rather guess, than post a list, and still think it is somebody else's turn.

Kpato, or Thomas Werner, somebody…go for it.

Or Ed…

I have nothing in mind right now and would like to give my privilege to Ed.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch,

1. Marlon Brando

2. Elia Kazan

3. Tennessee Williams

4. Jessica Tandy

People associated with “A Streetcar Named Desire.” (Cast, director, etc.)

@Ed: Yep!

1. a jogger

2. pantyhose

Run

Yes, things that run. Good work.

Things you might find running…

1. old

2. tough

3. rich

guy

4. out

5. smart

wallsmart

I don't know what wallsmart is. Walmart?

1. old

2. tough

3. rich

4. out

5. smart

6. going

wjajaj you are right! hehe.

Qualities to look for in a spouse….

8. laid

Some things you would like to be?

(Then go out and keep going, but don't grow old too fast!)

Or, even more obvious : things you can be?

things you can “get”

but what happened to number 7?

Oops. Skipped a number.

7. laid

8. a haircut

@Art: That's it. The topic is “Get ____“.

Alrighty, then….

1. water

2. good

3. very

Alcohol?

Words to describe HOT TUB.

1. water

2. good

3. very

4. ink

5. healthy

A happy squid

Ultraviolet (UV) Technology

well

Robin is correct! “Well”-done! :-)

The other words in the list were going to be:

oil

thorough

all's

stair

hole

wishing

Lassie and/or Timmy [I wasn't sure which yet]

1. father

2. light

3. fortress

Superman

figure

1. father

2. light

3. fortress

4. shield

5. rock

6. stone

Wow, four clues all at once. That makes it easier.

Names of God.

Whoops. I mean three extra clues all at once.

Ed, you are correct :-)

The other words were going to be: lord, savior, maker, shepherd :D

1. bed

2. army

3. band

1. bed

2. army

3. band

4. nest

1. bed

2. army

3. band

4. nest

5. gang

1. bed

2. army

3. band

4. nest

5. gang

6. school

militar service

1. bed

2. army

3. band

4. nest

5. gang

6. school

7. ambush

Ed: I *have* been thinking about this (don't feel neglected!), but I haven't been able to think of anything good.

Everyone else: Sometimes I've solved this from seeing other people's wrong guesses, so here's a couple of (almost certainly) wrong guesses to get our creative juices going:

post (one of the few connections between “bed” and “army”)

base (bass for band?)

bug

1. bed

2. army

3. band

4. nest

5. gang

6. school

7. ambush

8. pack

groups, social organizations, or something similar ?

(I'd learn a meaning of “bed” and “ambush” not known to me yet, though ;)

Michael: You mean groups of animals? E.g. would “gaggle” be one of the expressions?

Correct. Words used to describe groups of animals.

A bed of clams (or oysters).

An army of ants (or caterpillars, frogs).

A band of gorillas.

A nest of hornets (or rabbits).

A gang of elk (or turkeys).

A school of fish.

An ambush of tigers.

A pack of wolves (or boars, coyotes, dogs, hounds, rats).

Gaggle is indeed the word used to define a group of geese.

Check out: http://www.anapsid.org/beastly.html

That was suprisingly difficult Good for you Michael X.

impossible for non-native english :)

except Michael X, i guess ;)

Thanks for the English lesson, Ed (I did not restrict it to non-human animals, to make most of the words work for my guess ;)

Here's the next round:

Africa

Bahamas

Canada

for each letter, the first country in a dictionary starting with that letter? :)

next Denmark? :)

Africa is a continent, but not a country. Would Abyssinia be first in the dictionary?

aaarg, too late in the night to coordinate both my cerebral hemispheres :(

A band of gorillas (or a band or rockers ;)

I just sort it by alphabet (do I ?) to make it harder ;)

IMO Emapthy, and therefore Reverse Emapthy as well, should work as unsorted lists.

Africa

Bahamas

Canada

Denmark

Egypt

Which dictionary, Gregorio ?

http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/egame/egame_detail.jsp?egameid=98

Correct, GoE “Most beautiful countries”

Congrats, Robin. Or was it too easy?

It took 20 hours before this one was solved. I've seen them easier :)

Next:

1. back

2. battle

3. fair

ground?

well done. that's correct :)

1. Rice

2. Moon

3. Term

paper!

@Ed: That's it!

1. hat

2. shoe

3. cannon

What a photographer wears.

1. hat

2. shoe

3. cannon

4. thimble

thing with hole

monopoly tokens

Monopoly tokens is correct!

1. cube

2. metal

3. live

wire?

prison cell

1. cube

2. metal

3. live

4. tool

5. dead

6. six

Saw? (I'm actually pretty sure none of you has seen that movie, me neither, but these words suits perfectly, lol)

I saw the movie SAW and ondik is correct, but I'm sure these clues aren't describing that movie.

Six, dead, and metal all help to describe a gun.

six gun… ice cube… heavy metal… dead end…

(Sorry, just thinking aloud.)

1. cube

2. metal

3. live

4. tool

5. dead

6. six

7. croak

8. roll

“rock” seems to work for a few words, but not for all.

live, dead, and croak all seem to go together somehow.

I wonder if these are words in a song or poem.

No song or poem that comes to mind for me….

1. cube

2. metal

3. live

4. tool

5. dead

6. six

7. croak

8. roll

9. cast

10. dungeons & dragons

RPG?

Dice!

Dice looks like a winner.

I think it's “die”, which among other things is the singular of “dice”.

“Die” it is! “Dice” is close, but wouldn't work for clues 2,3,4,5,7,9. The trick is it's a word with (at least) 3 very distinct meanings (homophones, if you like the official word): singular of dice (clues 1, 6, 8, 10); stop living (clues 3, 5, 7); and a tool used to make metal or plastic things of a particular shape (clues 2, 4, 9). My online dictionary combines these last two definitions into a single definition, perhaps because dice are produced this way, but I think most people think of these as truly separate.

Anyway, Marley is correct here, congratulations!

Sorry for the delay in responding – I only check LG at home, before and after work.

Well, I don't have a topic ready, and I wouldn't have gotten this if it hadn't been for the clue from Benjamin Hellouin, so if you would like to choose a topic, Benjamin, please be my guest.

wow, very nice, reading LG phorums I must say I'm sometimes amazed how clever people here are.

I am ALWAYS amazed at how clever people here are.

Now I've come up with a topic.

1. Sports

2. Cool

3. Window

Frame?

fan

“fan” it is!

1. coin

2. salad

3. football

4. cookies

toss

Yes, things that are “tossed!”

I don't have a topic ready, so if Benjamin Hellouin would like to choose a topic, please be my guest.

1. position

2. stripper

3. may

pole

That's it!

1. vampires
2. zoombies

Since I don't think it's as obvious as “monsters”, I will venture something under-obvious: creatures that hunger for a specific body substance. Vampires, blood; zombies, brains.

creatures that are half dead

Monsters that may have formerly been ordinary humans.

I had “undead” in mind, so “creatures that are half dead” makes the point. And I chose undead as this is (I hope) the new status of this game! 8-)

cool! I won on my first attempt. Let me try one….

1. Milky Way
2. Mars

Oh, candy bars?

Universe?

as I thought, too easy! You both could be right, but I was thinking candy bars (and maybe a glass of milk!)

here is a new one, hopefully a bit harder:

1. San Francisco
2. Philadelphia
3. Denver

I begin:

1. Calvin
2. masked

'Calvin and Hobbes' or 'alter ego'?

Continuing:

1. Calvin
2. masked
3. lightning

Dr_Strange: Cities where U.S. mints coins? ( I had to research a little to confirm these made cents).

Nathan, you are right! congrats!

Further:

1. Calvin
2. masked
3. lightning
4. point

K.K.K.

1. Members often claim to be Calvin ist
2. They are masked when 'in function'
3. The have a cross lightning ritual
4. Organisms with brains larger than a peanut fail to see the point in the KKK's existence.

Klever, but no Kookie. Kontinuing:

1. Calvin
2. masked
3. lightning
4. point
5. rice

I know an interesting personal (but not mine) story on rice. Apart from that I'm 4.-less on where you're going, Nathan

Calvin Rice is a preacherman. Lightning, hmm, is that Religion in general?

Kane?

1. Plaxico Burress
2. Tony Adams
3. Floyd Mayweather

@kot - sportsmen?

1. Plaxico Burress
2. Tony Adams
3. Floyd Mayweather
4. Marion Jones

Onward:

1. Calvin
2. masked
3. lightning
4. point
5. rice
6. room

@ Nathan citizen kane?

KoT: Sorry. /The puzzle goes forword/

1. Calvin
2. masked
3. lightning
4. point
5. rice
6. room
7. hard

I'm not sure how long ago the last clue was, since the side column says negative 238,507 seconds, but, again, it is going forwOrd.

1. Calvin
2. masked
3. lightning
4. point
5. rice
6. room
7. hard
8. up

Still staring pointlessly here…

1. Plaxico Burress
2. Tony Adams
3. Floyd Mayweather
4. Marion Jones
5. OJ Simpson

KoT: It seems that all of these sportplayers have been involved in legal troubles, of different sorts and scale.

Advancing, and accelerating:

1. Calvin
2. masked
3. lightning
4. point
5. rice
6. room
7. hard
8. up
9. fancy
10. joint

What was the consequence of those legal troubles?

@ Nathan: ball ?

Richard: Your answer is right on the ball!

I'm interested that so simple a word could make a not so obvious puzzle.

You know, I was just curious to see if I had it figured out but I'd really like to pass on providing the next puzzle. Would someone please step up to the plate for me?

@RL - If I recall correctly the declared winner should provide next game

I'll do one.

1. case
2. pea
3. wing

Ed: A tough NUT to crack!

Excellent. Obviously, other clues I had ready

4. cracker
5. chest
6. hazel
7. dough
8. coco

were not needed. Good work.

A new yhtapme:

1. oath
2. bank
3. blue

blood?

Kot: You're bloody right!

1. Power
2. Top
3. Out

house?

1. Power
2. Top
3. Out
4. Tree

Line?

1. Power
2. Top
3. Out
4. Tree
5. Rope

1. Power
2. Top
3. Out
4. Tree
5. Rope
6. Torque

Force?

man?

1. Power
2. Top
3. Out
4. Tree
5. Rope
6. Torque
7. Poetry
8. Eye

OOOOO…this one has a QUEER solution! Will you REQUIRE a full explanation, or may I WRITE some words of the right TYPE to TRY to give others half a chance?

Thankyou for keeping quiet!

What a TRIP!

Nathan as the 1st one to solve my game I guess you have the option to make the next puzzle!

YPER-QUTE puzzle.

Here's a new one:

1. stone
2. hole
3. ring

round forms?

Would someone please explain the solution to the previous puzzle?

(You would think I would know better by now and just stay away from here!)

Richard: It's words from the top row of letters on the typewriter. Interestingly includes 'typewriter'.

Thank you. I should have spotted that since, as I recall, Borgmann had an entire section on this topic in his wonderful book “Language on Vacation.”

Incrementing:

1. stone
2. hole
3. ring
4. shift

Mill stone ?

Augmenting:

1. stone
2. hole
3. ring
4. shift
5. west

side?

words without repeated letters

MRFvR: It seems that would be a very large set of words…

Developing:

1. stone
2. hole
3. ring
4. shift
5. west
6. skeleton

key?

KoT: You have found the Key!

1. bag
2. tears
3. skin

Crocodile.

1. bag
2. tears
3. skin
4. ring

@nathan very good guess, hadn't thought of crocodile as a red herring!

Izzit things associated with onions?

yeah

The next one starts:

1. man
2. child
3. elf

Characters in fairy tales?

The Legend of Zelda.

1. man
2. child
3. elf
4. tooth

the tooth fairy

1. man
2. child
3. elf
4. tooth
5. crisis

Nouns with irregular plural?

ypercube: You have found the right criterion among the possible criteria!

Next game:

1. galaxy
2. zone
3. symbol

Words containing X, Y, or Z?

spiral?

1. galaxy
2. zone
3. symbol
4. astronomy
5. guitar

Words that derive from Greek?

Nathan: Eureka!

:)

new cryptempathy:

1. tool
2. wing
3. light

Star Wars?

1. tool
2. wing
3. light
4. well

Bucket

1. tool
2. wing
3. light
4. well
5. platter
6. mile

country

1. tool
2. wing
3. light
4. well
5. platter
6. mile
7. tank

stone

in, he, on, cone, it pin, nap, eat, upper are words that would be part of the list potentially if I have the right olution!!

aha, this raises the bar igh.

Also pill, pit, layer, low, cat, train, trip, …

The funny thing is I wanted to do this, but I could never find the solution to start a new one :)

KoT: You have earned your upper! Now it's your turn to tart.

1) game
2) love
3) quiet

position?

1) game
2) love
3) quiet
4) dollar

Well, a dollar is “money”, you love your “honey”, a game can be “funny”, and someone can be quiet as a “bunny” …??

(I had started thinking, a dollar is a “buck”, with a game you need “luck”, and…um…)

1) game
2) love
3) quiet
4) dollar
5) shower

I guess I have the required AGE to understand this.

1) game
2) love
3) quiet
4) dollar
5) shower
6) chips

I think I figured it out….

These are all #1 answers from past empathy games!

Congratulations Ray you are #1

1) feel
2) scowl
3) probing

Words containing an animal?

Nathan, you are too good! congrats!

A duel?

1. compass
2. arrow
3. giraffe

golden?

astronomic constellations?

YHW: By my stars, you solved that fast!

Great !

1) sun
2) earth
3) Poland

1) sun
2) earth
3) Poland
4) Galileo Galilei

Johannes Kepler?

darn, erase that, Nicolaus Copernicus, was the correct answer

Copernicus is correct !

1) Akira Watanabe
2) Howard Stern
3) George Clinton

Celebrities who play chess

Good call, but nope!
Going on:
1) Akira Watanabe
2) Howard Stern
3) George Clinton
4) David Hasselhoff

Motorcycle