Matt J's "Word Racing" timewaster/game for the stay-at-home COVID-19 days of 2020

[Southport Zeb]

I do like ice cream!

[Diable Rouge]

Pentadecimal - Yes! (Context - the very constrictions that Matt J has placed on this round.)

[Sporting]

Nothing beats tea. (though coffee's better)

[Wouter D]

Eddie did die here.

[context: at the end of the 2024 Steel Wheelchair Tour, Iron Maiden finally say goodbye to their famous mascot]

[lambers]

Indeed, weeds died. I did some gardening today, clearing space to plant some seed potatoes later this week.

[Various Artist]

A jellied eel, hide!

(The classic East End dish is so offensive to the more squeamish, they should avoid at all costs.)

[ad hoc]

I awake from a feverish drug-induced hallucinogenic dream of a bizarre marriage ceremony in which I may have been betrothed to LSD-infused condensation lying in the early morning meadow, asking

Did I wed weird dew?

[Sits]

He’d wired a welder!

Well he had, so there’s your context.

[Sporting]

I see from entries subsequent to mine what I should have done but I shall desist from editing my post, in the spirit of fair play.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

I'm just cooking up a snake stew dish - cordon bleu. *looks at recipe and shakes head* - "Add adder bladder".

[matt j]

I see from entries subsequent to mine what I should have done but I shall desist from editing my post, in the spirit of fair play.

Much appreciated, this would be a disaster from my point of view if more people went back and edited. Unofficial new rule, don't edit your posts just for my sanity in tracking entries.(And there is a strategic element to delaying your entry until you see other entries, of course.)


Imaginary bonus points to sits and Sean of the Sead for making a sentences that didn't have 5-letter words but still somehow ended up with valid 5-letter words in my spreadsheet (reuse and elder).

[matt j]

Let us say race/week/season closes in about 6 hours or so. Based on current results, I think I know the week winner and season winner, but this race may be the closest run one yet.

[slackster]

Did dad decide yet?

My old man was always dithering over making a choice. He was a nightmare when it came to making his mind up over a menu choice. Been dead almost 20 years now: still miss the silly old sod.

[delicatemoth]

Hemp rope saves us. The credo of an old-fashioned mountaineer.

[Hot Orange]

I desire deer ride.

(I would like to ride a deer. Who wouldn't, right?)

[matt j]

Okay, race/week/season results coming shortly.

[matt j]

Race #10 results:

Unlike previous races, I'll instead try and reveal some of the behind the curtain stuff for everyone. Hopefully this doesn't complete kill the fun/mystery of the game, but also maybe will help clear up any confusion so next season can start fresh, fun, and with the traditional wearing of the t-shirt commemorating the traditional burning of the effigy of George Will while also roasting Quorn and Shreddies over an open fire. No Llulls for the weary! Also Sporting.

First, the distribution:

letter	week 2 values
a	5
b	3
c	5
d	10
e	9
f	4
g	9
h	10
i	4
j	1
k	3
l	8
m	3
n	7
o	4
p	4
q	3
r	7
s	5
t	7
u	6
v	3
w	10
x	8
y	6
z	6

I feel like a lot of people sussed out the 'w-h-e-d' combination pretty early, lots of 'where's, and double-e words.

So for Race #10, we had entries as:

Racer Name

1st

2nd

3rd

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

Test Racer

accom

plish

ments

a

c

c

o

m

p

l

i

s

h

m

e

n

t

s

Balderdasha

howdo

esthi

swork

h

o

w

d

o

e

s

t

h

i

s

w

o

r

k

Sean of the Sead

reuse

dshre

ddies

r

e

u

s

e

d

s

h

r

e

d

d

i

e

s

andrew7160

confu

sionr

eigns

c

o

n

f

u

s

i

o

n

r

e

i

g

n

s

elguapo04

drive

nmeto

drink

d

r

i

v

e

n

m

e

t

o

d

r

i

n

k

nmrfox

vodka

never

helps

v

o

d

k

a

n

e

v

e

r

h

e

l

p

s

San Bernardhinault

werid

eorwe

slide

w

e

r

i

d

e

o

r

w

e

s

l

i

d

e

Southport Zeb

Idoli

keice

cream

I

d

o

l

i

k

e

i

c

e

c

r

e

a

m

diable rouge

penta

decim

alyes

p

e

n

t

a

d

e

c

i

m

a

l

y

e

s

Sporting

Nothi

ngbea

tstea

N

o

t

h

i

n

g

b

e

a

t

s

t

e

a

Wouter D

Eddie

diddi

ehere

E

d

d

i

e

d

i

d

d

i

e

h

e

r

e

lambers

indee

dweed

sdied

i

n

d

e

e

d

w

e

e

d

s

d

i

e

d

Various Artist

ajell

iedee

lhide

a

j

e

l

l

i

e

d

e

e

l

h

i

d

e

ad hoc

didiw

edwei

rddew

d

i

d

i

w

e

d

w

e

i

r

d

d

e

w

Sits

hedwi

redaw

elder

h

e

d

w

i

r

e

d

a

w

e

l

d

e

r

Vicarious Thrillseeker

addad

derbl

adder

a

d

d

a

d

d

e

r

b

l

a

d

d

e

r

slackster

didda

ddeci

deyet

d

i

d

d

a

d

d

e

c

i

d

e

y

e

t

delicatemoth

hempr

opesa

vesus

h

e

m

p

r

o

p

e

s

a

v

e

s

u

s

Hot Orange

Idesi

redee

rride

I

d

e

s

i

r

e

d

e

e

r

r

i

d

e

leading to values like:

Racer Name	1st	2nd	3rd	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Test Racer	accom	plish	ments	5	5	5	4	3	4	8	4	5	10	3	9	7	7	5
Balderdasha	howdo	esthi	swork	10	4	10	10	4	9	5	7	10	4	5	10	4	7	3
Sean of the Sead	reuse	dshre	ddies	7	9	6	5	9	10	5	10	7	9	10	10	4	9	5
andrew7160	confu	sionr	eigns	5	4	7	4	6	5	4	4	7	7	9	4	9	7	5
elguapo04	drive	nmeto	drink	10	7	4	3	9	7	3	9	7	4	10	7	4	7	3
nmrfox	vodka	never	helps	3	4	10	3	5	7	9	3	9	7	10	9	8	4	5
San Bernardhinault	werid	eorwe	slide	10	9	7	4	10	9	4	7	10	9	5	8	4	10	9
Southport Zeb	Idoli	keice	cream	4	10	4	8	4	3	9	4	5	9	5	7	9	5	3
diable rouge	penta	decim	alyes	4	9	7	7	5	10	9	5	4	3	5	8	6	9	5
Sporting	Nothi	ngbea	tstea	7	4	7	10	4	7	9	3	9	5	7	5	7	9	5
Wouter D	Eddie	diddi	ehere	9	10	10	4	9	10	4	10	10	4	9	10	9	7	9
lambers	indee	dweed	sdied	4	7	10	9	9	10	10	9	9	10	5	10	4	9	10
Various Artist	ajell	iedee	lhide	5	1	9	8	8	4	9	10	9	9	8	10	4	10	9
ad hoc	didiw	edwei	rddew	10	4	10	4	10	9	10	10	9	4	7	10	10	9	10
Sits	hedwi	redaw	elder	10	9	10	10	4	7	9	10	5	10	9	8	10	9	7
Vicarious Thrillseeker	addad	derbl	adder	5	10	10	5	10	10	9	7	3	8	5	10	10	9	7
slackster	didda	ddeci	deyet	10	4	10	10	5	10	10	9	5	4	10	9	6	9	7
delicatemoth	hempr	opesa	vesus	10	9	3	4	7	4	4	9	5	5	3	9	5	6	5
Hot Orange	Idesi	redee	rride	4	10	9	5	4	7	9	10	9	9	7	7	4	10	9

Leading to totals:

Racer Name	1st	2nd	3rd	Sentence Total
Test Racer	accom	plish	ments	84
Balderdasha	howdo	esthi	swork	102
Sean of the Sead	reuse	dshre	ddies	115
andrew7160	confu	sionr	eigns	87
elguapo04	drive	nmeto	drink	94
nmrfox	vodka	never	helps	96
San Bernardhinault	werid	eorwe	slide	115
Southport Zeb	Idoli	keice	cream	89
diable rouge	penta	decim	alyes	96
Sporting	Nothi	ngbea	tstea	98
Wouter D	Eddie	diddi	ehere	124
lambers	indee	dweed	sdied	125
Various Artist	ajell	iedee	lhide	113
ad hoc	didiw	edwei	rddew	126
Sits	hedwi	redaw	elder	127
Vicarious Thrillseeker	addad	derbl	adder	118
slackster	didda	ddeci	deyet	118
delicatemoth	hempr	opesa	vesus	88
Hot Orange	Idesi	redee	rride	113

[matt j]

Leading to:

Team/User	Place Race #9	Points Race #9	Sentence Score
Sits	1	36	127
ad hoc	2	34	126
lambers	3	32	125
Wouter D	4	30	124
Vicarious Thrillseeker	5	27	118
slackster	5	27	118
Sean of the Sead	7	23	115
San Bernardhinault	7	23	115
Various Artist	9	19	113
Hot Orange	9	19	113
Balderdasha	11	16	102
Sporting	12	14	98
nmrfox	13	11	96
diable rouge	13	11	96
elguapo04	15	8	94
Southport Zeb	16	6	89
delicatemoth	17	4	88
andrew7160	18	2	87
Test Racer	19	0	84

[matt j]

And a Week 2 winner! Congrats to O.G. lambers on winning the imaginary trophy for the Closura of Word Racing by keeping your imaginary yellow jersey in the last stage holding off the charge of the ad hoc team.

San Bernardhinault pips Wouter D to third in Week 2, thanks to a strong Race 6 performance that proved enough of a gap to maintain all the way to the end.

Team/User	Week 1 points	Race 6 points	Race 7 points	Race 8 points	Race 9 points	Race 10 points	Week 2 Total
lambers	118	36	32	28	26	32	154
ad hoc	126	34	20	32	33	34	153
San Bernardhinault	82	26	27	30	21	23	127
Wouter D	120	7	22	34	33	30	126
sean of the shed	122	14	30	22	28	23	117
Vicarious Thrillseeker	48	7	27	26	30	27	117
sits	54	23	16	24	12	36	111
hot orange	96	11	36	20	18	19	104
diable rouge	88	32	12	14	24	11	93
Balderdasha	14	19	18	16	16	16	85
slackster	68	30	12	6	5	27	80
Southport Zeb	68	16	34	2	9	6	67
elguapo04	60	23	4	8	14	8	57
nmrfox	56	3	12	18	5	11	49
Sporting	68	3	8	12	9	14	46
Various Artist	46				21	19	40
delicatemoth	88	19	6	4	2	4	35
andrew7610	104	28	2			2	32
Patrick Thistle	10		24				24
ursus arctos	70	11					11
s.aureus	0			10			10
Kevin S	110						0

[matt j]

And a two week/season leader:

Winner of the imaginary two week 'season-up-to-this-point' official word racing champion of the world!

Team/User Week 1 points Week 2 Total Season Total ad hoc 126 153 279 lambers 118 154 272 Wouter D 120 126 246 sean of the shed 122 117 239 San Bernardhinault 82 127 209 hot orange 96 104 200 diable rouge 88 93 181 Vicarious Thrillseeker 48 117 165 sits 54 111 165 slackster 68 80 148 andrew7610 104 32 136 Southport Zeb 68 67 135 delicatemoth 88 35 123 elguapo04 60 57 117 Sporting 68 46 114 Kevin S 110 0 110 nmrfox 56 49 105 Balderdasha 14 85 99 Various Artist 46 40 86 ursus arctos 70 11 81 Patrick Thistle 10 24 34 s.aureus 0 10 10

[lambers]

Hoorah for yellowness! Thanks again Matt, I may have worked out the high-scoring letters for the last couple of rounds, but I'm still proud to have held off the Transylvanian challenge in week 2.

Now I just need to work out what the "O.G." stands for. Also Sporting.

[slackster]

It isn't a La La Land Oscars situation, but you might want to check that week 2
spreadsheet, Matt j. I won't give you an inscrutable cryptic clue: just race 10 scores not in weekly totals.

[matt j]

It isn't a La La Land Oscars situation, but you might want to check that week 2
spreadsheet, Matt j. I won't give you an inscrutable cryptic clue: just race 10 scores not in weekly totals.

ooer... absolutely right, I didn't total those correctly! Will have to go back and update shortly.

[matt j]

Hoorah for yellowness! Thanks again Matt, I may have worked out the high-scoring letters for the last couple of rounds, but I'm still proud to have held off the Transylvanian challenge in week 2.

Now I just need to work out what the "O.G." stands for. Also Sporting.

Original Gangster. (Original person interested).

[matt j]

ooer... absolutely right, I didn't total those correctly! Will have to go back and update shortly.

(Typical, to slip right at the end, I really Gerrarded that one up.)