h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yeah, I think we had a wheelbarrow in our set too, but I can't be too sure because if it wasn't the doggie or the racecar I didn't want to play with it.

Funny how we have Monopoly favourites - the dog was my sister's, and mine was the top hat

Today's NYT Connections was hard - homophones are difficult, because there are so many differences between accents...

I like Strands - a bit of a challenge, but not too much that it takes me ages. Very clever how the words are entwined.

I don't know if it was today's or yesterday's, but I had no idea what a "sample sale" was since I don't live in, according to wikipedia "Los Angeles, New York, or other prominent places".

Aha! I noticed that one, too! Reassuring that it is not just a UK/US difference

Strands is a beta version, according to the page. I think they could do one more tweak, and that would be to reduce the available hints to one only. I find I am still just jabbing out words and when I've got three I just let the game do the work.

The Spangram yesterday was "yardwork". That sounds to me like a job that convicts have to do (picking up stones/sweeping the exercise yard). Apparently it means "gardening". Now I know which word I think sounds nicer....

Then I remembered a discussion somewhere on the web recently about the American use of the word "yard". It got quite heated. I came away having realised that Americans might have a garden in their yard, while a Brit might have a yard in their garden.

Strands is good - you can use as many clues as you can get, but it gives you a score accordingly - if you don't use any clues, you get 'Perfect!' It's like Connections - if you get it without using up spare guesses then that gives you 'Perfect!' too, so that's the challenge

Ah, that's the point of it!??

I never wait to look at the scores. I just do the puzzles for the sake of them. Probably the wrong attitude.

I haven't signed up to any of them.