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Date: Nov 19, 2023 Post # 24 Geo-cros

NPR had a contest to "acro" a geographical name. That is, take a geographical name, and use its letters to write an acro about it.

Some of the entries were quite remarkable, especially the winner.

You can see them HERE.

Here are some that Acrozilla players did:

Peanut11

BOSTON
Beans offer some tasty options now.

ATLANTA
All talk lazily and need tea apparently.

NEW YORK
Never expected, when "Yorkers" offer real kindness.

Kittypower

SEATTLE
Surely Every American Thinks This Land's Excellent.

PARIS
Proud And Rich In Scenery.

RUSSIA
Region's Uniquely Satisfying, See It All.

ALAMO
Amazing Location Avoided Mexican Oppression.

LOS ANGELES
Love Our State And Now Enjoy Lovely Energetic Surfing.

WHITE HOUSE
Where History Is Teaching, Every Hour, Our U. S. Experience.

GRAND CANYON
Great River, Awesome Natural Destination.  Come Along Now, You're  Our Neighbor.

Chicmic

HOUSTON: 
Highrises overlook unequaled skyline, Texan opportunities nearby.

MrPuzzle

LAS VEGAS
Lost all savings visiting every game along Strip.

NORMANDIE
Nazis ousted, relieving millions after nations decided invasion's essential.
Nations organized, relieving millions after Nazi decimation in Europe.

LOS ANGELES
Lots of surfers and nutjobs, giant earthquakes leave everyone shocked.
Land of sun and nature - great entertainers leave everyone speechless.
Lots of Subarus, Accords, Nissans, GMC's, Elantras leave everyone stuck.

NEW YORK
Natives expect winning. Yankees often receive kudos.

MEXICO CITY
Meeting everyone, Xochimilco is certainly our center, I'm telling you.

FRESNO
Furnishes raisins everywhere - Sunmaid nicely obliges.

MINNEAPOLIS
Municipality in north; natural environment's almost polar, often lined in snow.

MT. EVEREST
Mountain that's extremely vertical, explorers reached elevated summit there.

RENO
Risked everything, now overdrawn.

SEATTLE
Showers every afternoon - they take life easy.

PORTLAND
Perfect Oregon roses, the landscape's a natural dream.

WACO
Weirdos and cowboys overrun.

MIAMI
Many internationals are moving in.

Geo-Acro Game, Nov 21

CHINA
ChicagoMom: Certainly has interesting noodle assortment.
MrPuzzle: Communists have installed nationalist authoritarianism.
peanut11: China has incredible noodles. Appetizing?
chicmic: Chinese have incredible nutrient aides

NEPAL
kittypower: Nearly enormous peaks are lauded.
chicmic: Nestled entity part Asia landlocked.
MrPuzzle: Neophyte explorers perish among landslides.
peanut11: Nearly ethereal, people are lovely.

BRASIL
MrPuzzle: By Rio, amazingly sexy individuals lay.
kittypower: Behold River Amazon, still is legendary.
chicmic: Beauties regularly are starring in lingerie.

MONTANA
MrPuzzle: Mountains of northern territory are national assets.
kittypower: Mountains on natural trails are notably ancient.
chicmic: Mountains often noted to attract natural athletes.
peanut11: Mountains of nice trees and natural areas.

ENGLAND
chicmic: Entranced near guarded land and notice Diana.
kittypower: English natives Galahad, Lancelot, are now dreamt.
MrPuzzle: Europe's neighbor: great lakes and no deficiencies.

NILE
ChicagoMom: Near it's location, Egypt.
MrPuzzle: Noticeable influence large: Egypt.
chicmic: Naturally is leaving Egypt.

SPAIN
MrPuzzle: Sampled paella, and it's nice.
kittypower: Seeing Pamplomian athletics is natural.

VENICE
MrPuzzle: Visitors everywhere, now into "canal experience".
chicmic: Visitors enchanted noticing incredible canal entertainers.
kittypower: Vendors encourage nice interest cruising extensively.
peanut11: Very exquisite, now in canal, enjoying.

FLORIDA
peanut11: Freaky land of republicans. I'm dreading attacks.
MrPuzzle: Features lunatic old Republicans. Intelligent Democrats avoid.
chicmic: Fantasy land offering radiant inspiration dalliance area.
ChicagoMom: Fresh large oranges really ideal delightful appetizer.

AMERICA
chicmic: All men equal, racists inevitably can't agree.
kittypower: All men equal, reminds internal Constitution always.
MrPuzzle: After MAGA experiment, republic's in crisis again.
peanut11: Am moving. Everyone's really idiotic. California's attractive.

ROME
MrPuzzle: Really old, magnificent eating.
chicmic: Remembrance of majestic empire.
ChicagoMom: Romantic overtones made enjoyable.

HAWAII
MrPuzzle: Hearing "Aloha!" when arriving in islands.
chicmic: Heavenly area within an immaculate island.
kittypower: Hello, Aloha, Welcome! All intriguing islands.

POLAND
MrPuzzle: Pierogies offered. Like another now, dear?
kittypower: Pierogies often lauded and naturally deliciou
chicmic: People often look about near desolate.

VIETNAM
chicmic: Veterans inevitably endured trauma near all military.
MrPuzzle: Victims in every town. Nasty American Marines.
kittypower: Very intense engagement, the nation argued mainl

IRELAND
MrPuzzle: It's really Emerald Land - ask Notre Dame!
ChicagoMom: Ireland's really enjoyable, land's always nicely developed.

CHILE
chicmic: Country had intense landmine experience.
MrPuzzle: Country here is long, easily.

JAPAN
kittypower: Jade and pearls are natural.
MrPuzzle: Just another place America nuked.

LONDON
chicmic: Land of new dollars, old nobles.
MrPuzzle: Lads often noticed Diana out nightly.

GEORGIA
MrPuzzle: Get everyone organized! Republican gain is annihiliated.
ChicagoMom: Georgia's election obviously rigged, GOP idiots admit.
chicmic: Greeting everyone orchards, ripe gifts in area.

GERMANY
chicmic: Generals enforced racists mantra and nuked youth.
kittypower: Gestapo especially repressive, many attacked native Yiddish.
MrPuzzle: Got everyone repressed, meaning army now "Yanked".

Date: June 11, 2021 Post # 23 There's an AP(ostrophe) for that!

We all learned about apostrophes back in school, right?
But it seems a little refresher will help.

Some recent examples of incorrect use of the apostrophe

The general, most common rules:

Examples, using an apostrophe:

When NOT to use an apostrophe

When It Can Be a Little Confusing

Adding " 's " has two different uses. In the following (rather contrived) example we see
(1) a contraction (has),
(2) a possessive,
AND (3) a plural (no apostrophe):

Often we see that an apostrophe's 1 been used incorrectly.
Apparently, the apostrophe's 2 use can be confusing,
leading some to put apostrophes 3 in the wrong places.

But wait - this is English
And that means there must be exceptions!

This is undoubtedly not an exhaustive list.

Date: May 19, 2021 Post # 22 Split Words topic

This is pretty simple in concept, but might seem complex from its description.

Here are a few names it might be given:

Here's what it means:

On a four-letter round, write a single two-word phrase that spans all the letters.
First word covers the first two letters,
second word, the last two letters.

The first word starts with the first letter,
the second word starts with the third letter.

Here are some examples:

It's better, if the letters allow, to have the split be normal hyphenation, on a syllable boundary:

Date: March 27, 2021 Post # 21 Word Association topic

This topic originated from a UK game show, where the players are given three "clue words" and have to guess what they suggest.

Vote for acros which have words that would lead you to the topic, rather than words that are related to it, but also to other things just as well.

The words should be more closely related to the topic than to other things, and more so than other words.

Here are some examples:

Date: Aug 24, 2020 Post # 20 Cheat-cros


Normally, "cheat-cro" refers to writing an acro that bends the rules, via spelling, grammar, or meaning, often using a made-up word.

In this post, it refers to word acro rounds where the topic and the letters were CHEAT, which has happened three times in recent weeks.

Here is what various players wrote on those occasions:
The numbers following the names indicate number of votes and bonus points, either for winning the round or voting for the winner.

Amethyst 1,0, Cons have effectively aced test.

Blahblahblah 0,0, Clandestinely hid every answer today.
Blahblahblah 2,0, Caught husband entertaining a trollop!

Bumpy 1,1, Copied history exam answers? Tsk!
Bumpy 2,0, Copying homework - exactly a thief
Bumpy 3,3, Copies homework, exams, and tests.

chicmic 0,0, Caught having extramarital affair tonight.
chicmic 2,1, Careless husband's elusive affair's tossed.

kittypower 1,1, Classmate has extra arm treatments.
kittypower 2,1, Classmate hid exam answers there.

klj 0,0, Can hear everyone assume that.
klj 0,1, Come here everyone and try......

MrPuzzle 1,1, Caught husband's extra-marital affair: texting.
MrPuzzle 2,3, Card's held extra at table.
MrPuzzle 3,3, Card's hidden: extra Ace there.

SLUGGO1969 0,0, Can't help examination and test.

Sxystar 1,0, Choosing help.. especially at test.
Sxystar 1,1, Calculator help explains acing test.

virgingoods 0,0, Conspiracy: having East amass trumps.
virgingoods 0,0, Corrupt high-schooler employed avoidance tactics.
virgingoods 1,0, Corruption has extended all throughout.

Date: Mar 29, 2020 Post # 19 Who's the fastest Acroer of them all?

These statistics show the average time in seconds players take to write their acros.

Additional columns give a breakdown, in actual numbers and percentages, of acros written within certain time boundaries (under 20 sec, 21-30, 30-45, over 45).

These numbers are generated from games between Mar 18 - 29, 2020. 


Player            #  avg    <20  <30  <40  >40 (Percentages)
Amethyst        113 30.984   23   32   44   14 20.4 28.3 38.9 12.4
MrPuzzle        184 36.211   22   38   73   51 12.0 20.7 39.7 27.7
klj             299 37.872   22   68  109  100  7.4 22.7 36.5 33.4
Tanteniff       168 39.804   15   28   52   73  8.9 16.7 31.0 43.5
Blahblahblah    455 41.138   54   63  116  222 11.9 13.8 25.5 48.8
TheTornado       86 41.268    6   18   21   41  7.0 20.9 24.4 47.7
SLUGGO1969      181 41.356   13   21   65   82  7.2 11.6 35.9 45.3
amorphous       224 42.318   10   33   77  104  4.5 14.7 34.4 46.4
bilbolives      290 43.020    3   34  118  135  1.0 11.7 40.7 46.6
virgingoods     243 44.341    9   25   83  126  3.7 10.3 34.2 51.9
electrobanshee   14 46.362    0    3    1   10  0.0 21.4  7.1 71.4
kittypower      221 46.926    4   13   67  137  1.8  5.9 30.3 62.0
chicmic         388 48.261   10   28   81  269  2.6  7.2 20.9 69.3
cb750gal        233 48.333    3   14   62  154  1.3  6.0 26.6 66.1
peanut11        137 48.454    0   11   35   91  0.0  8.0 25.5 66.4
Sxystar          53 49.736    1    3    9   40  1.9  5.7 17.0 75.5

Date: Mar 16, 2020 Post # 18 Repeated topics in Word Acro game

Due to a lapse by the administrator, some of the words used as topics were not deleted from the active lists, and a couple got reused the following week.

It is interesting to see how the same players did, or, more often, did not write a similar acro the second time around! 

Round 4: ROSTER 
Blahblahblah,3,3,Repertoire of sports teams entering race.
kittypower,1,1,Record of subjects that enjoy results.
virgingoods,1,0,Recording of students that enter room.
chicmic,1,1,Regimented order showing team's eventual routine. 
MrPuzzle,1,1,Regulars our sports team expects routinely.
cb750gal,0,0,Recording our scores? That's entirely rude. 
klj,0,0,Record only students taking everything required.

Round 9 ROSTER 
virgingoods,4,4,Record of students tested; everyone's reporting.
peanut11,2,0,Roll of some team's essential recruits.
chicmic,1,1,Rows of some teams entering room.
kittypower,0,1,Register of subjects taken, entire round.
klj,0,1,Record only some then erase regulars.

Round 5: AIRFARE 
Blahblahblah,2,3,Airline income required for anyone requesting entrance.
virgingoods,2,0,Airline is recounting funds amassed routing everyone.
cb750gal,2,1,Apparently, it's required for airport rendered excursions.
klj,1,0,American is really fast and rarely expensive.
MrPuzzle,0,1,Am infuriated! Ridiculous fare airline really expects?
kittypower,0,0,Airplane is requiring funds advance regular entry.
chicmic,0,0,Airlines initally refunding fares after rouge epidemics. 

Round 5 AIRFARE 
virgingoods,4,4,Airline is reducing fares and repealing exclusions!
kittypower,2,1,Airplane is requiring fee at reboarding everywhere.
MrPuzzle,1,1,Airline is reducing fares: aid requested: "Emergency!".
klj,0,1,Alas it requires faith and real energy.
chicmic,0,0,Airline is refunding fares after rare epidemic.

Date: Jan 7, 2020* Post # 17 Double Digit Multiplicity

*As of Oct 20, 2022 there have been,
these numbers of occasions when one player has
had more than one Double Digit acro in one night:
And the group has produced large numbers as follows:

Date: Dec 7, 2019 Post # 16 Weird Acro Letters

Not much to say about this:

Or this:

Date: Oct 31, 2019 Post # 15 Letter Distribution

"Seems like there were a lot of vowels tonight". No, only slightly more than usual. 
October 31
A 10 6.7%
B  2 1.3%
C  7 4.7%
D  6 4.0%
E  5 3.3%
F 11 7.3%
G  9 6.0%
H 12 8.0%
I  9 6.0%
L 17 11.3%
M  5 3.3%
N  8 5.3%
O  8 5.3%
P  5 3.3%
R  3 2.0%
S 13 8.7%
T 11 7.3%
U  4 2.7%
W  5 3.3%
36 vowels 24.0% of 150 letters

All of October
*  24 0.6%
A 306 7.9%
B 241 6.2%
C 175 4.5%
D 186 4.8%
E  86 2.2%
F 209 5.4%
G 160 4.1%
H 308 7.9%
I 202 5.2%
L 169 4.3%
M 246 6.3%
N 172 4.4%
O 206 5.3%
P 156 4.0%
R  85 2.2%
S 301 7.7%
T 341 8.8%
U  40 1.0%
V   1 0.0%
W 278 7.1%
Z   1 0.0%
840 vowels 21.6% of 3893 letters
21.6% of 150 = 32.4 ... there were about 3 more vowels than you'd expect.