Each box contains five words of increasing length which start with the same three letters. Clues are hidden until the previous answer has been solved. Can you solve them all?
I recommend losing "great" from the clue for magnitude. It can be used to indicate great size or extent, but it can be universally understood to mean "size or extent". (Example from Google definition: "electorates of less than average magnitude")
Also, allure is usually a noun. It can be used as a verb -- "allured" or "alluring" -- but you wouldn't say "I'm going to try to allure him" the way you would say "I'm going to try to entice him". You would say "I'm going to win him over with my allure." (Example from Google definition: "people for whom gold holds no allure"). Instead of "To entire" for the clue, how about "Attractiveness"?
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary has 3 definitions for "allure" as a verb and has examples from Walter Raleigh, Joseph Conrad, P.G. Wodehouse, and Edmund Burke.
I agree with sumguy's comments aboyt magnitude. I did not guess it and would consider that it means size or extent but that the word "great" is quite misleading.
"Great" through me completely off the trail of magnitude. I was circling around "magnificence" (which has too many letters). For a magnitude to be great, I feel like it needs to be implied by the context of the sentence or have an adjective come right out and say it.
If you Google "magnitude definition", the first definition is "great extent or magnitude", and the example is "they may feel discouraged at the magnitude of the task before them".
Even in that example, it does mean "size or extent", and we assume that, in this case, the magnitude is great because they felt discouraged. If the sentence was changed to "they may feel encouraged at the magnitude of the task before them", we would assume the magnitude is small!
Admiral Ackbar said "Our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude!", not "Our cruisers can easily repel firepower of that magnitude!" Both are using magnitude to mean "size or extent", but it's used more often when the magnitude is great than when it's small.
The clue is technically correct because magnitude does mean "great size or extent" some of the time, but it means "size or extent" all of the time, so that's the better definition.
@sumguy, either definition is fine, though "great" is in fact the key part of the primary definition. (The latin root word is 'magnus' meaning 'great'). But aside from that, clues are not the same thing as definitions. I'm not here to write a dictionary entry with complete context. A clue is just a particular way to get you to the answer, and this clue is fine as it is.
Sure, if you're going to personally set subjective criteria by which one is better than another! I imagine you also have a problem with the clue I gave for 'scarf'? Scarves are only winter garments some of the time whereas they are just garments all of the time, so 'garment' would be the better definition, right?
Firstly, while magnitude does come from latin ‘magnus’, the etymology of a word does not necessarily signify its meaning. The English word ‘silly’ originally meant ‘blessed’, and is cognate with German ‘selig’, which still does. While this is an extreme example, words do change meaning, even slightly, as I would say is the case with ‘magnitude’.
Though several online dictionaries do list ‘great’ as part of their first definition, there are those that don’t, and some (wiktionary) which do not list it at all. As mentioned by @person, magnitude is also used in many scientific and mathematical disciplines exclusively without the connotation of ‘great’, as is reflected in the various other definitions listed on these sites. This demonstrates that while magnitude may have a connotation of “large” or “great”, the intrinsic meaning of the word does not mandate this. 1/3
2/3 Take the phrases “a magnitude/number of people”. These carry the same literal meaning of some amount of people, and the slight connotation that this number is large. The phrase using magnitude, however, seems to me much more natural with the addition of the modifier ‘quite’ (quite a magnitude/number of people) which I believe demonstrates that magnitude on its own doesn’t always indicate large quantity, as it is here necessary to specify as much. Another example is “small magnitude”, which may sound slightly odd, but certainly not oxymoronic, as would “small immensity”.
While these objections could be called subjective, the clue is also clearly objectively poor, if the quiz’s answer data is any indication.
3/3 Magnitude is tied for the lowest percent of any 9 letter word, but more significantly, has the lowest answer rate among those who got 8 right, 50%. The second highest is with Brimstone, at 67%, and the average number of quiz takers to also get 9 if they got 8 is 86.6% for the five categories other than Magnitude. This is despite the fact that, according to the British National Corpus, Magnitude is a more common word than Alligator, Brimstone, or Scapegoat. While this data obviously can’t provide a definitive account of the vocabulary of Jetpunk users, it does make the aforementioned discrepancy even more suggestive. With this inexplicably low success rate for Magnitude, I would argue that the issue is with the clue, rather than the users.
Given that the clue is clearly less effective than the others, and the multitude of arguments and users against the inclusion of ‘great’, I would also suggest removing it.
The fact that words change meanings over time is complete nonsense in this case; the clue I use is still the primary definition in multiple dictionaries. It's not an archaic usage; it's current! The fact that 'magnitude' can be used in alternative contexts (including in scientific and mathematical disciplines), without the connotation of greatness is irrelevant. And the argument that magnitude being among the lowest guessed answers proves the clue is bad is comical; something will always be the lowest guessed answer!
That this answer has proven to be tricky is not justification to change a perfectly accurate clue. If you missed it and only got four points, just take the quiz again and get five!
Don't be glib. Qazwixk clearly was not implying that no answer should be the lowest, but that the amount by which it is among the lowest-guessed answers, combined with the commonness of the word compared to some of the more frequently-guessed answers, is telling.
That, in combination with the large magnitude of people telling you this clue was far worse for them than the others, should tell you that there's a communication problem here.
I know you're really buried in here and will never walk it back now, but I add my voice to the others: the clue ought to be changed.
"I know you're really buried in here and will never walk it back now".
Since you're implying that stubbornness is preventing me from changing the clue, you're right: the English language is stubborn. You and others are simply not prepared to look at a dictionary. There you'll find that - contrary to what you thought - greatness is a specific part of the primary definition of magnitude in multiple dictionaries. I will not change the clue because the clue requires no change. It is absolutely correct as it is.
Google "magnitude definition", clean the wax out of your mind, and expand your knowledge.
I agree that the word “great” should be dropped. Magnitude generally refers simply to size, particularly in scientific literature, eg magnitude of a force or vector, and may be small or even zero.
"Please correct this" Listen to yourself. On here 4+ years but contributes bugger all in terms of quizzes. How about contributing something back instead of just taking and criticsing
Never heard of clarion, but I did throw out a random lucky guess for clavicle being the 8 letter word despite not being able to see the hint, so I got 29/30.
I never knew that brimstone meant sulfur. I never gave any thought to what it meant, it was just an expression. So of course I had to look up “brimstone” and get some more information as to why sulfur is such a bad thing. I swallow it every day as a supplement and it’s in a lot of foods too, for goodness sake. I don’t remember everything I read about it but in the Bible they were referring to “brimstone” as an extremely inflammable substance found around volcanoes, and simply gave “sulfur” as another name for the exact same thing. Fascinating. I love learning new stuff.
Great Quiz! I'm going to hop on the magnitude bandwagon though, you should lose the word "great."
Magnitude is a measure of degree, not referring to a particular size. You wouldn't say "extremely loud" as a clue for "volume" or "very light" as a clue for "brightness."
100% though I must say I slightly cheated. For the trumpet one I was nearly there, I turned out to be only one letter off, I used rightclick to spellcheck which gave me the correct word.
The most difficult word on there imo. personally I would choose an easier one there and make the 8 & 9 more difficult, especially the 9 that is basically a give away.
Suggestions, clarify/clarity, claimed, classes, claxons. Or just use classic here or clauses
Also, allure is usually a noun. It can be used as a verb -- "allured" or "alluring" -- but you wouldn't say "I'm going to try to allure him" the way you would say "I'm going to try to entice him". You would say "I'm going to win him over with my allure." (Example from Google definition: "people for whom gold holds no allure"). Instead of "To entire" for the clue, how about "Attractiveness"?
Almost had me at 'scapegoat,' but as in 9th grade, I went back and reviewed the ones I skipped.
Even in that example, it does mean "size or extent", and we assume that, in this case, the magnitude is great because they felt discouraged. If the sentence was changed to "they may feel encouraged at the magnitude of the task before them", we would assume the magnitude is small!
Admiral Ackbar said "Our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude!", not "Our cruisers can easily repel firepower of that magnitude!" Both are using magnitude to mean "size or extent", but it's used more often when the magnitude is great than when it's small.
The clue is technically correct because magnitude does mean "great size or extent" some of the time, but it means "size or extent" all of the time, so that's the better definition.
Saying e.g. small magnitude to mean small size/importance is a bit annoying to me, like small vastness or small enormity...
Firstly, while magnitude does come from latin ‘magnus’, the etymology of a word does not necessarily signify its meaning. The English word ‘silly’ originally meant ‘blessed’, and is cognate with German ‘selig’, which still does. While this is an extreme example, words do change meaning, even slightly, as I would say is the case with ‘magnitude’.
Though several online dictionaries do list ‘great’ as part of their first definition, there are those that don’t, and some (wiktionary) which do not list it at all. As mentioned by @person, magnitude is also used in many scientific and mathematical disciplines exclusively without the connotation of ‘great’, as is reflected in the various other definitions listed on these sites. This demonstrates that while magnitude may have a connotation of “large” or “great”, the intrinsic meaning of the word does not mandate this. 1/3
While these objections could be called subjective, the clue is also clearly objectively poor, if the quiz’s answer data is any indication.
Given that the clue is clearly less effective than the others, and the multitude of arguments and users against the inclusion of ‘great’, I would also suggest removing it.
The fact that words change meanings over time is complete nonsense in this case; the clue I use is still the primary definition in multiple dictionaries. It's not an archaic usage; it's current! The fact that 'magnitude' can be used in alternative contexts (including in scientific and mathematical disciplines), without the connotation of greatness is irrelevant. And the argument that magnitude being among the lowest guessed answers proves the clue is bad is comical; something will always be the lowest guessed answer!
That this answer has proven to be tricky is not justification to change a perfectly accurate clue. If you missed it and only got four points, just take the quiz again and get five!
That, in combination with the large magnitude of people telling you this clue was far worse for them than the others, should tell you that there's a communication problem here.
I know you're really buried in here and will never walk it back now, but I add my voice to the others: the clue ought to be changed.
Since you're implying that stubbornness is preventing me from changing the clue, you're right: the English language is stubborn. You and others are simply not prepared to look at a dictionary. There you'll find that - contrary to what you thought - greatness is a specific part of the primary definition of magnitude in multiple dictionaries. I will not change the clue because the clue requires no change. It is absolutely correct as it is.
Google "magnitude definition", clean the wax out of your mind, and expand your knowledge.
But not in its primary definition.
I never knew that brimstone meant sulfur. I never gave any thought to what it meant, it was just an expression. So of course I had to look up “brimstone” and get some more information as to why sulfur is such a bad thing. I swallow it every day as a supplement and it’s in a lot of foods too, for goodness sake. I don’t remember everything I read about it but in the Bible they were referring to “brimstone” as an extremely inflammable substance found around volcanoes, and simply gave “sulfur” as another name for the exact same thing. Fascinating. I love learning new stuff.
Magnitude is a measure of degree, not referring to a particular size. You wouldn't say "extremely loud" as a clue for "volume" or "very light" as a clue for "brightness."
Overall very fun and good clues!
The most difficult word on there imo. personally I would choose an easier one there and make the 8 & 9 more difficult, especially the 9 that is basically a give away.
Suggestions, clarify/clarity, claimed, classes, claxons. Or just use classic here or clauses