I also question that assertion. Surely part of the joy of solving a puzzle is the satisfaction at working out the solution. That’s not possible if there are multiple valid solutions, but only one that is arbitrarily determined to be correct. Getting it right in that case isn’t solving anything, it’s guesswork, which is much less satisfying, less fun
What if the four connections were “typable on a standard keyboard”, “text currently displayed on your screen”, “tardis.guide usernames”, and “not a photo of a balloon”? Every name fits into every category. That’s maximum overlap. Would that game be fun?
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That’s also a good point. I’ll try to make any future editions have as little overlap as possible, but there will probably always be some.
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I think people are misunderstanding me. There should be some overlap for certain items so they could feasibly fit into more than one category. This means you have to work out which four ONLY fit together and makes the puzzle that little bit harder. If there are four companions, four monsters, four Doctors and four TARDIS Guide members it gets a bit too easy.
But if you had say
Martha, Donna, Rory, Clara
and
Rose, Kinda, Castrovalva, Blink
Feasibly, Rose could fit into both categories but you need to work out which one works in conjunction with all the other categories.
It’s not about multiple valid solutions but some items being potentially in more than one category.
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Yeah that’s what I try to do in my games, there should be some potential overlap (it makes it trickier) but ultimately only one full solution.
I messed up on my game #2 because too many fit into multiple categories.
But there should be some that fit in both. There usually are in the NYTimes games too.
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