Patricia peruses published peruke papers, patiently.

This one was very close.

arthroscopy is related to surgical procedure

arthroscopy means "a minimally invasive operation to repair a damaged joint"
surgical procedure means "a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments"


cryosurgery is related to surgical process

cryosurgery means "the use of extreme cold (usually liquid nitrogen) to destroy unwanted tissue (warts or cataracts or skin cancers)"
surgical process means "a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments"


I guessed right...

integrator is related to measuring device

You said: measuring system

integrator means "a measuring instrument for measuring the area of an irregular plane figure"
measuring device means "instrument that shows the extent or amount or quantity or degree of something"


electrodynamometer is related to measuring system

You said: measuring device

electrodynamometer means "measuring instrument that uses the interaction of the magnetic fields of two coils to measure current or voltage or power"
measuring system means "instrument that shows the extent or amount or quantity or degree of something"

Unfortunately, I didn't guess right

"The opposite of defrayal is evasion "

That's really not true.

Yes, defrayal relates to costs being paid. And tax evasion involved avoiding a payment. But evasion has many meanings, most of which do not involve money being paid. And even in the context of payments, the opposite of evasion is not defrayal. The word defray implies that an outside party is making a payment. The opposite of evading taxes is not defraying taxes.

Another weird one from today's Mind Melt

protagonist means "a person who backs a politician or a team etc."

Never seen that usage before. Let's see what the dictionary says:

1
a : the principal character in a literary work (as a drama or story)
b : a leading actor, character, or participant in a literary work or real event
2
: a leader, proponent, or supporter of a cause : champion


That's pretty close to the opposite of the definition you use.
The most widely known definition is the literary one, namely the main character.

We're required to choose "upholder" which means "someone who upholds or maintains."

Um, what?

There are several degrees of separation between "protagonist" and "someone who upholds or maintains."

As has been noted a number of times on this thread, the source of both this game and the Word Wizard is an online dictionary, not this site. It contains a number of obscure, sometimes slightly imprecise, and occasionally downright wrong definitions. Its vagaries are part of the challenge of Mind Melt, especially in Part III. I rather enjoy the convoluted process of working them out, but that's probably why I take a lot longer in the game than a lot of players.

coppersmith is related to
wigmaker is related to

with options "shaper" and "journeyman".

I'd have said that the coppersmith matches the shaper (after all, a wigmaker rather assembles than shapes), but the game thinks otherwise.))



I agree with the game here, for once. And it is because of the ending -smith that is applied. A "smith" specifically is one that works with metal in any form, not just shaping it. And a coppersmith is defined as a journeyman because that is lower than being a master craftsman.

Making a wig is more than glue or stringing strand of hair onto or through holes on a cap. After that is done, the hair, or synthetic hair, has to be shaped into a hairstyle. And once someone has a wig, it has to be meticulously cared for to maintain the style.

stunng is aroused to impatience or anger; "made an irritated gesture"; "feeling nettled from the constant teasing"; "peeved about being left out"; "felt really [censored] at her snootiness"; "riled no end by his lies"; "roiled by the delay"

A typo - I believe the correct word should be stung.

warmonger is related to grownup

warmonger means "a person who advocates war or warlike policies"
grownup means "a fully developed person from maturity onward"

I think this one's a little bit of stretch.

Although the vast majority of warmongers is grownup, we're quite lucky that the vast majority of grownups is no warmonger.

In the same set:

rightist is related to conservativist
rightist means "a member of a right wing political party"
conservativist means "a person who has conservative ideas or opinions"

extreme right-winger is related to conservative
extreme right-winger means "an extreme conservative"
conservative means "a person who has conservative ideas or opinions"

I guessed correctly by putting the two words that end in "ist" together, but don't see why one is better than the other.

Today I had this in the third set:

On one side, navy man and leatherneck. On the other side, serviceman and military man.

I matched navy man with military man, and leatherneck with military man because there is no sense to this question and had to take a 50/50 punt. Got it wrong according to the whims of the universe.

Here's FT's definitions:

* navy man means a serviceman in the navy
* serviceman means someone who serves in the armed forces
* leatherneck means a member of the United States Marine Corps
* military man means...wait for it...someone who serves in the armed forces.

Two options on one side with *exactly the same definition* according to FT's dictionary.

Normally my reaction to the dictionary is bemusement, but today I bought an Epic flag (my last one!) that requires a high score in this game. I will be pretty down on the dictionary if I miss out of the epic set because of this coin toss "match".

(( acathexis is related to libidinal energy

acathexis means "(psychoanalysis) a lack of cathexis"
libidinal energy means "(psychoanalysis) psychic energy produced by the libido" ))

They came up together just because they are both psychoanalytical terms?

(( going is related to deed

going means "act of departing"
deed means "a notable achievement" ))

I don't see the connection here.

The deed of going is an ongoing concern.

I hope the logic bot doesn't connect terms simply by the same word being in the definition, or else we could get things like

existence is related to South Dakota

existence: the state of being
South Dakota: the state between North Dakota and Nebraska

We rarely - if ever - get anything quite as disparate at that! but sometimes, yes, the matches are connected rather tenuously.

And after a small period of resistance (resistance is futile) we get overcome by Mindmeltness and begin to understand and even agree with these definitions. This is known as Nirvana, and is a very happy state. Just give yourself over the MindMelt!

I remember a previous discussion of the "act of departing" before when it was matched to "feat" IIRC. Feat, deed and act - they match; so that's the part that one needs to consider. Elimination and lateral thinking help.

Today's in timed, set 14:


The opposite of atomism is holism

You said: calm

atomism means "(chemistry) any theory in which all matter is composed of tiny discrete finite indivisible indestructible particles"
holism means "the theory that the parts of any whole cannot exist and cannot be understood except in their relation to the whole"


The problem: holism was *not* one of the choices! It wasn't there! It wasn't a wrong answer for something else because.... It wasn't one of the choices! I cry Foul!


(edited to add in the set number.)

I actually got this right through elimination, but something doesn't seem quite right here:

play down is related to accent

play down means "understate the importance or quality of"
accent means "to stress, single out as important"

that only works if it is in the antonym section, which I'm guessing it wasn't.

Here's another iffy connection with a similar word confusion problem to boot:

sovietise is related to bring together

sovietise means "bring under Soviet control, of a country"
bring together means "cause to become joined or linked"

sum total is related to aggregation

sum total means "the final aggregate"
aggregation means "several things grouped together or considered as a whole"

These were together in Question Set 13.

While the meanings are close, the pairing given is the one that matches verbs in one pair, and nouns in the other. That is often the kind of clue you need to use in this game.

1. A very powerful blow with the fist

Your answer: knockout

knockout means "a very attractive or seductive looking woman"

The correct answer was smacker

BUT:

knockout [ˈnɒkˌaʊt]
n
1. the act of rendering unconscious
2. (Individual Sports & Recreations / Boxing) a blow that renders an opponent unconscious
3.
a. a competition in which competitors are eliminated progressively
b. (as modifier) a knockout contest
4. (Group Games / Games, other than specified) a series of absurd invented games, esp obstacle races, involving physical effort or skill
5. Informal a person or thing that is overwhelmingly impressive or attractive she's a knockout
vb knock out (tr, adverb)
1. to render unconscious, esp by a blow
2. (Individual Sports & Recreations / Boxing) Boxing to defeat (an opponent) by a knockout
3. to destroy, damage, or injure badly
4. to eliminate, esp in a knockout competition
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/knockout
I WANT MY LOST POINTS BACK!!!
[/size][size:17pt][size:17pt][/size]

Shouting like that won't get your points back (nothing will) but it could lose you some privileges.

Slightly ambiguous pairing today in section 3 - left side had "preteen" and "preschooler" while the right side had "youngster" and "juvenile".

(The assignment is however the one most players would likely choose, so not a serious issue).

Set 25: I only achieved 28/30, but I believe I should be granted all 30

My issue today, in relationships (mixed the following 2 up):

jabberer is related to verbalizer

You said: verbaliser

jabberer means "someone whose talk is trivial drivel"
verbalizer means "someone who expresses in language"

....

growler is related to verbaliser

You said: verbalizer

growler means "a speaker whose voice sounds like a growl"
verbaliser means "someone who expresses in language"


.....


Not fair!