Had this one tonight, same exact definitions

rotary joint is related to diarthrosis

You said: articulatio synovialis (wrong)

rotary joint means "a freely moving joint in which movement is limited to rotation"
diarthrosis means "a joint so articulated as to move freely"

ball-and-socket joint is related to articulatio synovialis

You said: diarthrosis (wrong)

ball-and-socket joint means "a freely moving joint in which a sphere on the head of one bone fits into a rounded cavity in the other bone"
articulatio synovialis means "a joint so articulated as to move freely"

Been battling to get to 25 perfect scores in 30 days but this one, and other pairs just like this, it is killing me!

How about this for a doozy?

lube is related to fill up

lube means "apply a lubricant to"
fill up means "make full, also in a metaphorical sense"

Um .... Both things are car related? Might be done at gas/petrol station?
Or, more likely for this game, they were the last two options to match up.

In part 3, the link is often (maybe mostly) something that is not shown in the definitions that get displayed, but is involved in the further entries. In this case, I imagine that MiraJane has spotted the link: another entry for fill up would have indicated that it is used to refer to adding fuel to a car's tank, and that lube would have similarly indicated its use in reference to cars. "Fill 'er up after you do the lube job, and I'll collect my car this afternoon."

I just noticed this. For what it's worth I'm from Ireland and a Shillelagh or blackthorn stick is a wooden walking stick and club or cudgel.

Terrible spelling, and cludger is a Yorkshire slang name for a friend. So the question was very badly presented, and totally wrong. I don't know how that got through the editors.

Mind Melt doesn't go through the editors here. It draws on terms and definitions from an online database/dictionary which works for the game, but which is also (as those who follow this thread will know) full of somewhat odd definitions and typos. Its quirkiness adds an interesting dimension to the game.

Fair enough Looney, I didn't know that thanks.

Hm.

ankylose is related to bring together
You said: fuse

ankylose means "produce ankylosis by surgery"
bring together means "cause to become joined or linked"


mix in is related to fuse
You said: bring together

mix in means "cause (something) to be mixed with (something else)"
fuse means "mix together different elements"

Section 1 of set 21 today had both the word shiver and shivering with almost identical definitions to match up against.

As of now there is no one with a perfect score in the set. The answer with the gerund did not match up with the gerund selection. This was a poor pairing to have in the same set.

Antonyms today.
Go off was listed as the antonym for explode, with meanings for explode of "burst outward, usually with noise" and for go off of "burst inward".

I've never seen that usage of "go off" before, and thesaurus.com lists explode as a synonym for go off.

It's a bit hard to pick the correct answer with both these two in the same set.

Yep, I got the same set and I too picked incorrectly. Normally I just shrug and move on, but since my Difficult Challenge for the day was to get 30/30 rigth in the Mind Melt, it cost me a bit more chagrin yesterday.

That stinks. Nothing you can do for the 30/30 but hope the coin toss falls your way. If I have a lesser challenge when an ambiguous pair like that hits I will pick the same answer for both and take the 29/30.

That's a smart tactic. I will use it in the future when I don't need 30/30.

I've often gone for a (probably!) guaranteed 29/30 rather than risk only 28, but I forgot about it yesterday. But it wasn't so critical for me - I only needed 24/30 for an easy credit.

I see that very few people managed to score 30/30 on that set of questions, so we obviously weren't the only two, Sue.

refill is related to prescription drug

refill means "a prescription drug that is provided again"
prescription drug means "a drug that is available only with written instructions from a doctor or dentist to a pharmacist"
----
Here in Oz there is no such thing as a refill for prescriptions. You either have a prescription or you don't. It's never called a refill.

Do you just take your old container to the pharmacist in the States and ask for a refill? Really? Wow!

It's the same as getting a repeat prescription filled.

Prescriptions have a certain number of times that they can be refilled in the US. No need to take the container, it is in the pharmacists records how many times you can get the Rx filled again. They usually tell you when you are on your last one.

In set 5 today there was this unfortunate combo:

bad person
disagreeable person

and

vermin
anathema

The "correct answers" were bad person = vermin and disagreeable person = anathema.

I guessed wrong, and no big deal. But these should not be in the same grouping (in my opinion).

For opposites today I had Ionic and Corinthian. The definitions given were:
Ionic "An order of classical Greek architecture"
Corinthian "Most ornate of the three orders of classical Greek architecture"

Not opposites, me thinks.

Often in that section they are not opposites, but are mutually exclusive. I had ambidextrous and left-handed today, for example.

For the third section today I had:

running away is related to deed

running away means "leaving (without permission) the place you are expected to be"
deed means "a notable achievement"

In what way does "leaving (without permission) the place you are expected to be" have to do with "a notable achievment"? This caused me to mess up on two answers. . .

As someone who cares about words, this is a bit much. No! these are not related!

-- And to add insult to injury, I'm not being allowed to change the smiley as the posting icon!

They are both actions. I personally would have had no problem matching them in the game (assuming that doing so didn't mess up all the other pairs) - the provision of definitions I often find confusing, so ignore them. In this case, the expansion actually makes the connection seem less likely than just contemplating the original words!

I appreciate what you're saying, but don't buy it. You're equating any action (verb -- and there were others in the line-up) with a deed which is a brave or noble act or noteworthy act. Thus, picking my nose would equate with a deed. Yes, it is an action, but I wouldn't call picking my nose a deed (unless, perhaps I was a member of Monty Python).

"What are you doing in the shrubbery, Knight?" "Picking my nose, Squire." "Forwith, why do you do this?" "In order to win the Princess, Squire -- I was asked to perform a deed that no one else would dare. . ." "Why don't you just run away? That is something that I have been assured is a noteworthy deed!"

The correct accents and scenery must be implied to enjoy this properly. I guess one just has to look at this with a proper sense of humor.

The third section of this game often uses very tenuous links - sometimes you need to go to a dictionary and look up both words, then the listed synonyms for each, and in the definitions for those words find a common word. But the two original words seem to have nothing at all to do with each other. (I did this a couple of times when I had serious difficulty with a connection, but it's not worth the effort every time - now I just shrug my shoulders and get on with things.) The link is not necessarily even based on the definitions given for each word - it may lie in one of the alternative definitions.

I don't know what dictionary my browser brought up for this definition of deed, but here is the start of the definition:

Clearly, the game is using something akin to the second definition. The others, however, are perfectly good definitions, and can be applied to much more mundane actions. The third, in fact, can clearly be used pejoratively - the criminal's deeds mean he deserves to be punished.