True but I thought each section was separate from the other and you couldn't move the words into the other boxes at least I never tried also as growing up in the 70's I can think up few references myself.
Have a good one.

You can also get 29 if you leave one box empty - I've done that, through trying to move too fast.

I use duplicate answers when the choices are really ambiguous, like today's 'front' and 'frontward' with opposites of 'back' and 'rear'. It's a toss up between going for a guaranteed 29 (minus any other errors, of course) or a possible 30 with a very real risk of 28.

That's not a bad strategy - I might use that sometimes.

For anyone who is curious, the linkages for Mind Melt come from thefreedictionary.com. The link between spliff and juke joint is definitely "joint", meaning either a place to eat or a marijuana cigarette.

Two instances of duplicated definitions in the same subsection of today's MM. Naturally this resulted in my getting all 4 wrong. I could just as easily have got them right, so se la vie!

Chargeman is related to working man

You said: employee

chargeman means "a workman employed to blast with explosives"
working man means "an employee who performs manual or industrial labor"

dog catcher is related to employee
You said: working man

dog catcher means "an employee of a municipal pound who is hired to round up stray dogs and cats"
employee means "a worker who is hired to perform a job"
----
insomniac is related to diseased person

You said: sick person

insomniac means "someone who cannot sleep"

diseased person means "a person suffering from an illness"
dyspeptic is related to sick person
You said: diseased person

dyspeptic means "a person suffering from indigestion"
sick person means "a person suffering from an illness

This was the game https://www.funtrivia.com/mindmelt/playtournament.cfm?cachebust=1576730118&playername=windrush

By "linkages" do you mean how words are related to each other? thefreedictionary.com is not the online dictionary used for Mind Melt or Word Wizard.

running away is related to exploit


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

HUH?!?

I certainly don't 'get' this one!

A team could be "running away" with the title if they are so far ahead no one can beat them by the end of a season. That would be a "notable achievement" (exploit).

Nice link! Often in the third section it is necessary to work out alternative definitions or associations, not just look at the ones provided (or even the primary ones in your dictionary). I was looking to see if I could find one between the verb sense of exploit and running away, but this one is nicer.

Oh, how foolish of me. I thought the link was supposed to be shown in the answer.

So "leaving (without permission) the place you are expected to be" equates to "a notable achievement".

No, the answers do not ever show the link - they show the primary definition in the source dictionary. For the first two parts, that makes things clear, or as clear as it will ever be. For the third section, it can be made b identifying a common word, or a clear connection in a single missing step, but it often sets up a game of working out how to get from A to B using the missing links.

On today's game, "surface-assimilative" and "adsorbate" are basically the same definition.

meshwork is related to cloth

You said: textile

meshwork means "an open fabric of string or rope or wire woven together at regular intervals"
cloth means "artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

scrim is related to textile

You said: cloth

scrim means "a firm open-weave fabric used for a curtain in the theater"
textile means "artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So "textile" and "cloth" have EXACTLY the same meaning. :-(

cakehole is related to rima oris.

Of course, never heard of either of those.

They are both terms relating to the mouth. Cakehole is a slang term describing the fact that you can greedily stuff a piece of cake into it (visual imagery from old cartoons, in my mind's eye). Rima oris I had to look up, but recognise oris as the genitive form of the Latin word for mouth. Apparently rima refers to a narrow opening between two symmetrical parts, so rima oris is also a way of describing the mouth.

Something interesting happened to me on the Mind Melt today.
In the antonyms part of the game,
The opposite of obedience is noncompliance.
You said: disobedience

There was of course another term in the same section: conformity.

The opposite of conformity is disobedience
You said: noncompliance


While these four words are quite close to each other, in my opinion, disobedience is the closest or simplest antonym to obedience. Is it not?

I would extend the same argument for conformity as well, but may be my case is weaker there.

When there are similar options like that, a good guide when possible is to avoid matching the two terms that have the common component. I would only match obedience and disobedience therefore if they were the only possible ones. If each could go with something else, that is the most likely way the database will be matching them. This is based on experience with the game and its algorithms, not on any kind of meaningful linguistic analysis.

Today my set had both "defense" and "defence" (in the opposites section):

The opposite of prosecution is defense

prosecution means "the lawyers acting for the state to put the case against the defendant"
defense means "the defendant and his legal advisors collectively"

The opposite of offense is defence

You said: defense

offense means "the team that has the ball (or puck) and is trying to score"
defence means "(sports) the team that is trying to prevent the other team from scoring"


Is this a valid distinction or is it American spelling used with one definition and British spelling with the other?

I have noticed that the game seems to treat the different spellings as opposites, so I'd always choose the offense/defence option as being more likely. Don't blame me if it doesn't work, though.

That sounds like a good suggestion. I put the same answer for both so I got 29 points.

I have always had success using the same strategy as Rossian when facing the choice.

This is the first time I saw a disputable definition in the first part (synonyms).

"delinquency is nonpayment of a debt when due".
I work in the credit department of a bank, and we experience every day that defaulting clients are most of the time victims of some external event (for instance being fired) or victims of their negligence. The fraction of people who deliberately don't pay their debts is infinitesimal small.

According to Merriam-webster.com/dictionary/delinquency:

1a: a delinquent act
b: conduct that is out of accord with accepted behavior or the law
especially : JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
2: a debt on which payment is overdue

So this is using definition #2. It doesn't matter why the payment is overdue.

Today's mind melt.

alcoholic is related to drunk

You said: juicer

alcoholic means "a person who drinks alcohol to excess habitually"
drunk means "a chronic drinker"


drunken reveler is related to juicer

You said: drunk

drunken reveler means "someone who engages in drinking bouts"
juicer means "a person who drinks alcoholic beverages (especially to excess)"
---
So having put alcoholic is related to drunk, I saw the second set of relationships, went back and changed it to alcoholic/juicer and drunken reveler/drunk.

WRONG!! (again, sigh!)