Wordle 1,534 5/6* (bottoms) ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 ⬛🟨⬛🟨⬛ ⬛🟩🟨🟩⬛ ⬛🟩⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.

Minute Cryptic - 31 August, 2025 (this one is not a 2 although I suppose none of the pars are real in as much as it's relative to the knowledge and skill of the solver. I think this one was hard and I half cheated. I'm also racing the clock and it took me three or four times longer to find a song that I think encompasses the clue. I found two, actually, and I invalidated one because it reminded me too much of someone I know, but's it's not like that and they're good people, and I wouldn't want to hurt their feelings because of that. I'm not sure if that is remotely cool. Being cool, presumably would not caring and doing it anyway. The problem with that is actual criticism could be lost among the noise of just being a dick. Although just being a dick seems to work for some. Not all dicks or something. I can be a bit melancholic before breakfast.) "Green vines tangled around outcropping" (7) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Apologies for the typos, but I genuinely type it in without checking, or thinking, that much and at speed, so use the autocorrect in your mind like conversing with a mostly sane uncle on WhatsApp.

Wordle 1,533 3/6* ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟩 ⬛⬛🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.

Minute Cryptic - 30 August, 2025 (It's Saturday and I'm racing the clock which is something we're all doing all the time but sometimes we're not conscious of it if we're lucky. I got bitten by a spider, while watching TV, a false widow which must have been traversing the sofa and somehow hot between by bare lower arm, I was wearing a tee shirt and jeans. I felt something, which I assumed was an insect or moth, tickle my arm and shook it a little towards my leg and felt a not very painful nip then saw a spider running up my arm like it had just stolen Pick N Mix at Woolworths. By the time I'd realised, it had made its getaway behind the sofa. It didn't hurt at all, it was a mildly raised circle approximately 2.5cn/1* in diameter with a very small puncture mark in the middle. So I was more interested than bothered, so I carried on watching TV and went to bed as normal. That was on Wednesday night and there is now very little sign it happened. It's only the second time I've been bitten by a spider and this wasn't that bad. On the scale of painful things it was below horsefly, bee, or wasp. Particularly because I once got stung by at a minimum ten wasps because, aged 9 or 10, I thought I could outrun them and their nest certainly couldn't outrun a brick. No meaningful superpowers and the creature didn't want to lay eggs on, or in, me. 2/10 WTFs.) "Clothes for queen's guard ditching uniform in spin-cycle?" (4) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,532 3/6* ⬛⬛🟩🟨⬛ 🟨⬛🟩⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.

Minute Cryptic - 29 August, 2025 (I'd have to record the time and duration of my sleep but I'm confident I do these faster when I've slept well. It seems obvious that one would follow the other but there could be other factors like medication or pre and post sleep exhaustion. "Slept well" is also subjective. Nothing is obvious if a person maintains the ability to say why often enough and there is an age, somewhere between 4 and death, when asking why becomes assumption. Sometimes temporarily, especially when a person values breakfast.) "Cat's head, fish's tail, pig's torso and mare blended!?" (7) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 3 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

The video I linked yesterday, about King & Conqueror, was demonetized by YouTube, which rules out doing them episode by episode because UK fair+use law† means you can't simultaneously make money from something while criticizing it with examples from the show, even with miniscule clips - you decide: †

GOV.UK

Exceptions to copyright

Details of the exceptions to copyright that allow limited use of copyright works without the permission of the copyright owner.

Wordle 1,531 5/6* (mistake on 3 with a repeated non-match. If really stuck I'll repeat yellow matches, with wordle type games, to introduce new letters but never non matches. 1/2 on 4.) ⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛ 🟨⬛⬛⬛🟨 ⬛⬛🟨🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟨🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.

Minute Cryptic - 28 August, 2025 (I got the wordplay after the answer, which isn't the most satisfying way of doing it but once a good guess for the definition part of the clue is worked out that limits the three letter words. I didn't entirely brute force it because the potential entropy is substantially reduced by the clue. It wouldn't be fun otherwise. I watched King & Conqueror last night. If a TV show is going to be historically inaccurate it needs to be logically consistent or attempt to reflect reality convincingly. It's as if they made the show with little or no input from historians† or those with even a passing understanding, maybe from somethiing as simple as reading a few books, taking an audio tour of a castle, or looking at the Bayeux Tapestry, or badgering a historian. If it were a wholly fantasy world or had deliberately fantastical elements it would maybe be easier to watch. The bits some racists are annoyed about are the least of it - if the timelines are going to be that distorted l don't t see why they wouldn't have had all of Roger II's court there. Or James Blunt wearing cross of St George branded chainmail, placating a dragon by singing and playing a lute. Was it a good TV show? Possibly. I don't know because I was too distracted by knowing a minimal amount about it. Haircuts and fashion. Good actors.) "Mischievous & slightly delighted" (3) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

†

Wordle 1,530 3/6* (can't sleep flare-up) ⬛⬛⬛🟩⬛ ⬛⬛🟨🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.

Minute Cryptic - 27 August, 2025 (can't sleep flare up. ) "Golf lesson's beginning in month six for Tiger Woods?" (6) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

(this one is a bit of a stretch song reference wise because it's a descendant genre of what is today referred to as breakbeat hardcore, from about 1993, and a remix that takes it a little further from the clue but is, in my opinion, the better version of the track. It wasn't called breakbeat hardcore, it was called hardcore by many of those who were consuming it, but given hardcore can be multiple genres and things historical necessity has altered its usage. Anyway, genres... I'm going to try to get an hour's sleep which I am hopeful about.)

Wordle 1,529 5/6* (I checked after and words three and four have not appeared before, so while one of them was a bit un-NYT like because it was an illness it was a roughly 1/3 chance on 3. Possibly higher than 1/3 but definitely 1/2 on 4 because each guess removes goats.) ⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛ ⬛🟨🟩🟩⬛ 🟩⬛🟩🟩⬛ 🟩⬛🟩🟩⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.

Minute Cryptic - 26 August, 2025 (there are going to be clues that people are better or worse at, and maybe one day there could be an optional quiz that personalises the par to the player. Ultimately we're all trying to solipsisticly beat our own score, if we're sensible*, because even if doing something competitively, unless at the top of your game already, you're not going to get there without beating your own score. I suppose there's the societal recognition that comes from that sort of competition or competitiveness, but people are overrated and, ultimately, we work within what we have and a relative improvement is just as admirable even if not recognised by people in a general sense. I suppose people do that with things like Duolingo or other apps but I've had a computers since the early 1980s and prefer a pen and paper. It's embarrassing letting an algorithm know how crap or not crap I am for the profit of other people. Although I don't resent the profit from it, generally, because things and people need to be paid for and making stuff and organising people can be various degrees of a pain in the arse.) "No stamp? Problematic for him!" (7) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 3 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

* Not sensible:

Wordle 1,528 3/6* ⬛⬛🟩⬛⬛ ⬛⬛🟩🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.

Minute Cryptic - 25 August, 2025 (quite a good clue, but I think it shouldn't be a 2-par. Maybe it is a 2-par because of the number of letters, but it'd be more difficult than usual if English was a second language or I had unfamiliarity with certain things. But I got it straight away, actually I tried one word that was off by one letter first. I'm not sure things regarded as common knowledge are common knowledge, because common knowledge is such a subjective thing, exploiting common sense is how magicians work and why one should always be weary of people espousing it. On the other hand there would be substantially less clues if no references or allusions. Like "Friend, often a D, retro [5]" for Amiga because D is 500 and a best selling model of the Amiga was the A500, a retro computer, and amiga is the Spanish feminine for friend. In some ways good, I suppose, because it's fun learning, or in the absence of that, going "aha". I suppose if the definition is easy and it can be brute forced it should be a low par.) "Forger's initial on map - it shows treasure spot! Buried gold is fake..." (4) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

In the UK 70% of children from the richest tenth of families earn 5 or more good GCSEs when leaving school. GCSEs are the qualifications at the end of leaving high school they used to be easier but having seen a nephew’s a few years ago they were more difficult - or at least had bits where it was possible to go higher. Fewer than 30% of children from the poorest households get similar attainment to those from richer backgrounds. I don’t think kids from from poorer backgrounds have any less inherent potential as human beings than those from richer backgrounds. It starts early, just under half of poor 5 year old children achieve the early years development targets of their richer peers, and it carries on after GCSEs. People aren’t statistics, there are lots of exceptions, and it’d be patronising to make assumptions or feel sorry for people. But the point stands: for a person from a disadvantaged background things are systematically more difficult for you in the UK. Everything from the way you are treated by teachers to the way you are treated by the system itself, the system being broader society and the things a person has to navigate. Using a very crude metric those in the skilled manual occupations group (C2) and the lowest grade occupations (DE), including the unemployed, account for about 20 million people, out of a population of just under 70 million people. So, for some, the idea that asylum seekers and immigrants, who arrived here illegally are being housed in hotels and given help by professionals who have often regarded them as less important, or an annoyance, is the culmination of, I think, quite legitimate resentment of the system itself. If people lack hope symbols like flags or icons become important and those resentments against a similarly, or worse, marginalised group will be used by those who want to enact changes. In many ways the politics exploiting the situation of the asylum hotel protests reminds me of Marxist theory whereby the workers discover class solidarity and rise up against the bourgeoisie, in that some want to smash the system up and replace it with something else, and those people wrapped in flags are the agents of change. One of the more patronising things I heard said about them is “the people they want in charge will treat them even worse”, which is potentially true, but overlooks that under the current system they have so little to lose getting arrested for being unruly is a viable option. I am, of course, talking in quite coded terms about disadvantaged white people. Who exist in large chunks in the UK and have legitimate reasons for complaint of which putting flags on things is a symptom. It’s applied as much to other social unrest across races and classes, I’m sure there’s supporters or haters across the economic, and possibly even ethnic spectrum. I’m from an economically deprived background but had all kinds of other advantages. I really can see this from both sides. I think the protesters are wrong, but if you treat people like cunts expect arseholes.

Wordle 1,527 5/6* (it's easy to see what happened here. If I hadn't remembered a couple I did before I'd have failed.) ⬛🟨🟨⬛🟨 🟩⬛🟩🟩🟩 🟩⬛🟩🟩🟩 🟩⬛🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.

Minute Cryptic - 24 August, 2025 (I want breakfast and I got up late so I'm pressed for time*.) "Got a freshly-made Caesar wrap?" (4) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

*

Wordle 1,526 3/6* ⬛⬛🟩🟨⬛ ⬛🟩🟩⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.

Minute Cryptic - 23 August, 2025 (I got awoken by a lot of helicopter noise but by the time I got around to checking flight radar it or they were gone. Since then I've not slept well. So, I'll never know, and my curiousity is limited by been torn between a little more sleep and hunger for breakfast.) "Gripping strip scene from Marvel crossover" (6) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,525 4/6* (mistake on 3, it would have been 4 anyway) 🟨⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛🟨🟨🟨⬛ 🟨🟨⬛🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.

Minute Cryptic - 22 August, 2025 (totally stumped me. Had to get two letters then brite force it. Feeling stupid or out of one's depth is a necessary part of learning anything with a meaningful level of difficulty and I am grateful for Minute Cryptic's explanation videos. I've been playing a game called Hearts, which is a kind of trick-taking card game like a simplified bridge, I'm somewhat familiar with the concepts because of The Crew: Mission Deep Sea‡. Trick taking sounds like doing something rude round the back of Wetherspoons, by a skip, for cheeseburgers, but is usually, with an ordinary pack of cards, when a card is put down in the middle of a particular suite following it with a card in the same suite. Each player does than in turn. So if it was a 5 of clubs following it with another clubs card. The winner of the trick will be whoever has the highest card of that suite. In bridge there are trump suites which beat all the others and there are four players in two teams who bid for the number of tricks they think they'll achieve, which complicates things and has all kinds of names for things which need to be learnt. Hearts* is much simpler although there are some variations out there like most card games. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea was certainly fun to play while babysitting my nephews but the early challenges were too easy. It's common to go on about how modern life is rubbish but having YouTube videos for most card games, recipes, and other things that are boosted by seeing how it's done is a nice thing. I'm rubbish at hearts, for now. I think the best introduction to boardgames is mancala, which is at least 7000 years old and by the power of the Internet a person can play here†. There's a nice continuity there. I expect there'll be a Neuralink implementation.) "Page-turning diary captures male peak of civilisation?" (7) 🟡🟡🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 1 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

‡ * †

Mancala Classic 🕹️ Play on CrazyGames

Mancala Classic is a timeless strategic board game that pits players against each other or a cunning computer opponent. Its rich history and intuit...

Wordle 1,524 5/6* (1/2 on 4) ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛ ⬛🟨⬛🟨🟨 ⬛🟨🟩⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.

Minute Cryptic - 21 August, 2025 (i got this one because of the definition rather than any particular skill on my part. Typos bug me. However, in my case, and most modern forms of spontaneous communication, typos are an inevitability, because like messaging a friend, or relative, when time counts, someone may be waiting, or it's trivial, and the outcome of a grammatical error isn't dire, I'm OK about it and have literate auto-correct in my brain. This is akin to chatting with a friend on WhatsApp. I read it after I've hit end. Also, it annoys the right people.) "Final exam from a tertiary student with careless typos" (7) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 3 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,523 4/6* (this was a tricky one) ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛🟨🟨⬛⬛ ⬛🟩🟩⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.

Minute Cryptic - 20 August, 2025 (An enjoyable clue. I heard a ghost yesterday. Except it wasn't a ghost. There is a particular bench, a bench that is particularly good for idling, the idling which I was failing miserably at because half of my back felt like it had been in a car crash, a bench that has stony ground either side. When people approach the bench a person can hear the crunch crunch crunch of their feet on the ground. I was attempting to read and get my head together, the reading failed I was too distracted by pain, so I ignored the crunch crunch crunch of people walking behind until they were right next to me, at which point I'd glance back out of curiosity. That happened sparsely for an hour or so. Then, when there were less people around, I head what sounded like someone walking with determination, but slowly, to the back of the bench, a Crunch, Crunch, Crunch, CRUNCH, and when I turned around there was nobody nearby and I was pretty much alone. Ghosts aren't real, I've had it happen before on the same bench, and my guess is that there is some kind of acoustic effect where the sound of someone walking on ground nearby, but out of immediate sight, that is reflected to the bench. It wasn't remotely frightening. Maybe it would be at night, but it was a sunny, if not very painful, afternoon. I have chosen to interpret it as a good omen, because why not, I think onens are the narrative form of pareidolia. Death deciding not today. Or I was hallucinating. Also possible, but I don't think so.) "HARdLY ReMaRKABlE!?" (3,1,3,4) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 3 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Not an ideal day but a pretty good one. Tunbridge Wells public library, a library card, and a laptop.

Wordle 1,522 3/6* ⬛🟩🟨⬛⬛ 🟩🟩⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.

Minute Cryptic - 19 August, 2025 (this one had a straightforward but satisfying clue, unlike my night's sleep which was truly dreadful.) "Two couples start to fight? Oh you are noisy!" (4) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,521 3/6* ⬛🟨⬛⬛⬛ 🟨⬛🟨⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.

Minute Cryptic - 18 August, 2025 (I saw someone discussing an asylum seeker hotel protest on Facebook, and it's easy to dismiss those views as Fringe views, John Noble's Walter Bishop was sublime, but I was thinking about control, or lack of control, that makes specific things you can do something about more attractive to protest against than protesting about nebulous things that are more complicated. So, on face value, an asylum seeker is alleged, there is no further evidence given, to have commited an awful crime. No doubt some asylum seekers do commit awful crimes, because they're people and some people do commit awful crimes. No further evidence was supplied. My local newspaper has an "in the courts" section and most of the crimes are not committed by asylum seekers‡. It could be that asylum seekers disproportionately commit awful crimes but I don't think that's the case. Questions arise about a whole series of moments leading up to this point in the life of each of the people demonstrating, in a rich country, that they're protesting about things they can do something about, rather than things they can't, and why those people may be attractive to people who want them to demonstrate. The failures of the country itself as a cause of symptoms is a trickier proposition. Fringe was definitely one of the best popularly placed science fiction shows, had popular appeal, and Easter eggs from the start, that put Fringe on a par with the X-Files. Like the UK and Canada, Australia seems to excel at exporting good actors to rich countries. Fringe is currently on ITV-X if you're in the UK and can't be bothered demonstrating.) "Temperamental electric air conditioning unit starts malfunctioning under 90 degrees" (5) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

‡

Kent courts latest news - Kent Live

Get all the latest news from courts in Kent