John

Wordle 1,542 4/6* ⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛ 🟨⬛🟩⬛⬛ ⬛🟨🟩🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html Minute Cryptic - 8 September, 2025 (I got just under 1/3 of the way through, their, Minute Cryptic's book yesterday. Which is clearly not a boast about reading speed. I wasn't reading it non-stop and I was taking notes. Physical note taking, while reading, seems to aid memory of what is read, along with doing, there are many practical examples in the book. Although when there is less 'doing' to reinforce remembering stuff I have sound spaced repetition more effective (Nicky Case' page is still an excellent, practical, doing, explainer of spaced repition, and has dodged enshittification: https://ncase.me/remember/ ). I also suspect that note taking forces me to slow down and pay more attention. I also, deep down, want breakfast.) "Pig's so crazy for dirt" (6) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par https://www.minutecryptic.com/ https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cVvpTrhcCaI

Wordle 1,541 4/6* ⬛🟩⬛⬛⬛ ⬛🟩⬛🟨⬛ ⬛🟩⬛🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html Minute Cryptic - 7 September, 2025 (Good clue as outlined in the attached video. It's another one where the general advice, given to myself, which led to solving it, was think dumber. Sometimes one has to think dumber to think smarter or something, a Gordian knot, although Gordian solutions often don't work, just sometimes. I am looking forward to doing the Minute Cryptic Book. I need to improve my anagrams skill, I'm almost on the cusp of that but I'm not comfortable with larger ones yet, but that'll change, it's not capacity it's that I haven't bothered until now, and started doing cryptic crosswords in late May. Among my first solves was "Walked over the rainbow initially, Dorothy's heading beyond Oz. (8)" which is a pretty tough one because of 'heading' when one tends to think of something at the top, but I had to think more literally and Dorothy's heading is D and it's beyond Oz, which also means ounce, giving ounced, then it's a matter of walking over The Rainbow initially. Yeilding: tr-ounce-d. The answer is pretty much always in the clue, although there are also double definitions and other things which can be a bit trickier. I'm learning quite casually so don't expect me to improve quickly. I'm thinking about a notebook dedicated to it but I find when I do a notebook if I'm satisfied with my progress it has loads of blank pages at the end and I hate that, so I may use a notepad or electronic note taking. I like my notebooks to be monomaniacal and entirely filled. The Minute Cryptic book would have sped up learning dramatically and I'd recommend it. An American print is coming soon.) "False start, exiting Boston roundabout" (3,2) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par https://www.minutecryptic.com/ https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ziKmWZfAHnU

Wordle 1,540 4/6* (1/2 on 3) ⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛ ⬛🟨⬛⬛🟩 🟩⬛🟩⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html Minute Cryptic - 6 September, 2025 (this is par two and I found it more difficult than yesterday's par 3. I never show my teeth in photos because when I was 15 I had the living shit beaten out of me, by people bigger, older, and tougher than me, which split one of my front teeth right down the middle and I had it, very painfully, because the nerve was exposed, and I was black and blue, replaced with a tooth on a peg. Which I was always self conscious about, aside from later being in the "my PTSD has PTSD (and so on)" stack. And it fell out during lockdown and I kind of prefer eating without it, so I thought I'd leave it out until I can afford a solution that looks good and I can eat and sleep without worrying about choking on a tooth falling out. The downside is people who don't really know me assume I must have been eating too much toffee and swigged too much Irn Bru. But I do smile all the time in real life because lots of things are funny and I like people. Not so much what happened to Irn Brew when they replaced the sugar with stuff that tastes like crap and has a poor evidence base for is effectiveness in weight control. My favourite soft drinks, before a TV chef ruined them, were Irn Bru - a school friend's parents were Scottish so I was familiar with Scottish sweet stuff from about age 8, Lucozade, Purdeys (still not artificial sweetenered last I drank it), Ribena (now artificially sweetened - it's mostly kids that drink it, not me), and the cans of plain Perrier (which were just massively overpriced sparklling water). Today is Saturday and I'm going to hear the Thomas The Tank Engine theme song upwards of ten times. FYI I know Irn Bru has the classic bottles but I'm not paying that much on principle. That doesn't make me happy.) "Small salad of lime and, say, cheese" (5) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par https://www.minutecryptic.com/ https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cnJ8k48OkCw

Wordle 1,539 3/6* ⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛ ⬛🟨⬛🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html Minute Cryptic - 5 September, 2025 (I didn't quite get in in one but I got it pretty quickly. There is not a single word describing the feeling of waking up in moderate pain, reading the news, and feeling a mixture of incredulity that thing could be that stupid and mild depression in acceptance that, yes, they could. I also think focussing on things a person can't, or at least it's very difficult to, do something about, is a distraction from not cultivating our garden. What people failed to realize, when Voltaire said that, was he was talking about shaving one's body hair into the shape of amusing things, growing it back, and then repeating. Maybe. Although I think my grimness about the news is probably a projections of my own frustrations and the least I can do, and have more direct control in that regard, is things I can do: like some painful physio, boring admin, and hard work. Or I could just shave my pubes into the shape of a flag. Maybe it's an and. Very few people will ever know. And I installed Bitchat. I am the only Bitchat user in Tunbridge Wells, which surprising because there are a lot of attractive people on Tinder.) "Fifty-one trillion litres, to be precise" (7) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 3 under par https://www.minutecryptic.com/ https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=0TNUDBXjnZM

Wordle 1,538 4/6* ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 🟨⬛🟨🟨⬛ ⬛⬛🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html Minute Cryptic - 4 September, 2025 (This one was easier than yesterday's, for me, and yesterday's was nominally easier because it had a lower par. Which is why I don't think people should get hung up on not getting stuff, because nobody does to begin with and stupider people have forgotten all the steps they consciously or unconsciously took to know something and meaner people who want to exclude people who are trying. That goes both ways, to be fair, as Darwin observed in 1871: "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge". I have slept much better and now it's cooler I seem to dream deeper and more frequently. Which doesn't necessarily mean I feel more rested when I wake up still processing Lynchian mundanities and occasional nightmares. Mundanities are harder to dismiss than nightmares. The Minute Cryptic book is released in the UK today and I should get it at lunchtime. A par 3 or 4 music clue.) "Midday exhibit oddly cancelled?" (6) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 3 under par https://www.minutecryptic.com/ https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Km_sjcgxZwU

Wordle 1,537 4/6* ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 🟨⬛⬛🟨⬛ ⬛🟨⬛⬛🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html Minute Cryptic - 3 September, 2025 (I got it, with a pen & paper, but I'm not used it's the best clue and maybe should have had a question mark. I can't go into my reasons why without giving away the clue, so I won't. The UK is going to get Swedish, looking at the bond market and available options, which is a 360 because we've been going American, complete with strip-malls, for just over 30 years, with concomitant political fallout, but the UK is only a small factor of the interesting times, tempered somewhat by the time of year, in the bond markets. I haven't slept brilliantly because I got woken up by a younger relative who had until midnight to pay their rent on their new student digs and hadn't left it to the last minute because they'd been trying *all day*. I suspect Purplebricks website TBF.) "Injured by a third party" (8) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par https://www.minutecryptic.com/ https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gFKIpdFpOr4

Wordle 1,536 5/6* ⬛🟨⬛⬛🟩 🟨⬛⬛⬛🟩 ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html Minute Cryptic - 2 September, 2025 (I had difficulty with this one until I didn't. It's one of those things where knowing that I'm likely to be going about it the wrong way is a tremendous help. Like trying to work out an IT problem. Outside of system or hardware failure it's almost certainly something I've done wrong. Having, a long time ago, worked in IT support I do hope people's general understanding that it's probably something they've done wrong has improved. Probably not judging by the really obvious questions I've been asked when calling about broadband issues. It'd be interesting to quantify the extent to which IT problems, and maybe problem hotlines in general, are problems with the caller rather than the service. I'm assuming it's a lot but have no data on that. It'd be much worse if people are actually pretty good overall and there's an assumption that people are wrong. I don't think so: I think people lack the knowledge, which can be corrected, or the motivation, which is complicated, or the capacity. There is nothing wrong with asking for help and we all need it occasionally. Even if it's not for mundane IT problems or putting furniture together.) "Anonymous tip: awesome puzzle book finally sent around to stores" (5) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par https://www.minutecryptic.com/ https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=fwB6xl2HCjM

This will be a good/fun book: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DODwSemD3sy/

I'm late to this game but it has recently been updated and it's delightful: https://harmonyhoney.github.io/index.html?page=rota https://flathub.org/apps/net.hhoney.rota

Wordle 1,535 3/6* ⬛⬛🟩⬛⬛ ⬛🟨🟩🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html Minute Cryptic - 1 September, 2025 (It feels like September and I haven't slept much and I'm going to see a relative who has travelled overnight from half way around the world. There is something very groundiing about getting back to the UK and the realisation that more than half the days are overcast. Although, recently, the weather has been consistently warm, so what would be an otherwise wholly unremarkable 15-18C seems cold. I like it but I'm not so keen on rain. My rain smock smells like an elderly dog. Like an old man, but more potent. Maybe an elderly wolf, with glandular problems. A horny Tasmanian devil - I don't know what they smell like, to be fair, but if I went to Tasmania and my smock attracted lady Tasmanian devils I wouldn't be surprised. It's hand wash and I should have remembered rain. I'd prefer sunny and hot, through to sunny and snow, with minimal humidity between. Although that'd probably kill plants and insects and probably me as a result. I didn't solve the puzzle in the way the video, watched after, explained but it was a fair clue.) "Features of iPad amazed early Apple consumer" (4) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par https://www.minutecryptic.com/ https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KuYfUEnUDUE

Wordle 1,534 5/6* (bottoms) ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 ⬛🟨⬛🟨⬛ ⬛🟩🟨🟩⬛ ⬛🟩⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html 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 https://www.minutecryptic.com/ https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=znMAjQvfPZo

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* ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟩 ⬛⬛🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html 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 https://www.minutecryptic.com/ https://youtu.be/bwE5eB3SXUk

Wordle 1,532 3/6* ⬛⬛🟩🟨⬛ 🟨⬛🟩⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html 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 https://www.minutecryptic.com/ https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=aW8zb5aPClA 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: https://youtu.be/J5ZsBNnubUg † https://www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptions-to-copyright

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.) ⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛ 🟨⬛⬛⬛🟨 ⬛⬛🟨🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟨🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html 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 https://www.minutecryptic.com/ https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=pDwAqRGVy5o † https://youtu.be/J5ZsBNnubUg

Wordle 1,530 3/6* (can't sleep flare-up) ⬛⬛⬛🟩⬛ ⬛⬛🟨🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html 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 https://www.minutecryptic.com/ https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y7NIk3MaYE (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.) ⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛ ⬛🟨🟩🟩⬛ 🟩⬛🟩🟩⬛ 🟩⬛🟩🟩⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html 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 https://www.minutecryptic.com/ https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjJB_iMyEzQ * Not sensible: https://youtu.be/r_OBhgV6imM

Wordle 1,528 3/6* ⬛⬛🟩⬛⬛ ⬛⬛🟩🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html 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 https://www.minutecryptic.com/ https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=htmwzV11Wb8