Wordle 1,549 4/6* ⬛🟨⬛🟨⬛ 🟩🟨🟨⬛⬛ 🟩⬛⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

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

Minute Cryptic - 15 September, 2025 (I am not keen on this clue, but maybe that's sour grapes rather than a legitimate gripe. I don't think it's a fair clue but other people got it so I'm probably wrong.) "Tingers tolded!?" (4) 🟡🟡🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,548 3/6* ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛🟩🟨⬛🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

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

Minute Cryptic - 14 September, 2025 (I didn't get this one on the way the video explains it and it would have been nicer if I had. I can't explain it without giving it away so I won't. I have a bad sinus headache, have intermittently slept because it hurts, and I have a busy day ahead. Also, I'm quite peckish, and I'm self cancelling until after breakfast.) "Raise centre of net in badminton?" (7) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 3 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,547 3/6* 🟨🟨🟨🟨⬛ 🟨🟨🟨🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

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

Minute Cryptic - 13 September, 2025 (great surface in this clue and probably because of the smell, if handwash only, and they haven't gotten around to washing them. Leather lingerie would be handwash only and at lower temperatures because a person doesn't wsnt them to shrink. At the lower end of the male market it likely ends up smelling of Lynx Africa (Axe Apollo for America), Stella Artois (Busch), prawn cocktail crisps (pickle chips), arse (ass) and balls (nuts). At the top end Creed, Krug, langouste, bottom and groin. And, to be be fair, that's assuming they don't have openings and worse — but nothing a bucket of warm water and gentle soap won't fix. The socioeconomics of it are largely defined by who ends up washing them. Although a person could wash them in the sink before bed.) "100% leather lingerie's always turning heads" (3) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 1 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,546 4/6* ⬛🟨⬛⬛⬛ 🟨🟨⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

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

Minute Cryptic - 12 September, 2025 (I should have gotten this in 3 under par but I've gotten so used to the drill of: definition, indicators, fodder — in that order. Which parses in several ways, which is why it's a clever clue and it was enjoyable/annoying in equal measure. I was also distracted but that's not an excuse really. I've on page 229 of The Minute Cryptic book, I've been doing bits and notetaking before bed. I saw a good folk horror film recently called Family Dinner, an Austrian film from 2022, which I'd guessed the plot of, in detail, by 1/3rd of the way through, but it had the vibes and stage acting to keep me away from reading and my phone for the duration. Stage acting is especially relevant to the screen when there is a limited cast and limited locations. It is on Amazon Prime. That's not to imply stage actors are any better than any other actors just that some screenplays could be relatively easily transferred to stage. Or some stage plays relatively easily transferred to screen, and stage skills are relevant in either case. Which can no doubt, if talented enough, without a background in stage. I think that's the beauty of the BBC often having radio programmes with talented writers and performers before moving over to screen. I suppose podcasts could work that way in a more general sense, if TV production companies and networks could incubate that way, but I think the BBC has established pathways for doing so and the luxury of being able to take risks. Although there's a ton of caveats there, because a lot of it is shit aimed at wankers. And that's a very subjective thing to say and can safely be ignored.) "Blackbeard rumoured to have submerged body part in canal?" (7) ⚪️🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,545 3/6* ⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛ ⬛🟨🟨🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

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

Minute Cryptic - 11 September, 2025 (this was a tricky one because of the number of potential indicators. I used a clue for the definition and, as in a lot of these things, is retrospectively obvious and it's a good clue in its surface and its logic. I'm running a bit late today because I am undergoing moderate inflammation from AS, which is a sign I should be doing some exercise. The news today, although in the quantification of souls just one, no more or less human than the rest, about Charlie Kirk is bloody awful. I didn't know the guy, I knew of him, and didn't agree with him, but political violence is as terrible as any other violence and it is implicitly wrong. It has backfired because it has gotten people like me sympathising with people we disagree with and it is not going to make people who agree with Charlie Kirk agree with him less.) "Blank white squares in a box? The first of tricky problems" (7) ⚪️🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,544 5/6* ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 🟨⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛🟨🟩⬛⬛ 🟩⬛🟩🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

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

Minute Cryptic - 10 September, 2025 (A hard one, that took some thought because the definition isn't immediately obvious. Late last night I did the chapter of their, Minute Cryptic's, book about substitutions, which was hard going in places because I didn't pay adequate attention to the introduction for that chapter but reread it. I'm really enjoying the book. The thought given to the progression of knowledge and skills is very well thought out. Rather like learning to swim where a person feels more able to deal with progressively deeper water despite starting with an aid. I prefer that style of teaching because there is a logical progression, although maybe it gives a false impression of been too easy at the start and that would bore some people but I think that's fine as long as it's mixed up because I found the anagram section, which is fairly early on, harder than the substitution section, so 'difficult' is itself subjective. The next stage after that kind of progressive learning and doing, is reference books. I hope Minute Cryptic do a 'Introduction to Algorithms' but for cryptic crosswords because many of the ones I've seen have had cryptics as a secondary concern. I'm slowly getting faster at anagrams, which is an example of where computers have made someone dumber because I've usually either written a program to solve them for me or used someone else's solver. I'm using this as an excuse to learn properly.) "Playing piano after American season of pipe organs?" (9) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 3 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

There are three politics: Futility, practicality and revolution. Everything surface level is marketing that the marketers may believe.

Wordle 1,543 4/6* ⬛⬛🟨🟨⬛ 🟩🟩⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

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

Minute Cryptic - 9 September, 2025 (I had nightmares last night about a pastel coloured chicken shack, that from the highway, because this was in America, looked like a low rise concrete rectangle wholly painted with blue, light blue, and orange in broad diagonal stripes. And I got inside and there were three staff and a buffet which smelled delicious. There were three servers, a young guy refilling the buffet to the left, and a man in the middle, and a lady to the right. They were all wearing uniform in pastel colours and blue chequered chef visors. The lady serving to my right, who was home counties English, judging by her accent, said, about the man on the far left "has he been eating those cheese fries again? They're delicious. Why don't you try them'. I got the impression he couldn't stop although he looked well enough. I tried a fry and they were totally delicious and everything else smelled delicious even the cabbage. To be fair the cabbage did look healthy and isn't traditionally associated with fast food in America. It was only a nightmare because I'm trying to stick to a diet. Yesterday I exceeded my daily calories because someone bought me a snack. They were delicious fries, the perfect thickness, fried in the perfect oil, with just the right amount of some umami rich cheese like parmigiano or epoisses or a really good cheddar, perfectly crisp and with a good choice of seasoning. Diet hell? Seems to me that would depend on perspective.) "Liking when head of state becomes centrist?" (5) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 I scored: 2 under par

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,542 4/6* ⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛ 🟨⬛🟩⬛⬛ ⬛🟨🟩🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

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

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:

How To Remember Anything Forever-ish

an interactive comic on the art & science of memory

). 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

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,541 4/6* ⬛🟩⬛⬛⬛ ⬛🟩⬛🟨⬛ ⬛🟩⬛🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

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

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

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,540 4/6* (1/2 on 3) ⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛ ⬛🟨⬛⬛🟩 🟩⬛🟩⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

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

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

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,539 3/6* ⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛ ⬛🟨⬛🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

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

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

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,538 4/6* ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 🟨⬛🟨🟨⬛ ⬛⬛🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

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

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

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,537 4/6* ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 🟨⬛⬛🟨⬛ ⬛🟨⬛⬛🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

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

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

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

Wordle 1,536 5/6* ⬛🟨⬛⬛🟩 🟨⬛⬛⬛🟩 ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

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

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

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

This will be a good/fun book:

Instagram

Minute Cryptic on Instagram: "A quick late-night (and somewhat silly) read from the book. AU release is tomorrow. Signed copies are at Booktopia in Australia. Find the link in Stories - saved in the Book highlight. Or order via the Minute Cryptic website (link in bio), or buy where all good books are sold! AU Tue 2 Sep • UK Thu 4 Sep"

521 likes, 34 comments - minutecryptic on September 1, 2025: "A quick late-night (and somewhat silly) read from the book. AU release is tomorrow. S...

I'm late to this game but it has recently been updated and it's delightful:

Harmony Honey Monroe - Games, Art, HHoney Software

https://flathub.org/apps/net.hhoney.rota

Wordle 1,535 3/6* ⬛⬛🟩⬛⬛ ⬛🟨🟩🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wordle - A daily word game

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

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

Minute Cryptic

Solve a clue with a hidden meaning

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