Wordle 1,583 4/6* β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨ πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬› πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬› 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Minute Cryptic - 19 October, 2025 (yeah. It's one of those days where I seem unable to write something on the spur of the moment because the things I want to write about are complicated enough to require more diligence than tapping a phone thinking about a delicious breakfast. So I think I'll just write what I was thinking about and let other people think about it, should they choose. What, artistically speaking, separates concept from pretension and is an unpretentious artistic concept one that is generally regarded as successful and the pinnacle of concept one that is praxis without a conscious theory? It's those two, I think, historically, that last, at the centre or at the fringes.) "Tender letters shared by pub maid and boyfriend?" (3) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 πŸ† 0 hints – 1 under the community par (33,420 solvers so far).
Wordle 1,582 5/6* (πŸ€·β€β™‚οΈ an occasion where changing starting word continuously let me down. The most common letters, in English words, are something like etaoinshrdlu so I try to get as many of those per guess informed by previous answers and intuition about the choice of words. That's breaking down a bit now they're using up common words.) β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬› β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨ πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬›β¬› β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ©πŸŸ©πŸŸ© 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Minute Cryptic - 18 October, 2025 (took me a little while, I think lots of people got it faster than me. I was watching Celebrity Traitors on the BBC last night - it's basically a reworking of the Moscow University game of Werewolf (or Mafia) with reality TV twists. Which makes it sound basic, which it isn't and it's a good show, with all of the caveats that apply to any TV with a semblance of reality against the need of narrative form. In Mafia, or Werewolf, or Traitors there is an informed minority of traitors (or mafioso or werewolves) whom know who the the other traitors are and the rest are uninformed. The informed minority keeps their roles secret from the uninformed minority, in the case of Traitors called 'the faithful' or in mafia/werewolf villagers. There are two phases, at night, in game time, a member of the informed minority can kill a member of the uninformed majority. During the day, in game time, the uninformed majority can vote, and discuss among themselves, on eliminating a suspect. Naturally the informed minority can sabotage discussions but also risk becoming suspects by doing so. As a general observation I think the Faithful, or villagers, seem to spend too much time on epistemological questions of how they know something versus ontological questions of what there is to know. My strategy, and TV is different so I can't really say what my strategy would be if I was under those pressures, as both a villager and a Traitor/Werewolf would be to eliminate randomly and I'd let other people know that. As knowledge of the threats (to me from the Traitors/werewolves or villagers) accrues I'd switch to choosing and back without saying (fellow Traitors would think it's their choice rather than me not objecting). The people nominated unfairly don't matter if I'm a Traitor or Werewolf and categorically it's nothing personal if I nominated them as a villager/Faithful (it could be, because I hadn't told them I switched from random nomination). Any plan needs to be adaptable in light of new information. Maybe watching people reinvent logical positivism wouldn't make for good TV and people's pattern seeking and projections of their narrative onto things is a modern TV parable of why and how things go wrong for villagers tactically. Plus maybe it'd just be a good way of getting myself eliminated by villagers. Maybe I'd have to act dumber to blend in, which is a lot of TV TBF. Real life is not a game. Not checked for grammar or spelling because of breakfast being more important to me.) "Close messy garden shed outside" (4) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 πŸ† 0 hints – 1 under the community par (29,415 solvers so far).
Wordle 1,581 3/6* β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬› β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ©β¬› 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Minute Cryptic - 17 October, 2025 (enjoyable clue. I had a dream last night about middle-aged gigging, which is a growth industry because of demographic and cultural shifts, and it was pretty much the same as teenaged gigging but more boring, there were babysitting arrangements and an even greater emphasis on cosplay. What distinguishes cosplay from fashion is that fashion is now. There can be retro fashions but the fashion is that it's rearranged for now. I don't think I'd like to dress like any of the fashions from my youth. I think if I went to see any of the bands I liked in my youth I'd dress uncle casual - expensive enough to last but tolerable of wear because it's comfortable. Gigging in the middle ages was a whole different thing and shouldn't be confused with middle aged giggling because despite Oasis' ticket prices, and in the spirit of fairness - inflationary effects/interest/Noel's house parties/Liam's collection of fancy Warhammer themed wooden kitchenware etc, you will get mocked by geography teachers with Paul Weller haircuts for wearing a chaperon.) "Seizes Β£1million" (8) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 πŸ† 0 hints – 3 under the community par (30,440 solvers so far).
My current Gnome desktop background that I made. I didn't design the logo but I took the picture and used several feathered layers to lighten the borders so the logo popped, then, IIRC, some vignetting to make it look natural. Soon to be replaced because I like designing my desktop backrounds. That is a great, relatively inexpensive, small DAB+/FM radio. The clock is badgering me to update it. image
(although the answer for most people is Ubuntu or Fedora & Fedora spins. I mostly run Fedora Silverblue and it's derivatives. In many situations I'd be better off with vanilla Fedora for tinkering, or even Arch.) For older computers:
Wordle 1,579 4/6* β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬› πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬› πŸŸ©β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ© 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Minute Cryptic - 15 October, 2025 (I kept thinking this was a double definition and then got it but thought of a funnier answer. The thing about politics is one is forced to take sides. I fundamentally believe most politics is an abstraction from the underlying mechanics of an evolved local and global system of rules, structures, money and power that exhibit some degree of self similarity but there is no plan, no overall control, and as a result it is necessarily simplified because otherwise nothing could get done. The plus side of voting for people dealing with that underlying complexity is that we can essentially vote on the basis of vibes in the form of values. When there is a significant gap between the vibes or values of politics and what is actually happening people lose faith. The gap between what was promised from Brexit and what was delivered is as big as the gap on what was promised on immigration and what was delivered. In reality leaving the EU had significantly complicated effects which are going to take decades to work out. Immigration is among the main reason we're not suffering a massive skills gap, precipitous birthrate decline, and even lower growth - the small boats and inevitable, and frankly occasional, wronguns are being used on the basis of vibes. Politics is not being honest about the complexities and is falling back on all of the familiar tropes. Essentially they're for Good Things and against Bad Things tailored to whatever particular vibes appeal to whichever group appeals to them. I'm going to vote for whoever and you should vote for whoever too. There is no Gordian Knot and Brexit has significantly fucked the prices of some things. Not checked for typos or spelling - I'm not a politician and I'm in a bad mood.) "Volatile element or source of vitamin C?" (5,4) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 πŸ† 0 hints – 2 under the community par (37,040 solvers so far).
Wordle 1,578 3/6* πŸŸ©πŸŸ©πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬› πŸŸ©πŸŸ©β¬›πŸŸ©β¬› 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Minute Cryptic - 14 October, 2025 (Good clue. ) "Townswomen wanting directions turned up for debate" (4) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 πŸ† 0 hints – 2 under the community par (36,050 solvers so far).
Wordle 1,577 3/6* β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ©πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨ β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ©πŸŸ©πŸŸ© 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Minute Cryptic - 13 October, 2025 (yep. There was an interesting, ish, logic puzzle on crotkid whom I follow on Instagram. I'd recommended critkid for parents and parent adjacent people like teachers. It goes "There are three crates, one with apples, one with oranges and one with both apples and oranges mixed. Each crate is closed. They were labeled with one of three labels: "Apples", "Oranges", or "Apples and Oranges", but a prankster came and switched all the labels. Now every crate is incorrectly labe led. How could you pick just one fruit from one crate to figure out what's in each crate?" It relies on a literal reading and the assumption there must be an answer. if every label has been switched each box no longer has the correct labels, so the box labelled A&O must now be A OR O. The puzzle can be answered by checking the crate labeled A&O . If the crate labelled A&O contains O, then the crate labelled O must contain A. The crate labelled O must contain A because every crate is incorrectly labelled. If, when checked, the crate labellef A&O contained A the crate labelled A must contain O - because the box labelled O can't contain O. There are only three boxes and three types of things in those boxes. The key with those kinds of puzzles, the drill, is a literal reading and asking oneself what information is in the question. I'm terrible at them and have to try‑, but occasionally scrape by because I know there must be an answer. I could be wrong my eyes are bleary. I haven't checked for typos or logic. Good morning. Follow critkid*. AFAIC the correct answer to a lot of puzzles is swearing.) "Crew from vet centre follows possum without hesitation" (5) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 πŸ† 0 hints – 1 under the community par (34,290 solvers so far). * https://critikid.com/ ‑
Wordle 1,576 5/6* β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ© β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ© β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ©πŸŸ©πŸŸ© β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ©πŸŸ©πŸŸ© 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Minute Cryptic - 12 October, 2025 (one of those clues where it is easiest to us their interface to solve it. Yesterday I had to take a nephew to a Saturday, basically recreational, lesson and thought I'd use it as an excuse to sit and read. Which I did, successfully for 45 minutes and 60 pages. There is something about being forced into to sitting down with few distractions and a book. It's why I always take one to anywhere I'm being forced to waiit. They're a good do not disturb notice too. When put and about I've very occasionally heard teenagers and young people play music on their phone in public. Having once being a teenager I can tolerate it a bit. Like low level anti-social behaviour. Yesterday I observed, or rather heard, a grown up playing what sounded like a reasonable thriller as an audiobook. My guess is that they left headphones at home and were stuck in the same situation - waiting. I was squatting on a low step outside a 1950s church like an east Asian reading a book and I'd guess they thought they had it low enough I couldn't hear and they were inside. Or maybe they wanted attention. The equivalent of someone saying "hey, that music's really cool and I think you're really cool too" or "peng, six seven, you like books by Manning Hoobs, we're Audible roadmen bro". Also, in the one place in town people have hung St George flags someone, or some people, have climbed up and stenciled "welcome" on them. I'm not sure that makes them more, or less, potentially threatening. And in some ways it shouldn't be threatening - traditionally the Stars and Stripes, even the Swedish or Danish flags, haven't been associated with nationalism and beating up foreigners and hurting foreigner adjacent people and hate/fear.) "Antique rocking chair in empty attic" (7) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 πŸ† 0 hints – 1 under the community par (27,603 solvers so far).
Wordle 1,575 3/6* ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ πŸŸ©πŸŸ©πŸŸ©β¬›β¬› 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Minute Cryptic - 11 October, 2025 (I found this one difficuilt and I'm in a hurry because I've got to take a kid to a class. Song unrelated to the clue.) "Brunette’s first two AirPods Pro lost in hair, possibly?" (6) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 πŸ† 0 hints – 2 under the community par (31,903 solvers so far).