Wordle 1,591 3/6* 🟩⬛🟨🟨🟩 🟩🟨🟨⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle - A daily word game
Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.
 Minute Cryptic - 27 October, 2025 (An easier one with a somewhat tricky definition. Yesterday I watched the The Taking of Deborah Logan, from 2014, a kind of silly, but well made, horror film, which passed the test of me not looking at my phone for the duration. If it was shot wholky digitally they did a very good job of emulating Kodak Vision3 film in places. It is also "Post IPhone". 2007 is when the world changed dramatically because the iPhone laid the way for the Internet in everyone's pocket all the time. It turned the Internet from something that people chose to spend time participating in, into something they are intricately connected to and a part of. 2014 is well into the iPhone clones, and Android, being usable. So, mentally at least, 2007 is the beginning in a relatively abrupt societal change akin to the fall of the Berlin Wall, collapse of the Soviet Union, or 9/11. A big change. So films became 21st century from about 2008 as society incorporated the changes. Athough, one could argue it still is legislatively and psychologically; society lags technology. My younger relatives only know this and it was no doubt the same when I was their age in different ways - we had microcomputers, but far less people had them. I also watched the first two episodes of Daisy May and Charlie Cooper's NightWatch on the BBC which was good because they didn't, at least so far, resort to faking stuff, or hysteria, to validate their beliefs. Essentially it was like Ghost Adventures, a show that was (or is) Ghost Bros and pioneered the kind of overexcitement that is now common on YouTube - saying "Bro" a lot and making a fuss at the drop of a hat. I'm not a believer in such things. It is quite possible to like things you don't believe. I like fiction of most kinds if it's well written. Imagination is important to me. I firmly believe that weird stuff happens and, often, but very much not always, believe people when they say they've experienced something. I just think an explanation employing the scientific method is far more interesting than, even sometimes compelling, narratives , when it applies to the real world. At the same time that scientific method requires imagination to form a hypothesis and methods of testing it. Also, and I kind of loathe the sceptic banner, because I think teams are for sport and the weak minded, I'm OK with not knowing something immediately or potentially never, and talking about the balance of probabilities and still not being sure. So I'm also sceptical of sceptics, although less so than of people opposed to them. I also want breakfast. I get philosophical before breakfast. So I haven't checked for spelling and grammar.) "Early alien race with many legs" (5) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 🏆 0 hints – 2 under the community par (32,960 solvers so far).
Minute Cryptic
Solve a clue with a hidden meaning
Wordle 1,590 4/6* ⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛ ⬛⬛🟩⬛⬛ ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle - A daily word game
Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.
 Minute Cryptic - 26 October, 2025 (I found this difficult but should have gotten it quicker. I'll blame daylight saving time. Although, in theory, I have slept approximately an hour longer than normal and should be more well rested. I used got two letters as hints. I think my principle problems solving it were: topological realities in three dimensions, Roman numerals, hexadecimal, the collective words for bees, synonyms on both sides, pencils, binary, computerised tomography, and the clue was like being optically bombarded with potential indicators. Essentially, though, I'm griping. I had that answer but discarded it because it didn't make sense to me. I'll write something somewhat later: The.) "Expect seat diagonal to 5B, say" (7) 🟡🟡🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 🤝 2 hints – matched the community par (42,303 solvers so far).
Minute Cryptic
Solve a clue with a hidden meaning
The dysgenics of Idiocracy is bad science, but many of the observations are exactly where it's going: image * I'm sitting watching YouTube shorts with a six year old. Not my choice, I'd limit the pad to an hour a day, or less, maybe on a timer.
Wordle 1,589 4/6* ⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛ ⬛🟩⬛⬛⬛ ⬛🟩⬛🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle - A daily word game
Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.
 Minute Cryptic - 25 October, 2025 (got it the same as most people but didn't fully understand why I'd got until I watched the video. I think one learns less when it's an easy solve. Naturally I don't want to spend an hour on a single clue, and in a crossword would do other numbers if stuck, especially answers that intersect that clue. I was going to write about something but I have forgotten what it is and it will probably hit me mid way through breakfast. I'm going to get a book of cryptic crosswords and have to choose between The Times, The Telegraph, Daily Mail or Guardian's collection. I like that I live in a country with a diverse press, and cryptic crosswords, and they're all basically fine newspapers, if a person avoids the opinions and many of the editorials. I'm busy today and will go to Waterstones or TG Jones tomorrow. Amazon don't accept book vouchers. The nearest independent is in Wadhurst and I don't think they'll stock them. I'm not wedded to the idea independent always equals better or is inherently better but I think diversity is a good thing for choice. There is a tendency to publish stuff on niche publishers that won't be stocked in store elsewhere. For instance I bought "Revolutionary Tunbridge Wells: The remarkable role of Tunbridge Wells in the development of revolutionary politics in Britain 1884-1919" by Julian Wilson at Halls Bookshop Tunbridge Wells which was kind of a mind-blowing book because one wouldn't have expected Tunbridge Wells to have been so interesting at the turn of the century. The local museum is overseen by Mrs* Bucket or maybe Mrs Buckets go there; but point stands that anything scandalous or political or grubby or industrial is minimized. And I've spotted To Bardo or Not To Bardo by Antoine Volodine at a bookshop in London, published by Open Letter Books - a translation from French, which is a great book which I'm surprised hasn't been adapted for TV by a network or steaming service. Currently I'm reading The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi, which I bought second hand but was originally from the HMS Sultan Library. Periodically libraries shed books. Not quality checked because I'm trying to emulate TEMU.) "Room for kids, yes? Run back to grab second-grader" (7) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 🏆 0 hints – 1 under the community par (33,725 solvers so far).
Minute Cryptic
Solve a clue with a hidden meaning
 * Richard was basically alright.
Wordle 1,588 5/6* ⬛⬛🟨🟨🟨 🟨🟨⬛⬛🟨 🟩🟨⬛🟩⬛ 🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle - A daily word game
Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.
 Minute Cryptic - 24 October, 2025 (I don't watch the explanation videos as much as I should, because a like and comment increases their importance to the algorithm, but I did in this case because my first guess was correct. The algorithm measures attention caused by the spectacle in or associated with the video. The BBC's Top Gear, in its most popular form, with Clarkson, May, and Hammond, was nominally about cars but also about the parasocial relationship with the viewers and the dynamics of the hosts, the spectacle of the show, and entertainment therein. Clarkson's farm is a similar mix of entertainment, the parasocial relationships with the viewers and the dynamics of the characters involved, and the spectacle. But I think that Top Gear was, to a greater extent, one of the biggest influences in British television of the last couple of decades. Potentially globally given the extent to which it was exported. It's not reality but it's not so far from reality that the viewer doesn't feel the characters aren't real people. Being the BBC it had all kinds of restrictions on how it was paid for, so no product placement, sponsorship and that sort of thing. Yesterday I was watching a YouTube channel called 'Unspeakable', and later Ben Azelart, on YouTube and through convergency they have arrived at a similar thing to Top Gear except aimed at kids. I haven't got a problem with them because they're not bad channels and they're nowhere near as exploitative as a great deal of others. In a world where being somebody and being viewed as a success is regarded as success I don't begrudge them. The first video I watched from Unspeakable was where they built a Lego House waterpark. Very Top Gear like except with things that would appeal to children rather than Top Gear viewers. I don't know the budget but I'm assuming the Lego waterpark video cost Unspeakable between $10k and $50k depending on how it was costed and how diligent they were about things like insurance - excluding the costs of equipment and production. That video will get something like $5000, depending on the estimate, per million views on YouTube. It had several million views but that's not huge money. So YouTubers are going to necessarily have to minimise costs of producing the video and/or get sponsorship or more murky product placement and merchandising. Those are not good incentives. YouTube is like Top Gear with enshittification built in. I think it will end up with an appalling class divide where parents who can afford it have subscriptions battling with channels evolving more and more clever ways to grab people's attention. I think Unspeakable are currently among the good guys. Kids YouTube is becoming industrial with light regulation. My nephew is six. I very much recommend everyone watches the Black Mirror episode called Fifteen Million Merits. I have not checked this comment for quality and somewhat endorse this message.) "Curtains need to be restitched after this is detached" (3,3) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 🏆 0 hints – 2 under the community par (30,143 solvers so far).
Minute Cryptic
Solve a clue with a hidden meaning
Wordle 1,587 3/6* ⬛🟩⬛⬛⬛ ⬛🟩🟩⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle - A daily word game
Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.
 Minute Cryptic - 23 October, 2025 (I'm getting muxh better at these ones, although it still took me a little while longer. It's really hard to forge a ghost picture. Which is a stupid statement inasmuch as I ain't afraid of no ghost and I don't believe in the supernatural. What I mean, specifically, is it's actually quite difficult to make a picture of a ghost that looks like many of the purported past photographs of ghosts. I think there should be an annual sceptic's Halloween "nake a ghost photo" competition with different categories like "the funniest ghost" or "properly scary looking". The easiest way is a double exposure and someone posing, or posing some kind of linen or similar cloth for ectoplasm, like many of the famous Victorian profiles. My late night attempt was a sketch of a Victorian clown in a picture I took of a Victorian graveyard. I ended up giving myself 4.5/10 because I think it's passable, and better than most, but really I'd need a model and given most cemeteries are public, this one wasn't a currently in service cemetery, people walking their dogs, on history tours, or visiting Nth great grandparents (from a pool of 2^x, x generations ago, rapidly a lot of people), would likely be disturbed by someone in period dress walking around. Although I suppose I could do it myself because someone dressed as a Victorian clown carrying a modern canera and a Manfrotto tripod looks more like a dickhead than a ghost. Unless I dropped dead dressed as a clown, with a camera tripod, and camera, while taking pictures of myself, in a cemetery. In which case: fair play reality.) "wAnTed!?" (2,5) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 🏆 0 hints – 2 under the community par (32,693 solvers so far).
Minute Cryptic
Solve a clue with a hidden meaning
Wordle 1,586 4/6* ⬛⬛⬛🟩⬛ ⬛⬛⬛🟩🟩 🟩⬛🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle - A daily word game
Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.
 Minute Cryptic - 22 October, 2025 (yes. I walked a few kilometres with my nephew and other than slight disappointment there were no Halloween Discovery Days, or maybe one had to ask, at at the library, it was pretty successful dar away from nonsense on YouTube. We went to the park, through a spooky graveyard, he had a book voucher, and £5 spending money he could spend on whatever he wants. He bought some Halloween fake crime scene tape (£1.49 Pound Stretcher), a water puzzlle (£1 TG Jones), a small wind up duck toy with magnets (50p Ukraine charity shop Royal Victoria Place - turned out to be a pretty well made Chinese toy), and an plushy infinity cube baby toy (50p Refugease charity shop for refugees St John's road). People are generally very nice. The lady in the Imago charity shop gave him a Drumstick sweet, although he did ask her, politely, why they were there, the man in TG Jones was nice and the nice lady in the Refugease charity shop on St John's road explained to him what the coins are because, basically, at 6 he doesn't know because his world otherwise works on ApplePay. I think the reason he ended up with change is because he has other stuff and relatives and others buying him sweets and crap most of the time. I think if he had less already he'd have blown the £5 on crap. Like the criticisms of the marshmallow test. The infinity cube is a few years to young for him but he is fascinated by them because I have one with the world and geographic information on it. His new one had symbols and he can pull it around more to examine how it works. £6.99 of book voucher went on the on Bunny Vs Monkey the Gigantic Joke Fight, which he can read quite well but insists on reading with his mum. Which is pretty funny.) "Private investigator losing 50 from roulette spin" (9) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 🏆 0 hints – 2 under the community par (32,238 solvers so far).
Minute Cryptic
Solve a clue with a hidden meaning
Wordle 1,585 3/6* ⬛🟨⬛🟨🟨 🟨⬛🟩🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle - A daily word game
Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.
 Minute Cryptic - 21 October, 2025 (a dog nearly ate my comment. I'm fine, just a little busy today. I got a counterfeit product off Amazon yesterday which I think is a vulnerability of the way they handle third party sellers. Then bought exactly the same product from Sainsbury's for £2.50 more and it wasn't counterfeit. UNO Show Them No Mercy which is a game my youngest nephew had been playing with a childminder and he's quite fond of playing. Basically anything to show him there are better options than watching shit, and I use that word correctly, on YouTube. I think he'll basically be alright because he's got parental and loco parentis supervision most of the time, but he's six. He will rapidly grow out of it. But most of the current batch of people making videos aimed at children would not cause a disruption to the timeline if they ceased to exist. I think like my counterfeit cards and a third party seller YouTube have deferred their responsibility for the content. It's not violent, or breaking any of the rules directly, it's just maximally designed to get the maximum attention and commercial exploitation of small children or the vulnerable. The values it promotes are cargo cult like. One of the better ones, inasmuch as I don't think it'll directly lead to physical harm or psychological injury, is 'Doktor Light' from Stuttgart whose videos are dubbed in English via AI. He watched that yesterday. If you want to get with the zeitgeist. I'd encourage everyone to watch. I'm fairly sure in a year or two my nephew will be bored of such things and watching whatever AI slop has replaced The Sidemen. He is supervised. Many kids will not be. And don't get me started on how bad YouTube shorts are. A kid these days needs critical thinking skils like road safety skills*.) "So... Paul's loosely related to his wife?" (7) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 🏆 0 hints – 1 under the community par (32,770 solvers so far).
Minute Cryptic
Solve a clue with a hidden meaning
 * Or, the equally disturbing series of public information films when I was a kid: Except about potential child catchers and general fuckwittery of people with no educational experience or training given free reign to commercially and psychologically exploit children and the vulnerable on YouTube.
Wordle 1,584 5/6* (difficult one but also unlucky inasmuch as I could have tried 5 on 4) ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛ ⬛⬛🟨🟨⬛ 🟩🟩⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle - A daily word game
Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. A new puzzle is available each day.
 Minute Cryptic - 20 October, 2025 (got this one straight away-ish but it's a good clue. A somewhat interesting day. I had a whole thing typed out about Oasis but I've deleted it because it was snide.) "Uproar from little brother texting you "LOL"" (8) 🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣🟣 🏆 0 hints – 3 under the community par (30,795 solvers so far).
Minute Cryptic
Solve a clue with a hidden meaning
parklife