Top Womble

Minute Cryptic Mini Crossword - 4 April 2025
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I used 0 letters
My time was 00:02:17

www.minutecryptic.com/minis/12?utm...

Thanks for the reminder! Voted 🙂

I got confused for a while since the anagram also spells 'avocet', which does not have scales 😅

Just change America to US 😅

Are you UK based? If you can get the Metro they have a cryptic, relatively simple as they go, but published every weekday so good to get the brain working in the morning

Voted, thanks for the reminder

Would sandwich not describe what the word tuna is doing?

Correct! Hid your reply for spoilers sorry, but student or learner often represent the letter L for learner in cryptics (British ones at least)

This is simultaneously a good argument for impeachment and the banning of AI

Today's Cryptic Crossword clue:

Bone found in tuna sandwich by student forum (8)

Boom! Got it

Thank you! I'm pretty new to solving and even newer to setting so have a lot to learn - appreciate any feedback

One of the worst podcasts ever to exist. He's almost as bad as Jordan Peterson at rambling on about nothing and ignoring his guest

Womble Cryptic #9 Italian red, raspberry or subtle strawberry odours on the nose (5); Spiteful male, marshal coloniser (9); Political theory - rolling back a thousand and six sheep (7); When you might have desserts, re...

My latest cryptic crossword puzzle is now live - as usual, a few slightly outside the box clues, but hopefully not so many as to be troublesome:

crosshare.org/crosswords/M...

Haha, excellent! 🇬🇧

That, and generally simpler/more obvious wordplay than the main puzzles

Thanks to @lowdowncryptic.bsky.social and @crypticblah.bsky.social for feedback on my previous cryptic crossword clue. New version below - hopefully this is an improvement!

Dip in power, AI tanking (5)

Spooky - I'll keep an eye out! 👀

Thanks - appreciate the feedback and have taken the clue down - perhaps I'll try a rewrite and pop it back up 🙂

Fair enough - I suppose the question would be what the best way to add challenge to these kind of clues is, since they always seem quite easy. I guess a puzzle needs one or two simpler clues

I'm sure I've seen some in a Mail book I have, though I'd have to dig to check. If it's likely to draw ire, perhaps it's not worth doing 😂

I feel like 'shouldn't' is probably too strong a word, I find some fodder in these types makes for a better clue, since otherwise they are always incredibly easy to solve. Though ofc I know people don't like it and generally avoid it as much as possible in other clue types

As a hint, there are a few redundant words here to make the sentence read better

It can work - but it never works immediately. People need time to take the ideas away and think about them. Yeah, the success rate is probably pretty low but not impossible

I would love to set people the task of solving an AI generated cryptic puzzle, with solvers knowing full well that most of the clues will have significant mistakes 😅

I totally get this POV but personally I love messing with punctuation 😅

Apparently they've had some new setters. I've still got the last couple but the Vlad one was a pretty bad clue since it could be solved by reading the word 'Vlad' and ignoring the rest of the clue entirely.

Some site (like Crosshare) allow you to switch to a Rebus mode to enter this. If the site the crossword is on doesn't allow you to do that, the clue shouldn't be there IMO

A most incisive clue, your crowning glory, perhaps

Tbh if Bluesky starts integrating AI anything, I'll probably leave here too.