Ray "Scotch" Coulton

I think anagram are the most popular and oft-used cryptic clue indicator because it offers the greatest economy of letter movement per mechanic. Here's an extreme example, based on a clue I posted last year on Bluesky:

Evolved megachiropteran shot handler? (15)

For reference, here's the El Camino: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...

Cryptic clue I just cooked up... not sure how much the surface will resonate outside certain countries re: the consumer product in the clue, but I think it still works :)

Demolished El Camino source of toxic emissions (4,4)

You can be against a far right government all you like. It's the citizens, most of which are aren't aligned with that far right government, you shouldn't be against. (Not unlike, say, the US itself)

I'm not trying to say that every portrayal of a cop on TV has to be a brutal corrupt racist who gets shamed onscreen. But The Rookie is a show with whole episodes about how protesters are mean to cops and zero meaningful response to the Black Lives Matter movement. And Dropout partnered with them?

What is shocking out of all the possible ways they could have found something mainstream for them to cross over with , they pick this?

Which is funny , because if that was the goal, of all of the possible crossovers they could have picked , they had to pick this one? mind boggling

This. This is key to why is so upsetting.

That show collaborates with and has access to the LAPD which is historically both fraught with racism, et al and is an ICE-friendly organization. Not "just a TV show."

I feel confident that most fans do enjoy it just for fun and, like anything that becomes massively popular, will always have that small segment of it. It's annoying, but it's not exclusive to Taskmaster by any means

the minute cryptic guy, angas tiernan

this guy is the lestat of word puzzles

Cheers!

My latest weekly members-only Minute Cryptic mini drops today! Pleased with how it turned out (big shout-out to Liam's editing chops).

Also new: a featured clue from that puzzle on MC's landing page, where the link to the mini is (letting non-members get a taste) Pretty cool!

www.minutecryptic.com

I can only hope each of the Dropout performers involved (notably, no Brennan there...) deliver a Brennan-style "laws are threats" monologue, all with a sneaky Sam goal of sticking it to fascist powers, a la Luthen Rael's "I'm condemned to use the tools of my enemy..." line. But I doubt it.

Like... I dunno. Unless Sam had some contractual obligation due to some arcane agreement he made that required that he had to do a collab with some Disney/ABC property (I'm pulling that out of thin air, surely that's not a thing), and it was out of his hands. But maaaaaaaaaaan it is not a good look.

There's a difference between non-CEOs (aka regular folks) using platforms that, due to various factors, are difficult to extract oneself from after long periods of use ... and willingly choosing to align yourself with a show associated with ICE-friendly law enforcement. Don't conflate the two.

a man is sitting on the floor with the words `` not like this . '' ALT: a man is sitting on the floor with the words `` not like this . ''

When you use the monkey's paw to wish for Dropout to get exposed to more people, but you end up with a copaganda-fueled crossover with The Rookie

Dropout Fans Are Furious About The Crossover Between 'Game Changer' and 'The Rookie' Subscribers revolt over the indie streamer's partnership with "copaganda"

Still absolutely gobsmacked Sam Reich or anyone else with senior creative control thought its crossover with "The Rookie"--the production for which has access to the ICE-friendly LAPD--would in any way be a win for Dropout. www.cracked.com/article_4974...

@samreich.bsky.social Hi Sam, long-time fan! Walk myself and other Dropout fans through the decision for the Game Changer/Rookie crossover, b/c this feels like one of those Breaking News bits where everyone pretends you're aligning yourself with right-wing media

The framing of that "Critics say..." statement makes the concept of humans learning this sound worthy of debate, and I don't like it

Here's a Make Some Noise prompt:

Obliterate the goodwill of your entire subscriber base with this one weird trick

Like, does Dropout want to lose Brennan Lee Mulligan? Because this is how you lose Brennan Lee Mulligan

YouTube video by They Might Be Giants - Topic Hive Mind

@kissmesonofblog.com I subscribe to "Kiss Me, Son of Blog" (which is great), and wanted to say I 1,000% thought of "The Bells are Ringing" while watching Pluribus.

Not to mention... :)

youtu.be/dYR6hl0Skpc?...

I now have two creative things I'm a fan of that come from France, and start with the word Caravan:

- Caravan Palace
- Caravan SandWitch

Google 'em both, you just might like 'em!

It also covers a LOT of personal and emotional themes--guilt, grief, loss, redemption, family, culture, generational trauma... all in poignant ways.

It's also set in a future where people, whether they're human or not, are all treated with dignity and love, which is just aces.

I seriously considered giving it a B+... I go back and forth.

I'll say this: if a game sucks you into its world and makes you want to stay there and hang out with its characters, it's more than done its job, and this is one of those games. :)

PS. Despite my gripes, what I love about the game far outweighs the cons, and I definitely recommend it.

The version I got for Switch 2 comes with the Anniversary Update built in (when I found it, I kind of wonder if it was an add-on or it. Definitely fun!)

...are its greatest strength. I teared up multiple times, which made the abrupt ending all the more bittersweet, given all the game made you feel it built to. Without spoilers, a sequel could be possible (even a prequel)... if that happens, hoping this game's misses don't pop up there. Grade: B-

Plus, the ending feels too abrupt, and while I do like that it ended with a "Make a choice!" situation, both choices felt a bit too similar to matter.

That all said... I can't stop thinking about the world it built and its characters. That, plus its atmospheric sights and sounds...

It still had glitchy visuals during close-ups or quick movement (I played on Switch 2), but it's not a hardware-taxing game by any means (nearly 100%ed it in 10 hours). Plus, so much of it is backtracking over & over, and by the time you create all fast-travel points, the game's basically over.