Hello!
Over time, I’ve used my Friday newsletters to share enjoyable diversions that I’ve come to take pleasure in. Right here’s one other one: Minute Cryptic.
If you happen to’re not conversant in “cryptic crosswords,” don’t fear — I actually wasn’t both earlier than I dove into Minute Cryptic. They’re crossword puzzles however the clues aren’t easy; quite, the clues are designed to indicate a solution that doesn’t work, and it’s a must to use some wordplay to determine the correct reply. There’s a quantity after every clue in parenthesis outlining what number of letters the proper reply is, and if it includes a number of phrases, you’ll get the variety of letters in every phrase, e.g. (2, 3).
It’s simpler to clarify by instance, which is partially why Minute Cryptic is so accessible. As a substitute of providing you with a complete cryptic crossword, they only provide you with one clue every day. Let’s resolve the one from Tuesday, January 28 collectively, and also you’ll see what I imply.
“Cinema illegally hides message on a display?” with a five-letter reply. If this have been a standard crossword clue, this might recommend one thing like “subliminal messaging” or the like, however that’s going to take much more than 5 letters. But it surely isn’t a standard crossword clue.
Cryptic clues all the time observe the identical sample. A part of the clue is the definition of the phrase you’re seeking to resolve for, and the a part of the clue all the time comes firstly or finish of the clue. The remaining is a few type of wordplay. The query mark on the finish signifies that a part of this clue is fairly loosey-goosey, so this isn’t the perfect instance to make use of, however you’ll see why I selected it quickly. 🙂 Let’s attempt to decipher this one.
You’ll discover that in the event you discover the correct path, you attain the tip shortly; however in the event you’re on the fallacious path, it’s going to be a headache. On this one, I acquired on the correct path shortly. Why? Due to the phrase “Hides.”
“Hides” and phrases prefer it (“incorporates,” “hidden,” and so forth.) are quite common wordplay indicators — they recommend that the reply you’re searching for is hidden someplace else within the clue, and usually within the phrases previous the indicator. On this case, the previous phrases are “cinema illegally,” and that’s a cool flip of phrase to start with, which means that it was purposely chosen for wordplay functions. And that’s precisely what’s occurring right here. If you happen to ignore the area between the 2 phrases, you get “cinemaillegally” and in the event you deal with the center-ish of that gobbledegook, you’ll see the phrase, “e-mail,” hidden inside it. And “e-mail” — as evidenced by what you’re studying proper now — is a “message on a display.” (See why I selected this clue?) Bingo.
However what I like loads about Minute Crpytic is the way it helps you discover the solutions, even whenever you get caught, like I usually do. If you happen to hit the “present trace” button, it’s going to inform you what the definitional a part of the clue is. After which you possibly can hit “present letter” to disclose a letter one after the other, in the event you want these. And at last, whenever you’re achieved — even in the event you’ve gotten the clue proper and don’t know why — you will get a proof of the reasoning: they put a proof of every reply on their YouTube channel. (Right here’s the one for the “e-mail” clue.) Every video is well-produced and well-explained, and lasts a couple of minute, as promised.
Give it a attempt to let me know what you assume! And in the event you find it irresistible and need some precise, full cryptic crossword puzzles, the New Yorker used to publish them and their archive, right here, is out there without spending a dime.
Monday: The Journey Hack That Can Get You Kicked off a Airplane: I can’t suggest you do that as a result of it might get you in bother.
Tuesday: A Very Wealthy Girl Doesn’t Need You To See This Portray: However sure, there’s an image of it behind that hyperlink. (After all!)
Wednesday: The Place The place You’re Not Allowed to Die: Not that they will really stop that from occurring, although. In any other case, lots of people would go there! Nearly everybody, actually.
Thursday: When Cardboard Artwork Goes Sledding: A enjoyable winter exercise in Minnesota, however it’s form of harmful.
Right here are some things it’s possible you’ll need to take a look at over the weekend:
1) “I Was Hooked on My Smartphone, So I Switched to a Flip Telephone for a Month” (NY Instances/reward hyperlink, 16 minutes, January 2025). I gained’t be doing this, however it’s most likely not a horrible concept.
2) “What Occurs In Jail When You Can’t Pee On Command” (Defector, 28 minutes, January 2025). Once I was a junior in highschool, a federal (I feel) jail positioned about half-hour away was set to open a number of months later. My class was capable of tour it earlier than any inmates arrived, so I acquired to see the ins and outs of the ability in a approach few individuals do. The entire class had the identical impression at first: this isn’t so dangerous. There’s a health club, cafeteria, yard, and so forth. — not all that completely different than the college, besides no school rooms. Even the cells weren’t so dangerous; they have been two- to four-person mini-apartments, principally, with no kitchen in fact, however nothing too scary. (The scary half, in fact, is the opposite inmates, however they weren’t there. Oh, and the truth that you possibly can’t depart.) Even the bathe room had private-ish bathe stalls, in contrast to what you see on a number of TV reveals.
However the one factor that, universally, induced concern amongst me and my classmates was the bathrooms. Every cell had a bathroom in the course of it with no curtain or door for privateness. And to make issues worse, the tour information (warden? I don’t keep in mind) informed us that from lights on to lights out, the cell doorways have been programmed to stay open. If you happen to had to make use of the bathroom, you probably did so in full view of the remainder of the cell block. And the odor additionally had nowhere to go. That was the difference-maker for my class: Throughout the board, none of us may abdomen the thought of going to jail.
This story isn’t about that. However I’ve carried that story with me for thus lengthy, this felt like a very good alternative to share!
3) “How the largest rock band on the planet disappeared” (Washington Put up/reward hyperlink, 6 minutes, January 2025). It’s the tip of R.E.M.’s careers as they understand it, however they really feel high-quality.
Have an ideal weekend!
Dan
