Love the outside-the-box pattern recognition puzzles like this. The example given feels very fair: you can rule out a last-letter extraction right off the bat, so you just have to figure out how to index. Thinky Dailies 2-43 Strange Horticulture Solved in 1:24 thinkygames.com/dailies/puzz...

Rein in head of church with strange ritual I like this surface, though again, I have to quibble over the way the Parseword interface essentially gives you the answer once you start looking for anagrams. Parseword #77 ⚡️ 25s 💎 Perfect 🗿 Challenge Mode

Putting the kids to bed now, so should be starting within the next hour; possibly even early (but probably not).

Tremendously good review of Mouse P.I., which examines not just whether the game does art and shooting well, but whether any of it is "Worth dying for. Worth killing for. Worth going to hell for. Amen." (So glad they never mase that Sin City video game.)

Pop icon featured in "Tunnel Vision" Even easier than yesterday's. Reads OK, but my rule is that unless the cultural reference is a well-known bit of media ("Tunnel Vision" is a 2017 rap from Kodak Black and odd comedy from 1976), it's disappointing. Parseword #76 ⚡️ 8s 💎 Perfect 🗿 Challenge Mode

I think this one was too easy; the pipe crossings already give plenty of connections/constraints; having the letters in almost identical spots on top and bottom made this a considerably un-twisty puzzle to unpack. Thinky Dailies 2-42 Locked Out Solved in 0:40 thinkygames.com/dailies/puzz...

Happy post-ACPT! Maybe you tried some cryptics and are interested in more? Join me at twitch.tv/thatcrypticguy tonight at ~9:00 Eastern for chat/solve of puzzles from: Mossberg ¶ Umpire (Unch) ¶ Grinberg (Crossweird) ¶ Weisz (CW) ¶ Dolan ¶ Dilly ¶ Ries ¶ Rackenfracker in @gnomoncryptics.bsky.social

Digimon Stories: Time Strangers takes much of the grinding out of monster collecting. You gain new ones by fighting them enough times. You evolve (or devolve) when able AND ready, learning set skills that you can use elsewhere. Each family tree is initially hidden, but stat requirements are clear.

For a minute, I thought the new Paddington movie was going to be called "Escape from New York" and I got excited. (Maybe it's not too late?)

I was frustrated by DOSA DIVAS, not because it was bad, but because it should've been great. The plot is let down by repetitive cooking minigames and quick-time combat. Yes, real nourishment comes from loving labor, but this work produces empty calories. thatsoundscool.wordpress.com/2026/04/13/d...

Nope, that first puzzle was not a fluke. I cannot visualize the Guide Arrow logic properly. Something about the negative space is throwing me, or maybe it's trying to see loops within that. Just hard format! Thinky Dailies 2-41 Directions for Mouse Solved in 17:19 thinkygames.com/dailies/puzz...

Vessel holding popular wine If Parseword wants to commit to a scaling difficulty, with Monday being easiest, fine. In a standard cryptic, I'd have to guess at what [Vessel] might be, but only four choices are given here. (At least one's a boat.) Parseword #75 ⚡️ 16s 💎 Perfect 🗿 Challenge Mode

This was a nice grid with just the right mix between giving TOO MUCH information, and not enough—I just had to figure out what those big 8s were forcing the smaller numbers to do to leave no square unboxed. Thinky Dailies 2-40 Puzzling Petals Solved in 5:29 thinkygames.com/dailies/puzz...

Italian dish is flanked by baloney and two slices of tomato My advice for cryptics is to identify possible wordplay—[two slices of tomato]—and then use that to identify what the definition might be and how your potential wordplay might fit. Parseword #74 ⚡️ 41s 💎 Perfect 🗿 Challenge Mode

The backlog for 2026 is already piling up with stuff I just haven't had time for yet: Sol Cesto, Tombwater, People of Note, Grime II, Screamer... I will never understand the people saying that there aren't good games out there, or that you need a high-end console for them.

I feel like I shouldn't be mixed on a game that I'm 20 hours into, but my biggest takeaway from Digimon Stories: Time Stranger is that there's a surprising level of strategy in battles, especially boss battles, but so much of that comes down to pre-planning to create the right companions.

We didn't really see connections between daily puzzles until last season's meta, so it's cute that 2-39 continues from 2-38. That said, this smaller grid created bigger constraints, so this felt rather easy to fill in. Thinky Dailies 2-39 Branching Off Solved in 0:31 thinkygames.com/dailies/puzz...

Small junction at the end of unfinished LAX terminal Nice to see a clue from the designer. My one quibble is that there's little surprise here; all the words are exactly the same in surface and wordplay—at least the definition has a fun split. Parseword #73 ⚡️ 48s 💎 Perfect 🗿 Challenge Mode

There's an appropriate final image for this one, given how bonsai-like logic puzzles like this are, where you carefully trim/place one part, allowing that to lead you to the next logical connection. Thinky Dailies 2-38 A Solo Quest Solved in 3:14 thinkygames.com/dailies/puzz...

Inventor’s call might set back Japanese company The best cryptic clues have a solid surface sense that usually masks in some way the wordplay. Here, [set back] is doing a great job of seeming like it's a stock hang-up. Parseword #72 ⚡️ 50s 💎 Perfect ☎️ Secret Found 🗿 Challenge Mode

I cannot think of any game that needs LESS to be made into a movie than Metal Gear Solid, and no disrespect to the directors because Bloodlines was good, but the game works because of what it makes you DO, and even a TV series with time enough to breathe and think would be fundamentally different.

The biggest step for mastering a logic puzzle is for certain patterns/moves to become intuitive. Let's just say that I keep forgetting basic Masyu rules and move on :) Thinky Dailies 2-37 Founders Not Found Solved in 7:19 thinkygames.com/dailies/puzz...

The thing that needs to be understood about vigilante media is that these characters need to be at least a LITTLE crazy, and the way Frank's psyche/rage is fracturing through these cuts has me real excited.

I really want this. Why does my brain work this way? store.steampowered.com/app/2413950/...

Live outside of a quiet French fort Proper names continue to be my undoing, even when they're, like, the single example of a set that is famous enough for me to have actually named. It didn't help that my mind fixated on the wrong [quiet]. Parseword #71 ⏱️ 2m39s ✅ 1 Hint 🗿 Challenge Mode

Survivor needs to change the way it handles the sit-out bench, as it just piles on the team that is already down, letting the winning teams get even stronger as they can sit out their weakest links.

I don't do Sudoku very often any more, so picking up a variant takes a little longer—especially since the last time I saw this one, odds went in squares and evens went in circles. Neat trick! Thinky Dailies 2-36 A Riveting Read Solved in 2:53 thinkygames.com/dailies/puzz...

Spoken in half-mean spirit I continue to wonder how Parseword will handle missing spaces ("splitsies"), but it handled the hyphen just fine, and it's on me for going down the wrong path with [spirit] for so long. Parseword #70 ⏱️ 2m5s 💎 Perfect 🗿 Challenge Mode

Tonight, ~9 Eastern I'll solve and discuss the following cryptic crosswords; join me! - finish @juffowup.bsky.social & Bob's Gnomon - midis from @kohaxw.bsky.social, Dolan, dilly - @tshellstudio.bsky.social - Ries in the NYT - Bard's alphabet jigsaw in @unchcrosswords.com twitch.tv/thatcrypticguy

This was a new-to-me logic game, and I should have read the "Groups may contain any amount of numbers, including none" part of the instructions. Otherwise, saw the 11/10/6 linchpin immediately; neat concept! Thinky Dailies 2-35 Quick on the Uptake Solved in 9:34 thinkygames.com/dailies/puzz...

Heading to Earth after disastrous space flight I mean, I certainly hope this isn't saying anything about Artemis II (try to take clues simply as clues), but this is a great surface that's fairly easy to unpack. Parseword #69 ⚡️ 40s 💎 Perfect 👧 Secret Found 🗿 Challenge Mode

Oh shit, Spy X Family is exactly the sort of whimsical anime distraction I need as a stressed-out dad. I hope it holds up, as I'm only six episodes in.

Another cool design. I think Star Battle is one of the easier logic puzzles: once you find a place where you can put something in, you can cross out a lot of spots, which in turn often gives you the next viable move. Thinky Dailies 2-34 Speedy Solvers Solved in 1:13 thinkygames.com/dailies/puzz...

Short tribute to a saint One of these days, I'm not going to be caught by words-as-words, but that day wasn't today. Parseword #68 ⚡️ 53s 💎 Perfect 🏹 Secret Found 🗿 Challenge Mode

I just read an op-ed scaring people away from single-player health care (in New York State) because we'd have to pay higher payroll taxes AND might face rationing—having to wait longer for care. Another way to read that: you currently don't wait because people who need to see a doctor can't.

I can't say that Bluesky is broken, but I certainly feel like I'm having fewer conversations lately. So where's the spot to go for talking about video games and puzzles?

It always makes me laugh when the title screen for a game has massive delay. Digimon Story Time Stranger dropping its screen after 10 hours is wonderful.

I love this not-quite symmetrical design. This puzzle's difficulty stems from two things: finding the starting point doesn't make everything else obvious, and one error in logic can send you back to the start. Thinky Dailies 2-33 Entry Requirements Solved in 5:42 thinkygames.com/dailies/puzz...

Not too bright, having a channel about global conflict A key thing to remember about cryptics, especially for novices, is that you *will* eventually get stuck, and that's OK! Everything about this clue just happened to be hard. Parseword #67 ⏱️ 4m36s ✅ 1 Hint 🎙️ Secret Found 🗿 Challenge Mode

A full-throated recommendation not just for seeing SOMETHING VERY BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN but for knowing as little about it as possible beyond that Haley Z. Boston is just as good at this sort of familial horror as Mike Flanagan.

The movie I'd most like to see remade is "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T." It has stuck with me since my childhood: there was an electric, non-sanitized feeling, as if I were getting away with something by watching it. In short, it is very much everything the Super Mario Brothers movie is not.

Just like yesterdays, this is another very human-feeling grid. I also think Hamiltonian puzzles are the more straightforward to solve, because the act of drawing a road feels most intuitive (even when roundabout). Thinky Dailies 2-32 A Secret Meeting Solved in 1:25 thinkygames.com/dailies/puzz...

Fellow consumed by eastern Everglades animal I love that [consumed] isn't doing what I assumed it would be. If I knew more about animals, I might have gotten there faster, but I was happy to be befuddled for a bit. Parseword #66 ⏱️ 2m31s 💎 Perfect 🐳 Secret Found 🗿 Challenge Mode

OK fans of a very specific sci-fi/fantasy genre; I thought A Deadly Education had one of the best twists, but The Will of the Many might have the *best* cliffhanger-y endings. I'm so happy that I can move right along to The Strength of the Few. IYKYK—any other recommendations along these lines?

Just remember, it's okay to discriminate against Catholics, but god forbid you hold a networking retreat at your private company for women.

The biggest issue with the MAGA movement is in the way it mistakes "consequences" for an individual as a "reward" for an entire group. Like, they're currently tolerating so many blatant crimes and improprieties because they'd rather "own the libs" than do their job and hold up the rule of law.

Another thing with logic puzzles is the difference between computer-generated and bespoke grids. This one, with its carefully arranged triplets, looks intentional and feels human, and that matters, damn it! Thinky Dailies 2-31 The Anxious Mouse Solved in 1:14 thinkygames.com/dailies/puzz...

Crackpot claim about silver having special powers Lest you think I'm too negative, this is a good surface! Crackpot's a better choice than, say, explosive or criminal or novel, and the definition's very nice. Not sure why this gets a HARD label, tho. Parseword #65 ⚡️ 25s 💎 Perfect 🗿 Challenge Mode

This shouldn't be a hot take: it's accurate. Even in film, a shot-for-shot remake only has a comparison of actors going for it, and really ought not exist. (People can learn to read subtitles.) If you're bringing the game back, it's because it was incomplete before and you're fixing that.

I found myself thinking more about this yesterday and wrote something a bit more on the concept of struggle (and the absence of an equivalent reward) after the kids woke me up early. Yes, I referenced David Foster Wallace vis-a-vis Super Meat Boy 3D. thatsoundscool.wordpress.com/2026/04/03/t...