Yikes! Fixed the clues, thanks for that flag! Very pleased to hear you're enjoying them 🙂

Hey Spiral! Yes, the title is meant to be more of a confirmation for you when you solve the anagram, and provide loose avenues to explore, but is isn't intended to be as helpful as a typically crossword clue for sure. This is a tricky one to start with because I went a bit more obscure than usual to test some waters and see how it would be received, others do tend to be a bit kinder!

Yeah this is the reason! I try to give a Mr. or Ms., such as Mr. Willis for Bruce Willis, but since this they're French I opted for "M."

So I'm very open to feedback on this, but my general idea behind construction and word choice is that I permit 1 obscure word because you don't ultimately need to know it to solve the puzzle. In theory, you only need to know half of the clues. Issues arise when two obscure words intersect, but I do my best to avoid those.

It's a bit of a trade-off between being able to make grids, and keeping all the words common and general knowledge. Being able to fit a specific grouping of letters into a grid is tricky, which is why I allow words to be backwards. While it's a nice quirk to differentiate the puzzle, it's actually very necessary for me to make grids in the first place!

However, I'm always trying to expand my dictionaries, and fine tune them so that grid solutions are fair.

In the future, I want to be able to allow people to opt in to dictionaries - so you can choose puzzles that only have general knowledge words, but, for example, if you know everything about Lord of the Rings, I can add in puzzles where I needed "Eowyn" or "Gimli" to end up creating a grid.

I'm rambling now I fear, but back to your point, I currently feel okay adding in 1 obscure word because it doesn't ultimately block the puzzle solve, it lets me make more grids, and I think there is an element of fun learning new words - however, if the obscure word does end up ruining the experience of the puzzle overall, then perhaps a recalibration is needed on my end, at least in the interim until people can opt in to certain dictionaries! Would love your thoughts on this!

My thought process for the title is that you shouldn't be able to solve the puzzle directly from it, but that it makes sense in retrospect and is an attempt to create that "aha!" moment when you solve the anagram and can validate your thinking with the puzzle title. I know I don't always knock that out of the park, but in this case you're completely on the money.

!A salamander dropping its tail is, in my mind, a gamble that the predator will be distracted/sated with the tail so that the salamander can get away instead of being eaten, and the title itself allows for a bit of obfuscation in the sense that people can bet on coin flips or "gamble on heads or tails".!<

Hey Jefe! Yes that's a really odd one. On puzzles where there is only one long word it, doesn't seem to be an issue, only when a second word is there! I've marked it high priority for a fix so hopefully won't be a problem in future puzzles. Nicely done on the solve!!

The spoiler tag markdown on the app I use doesn't seem to work for all apps, so apologies for typing this outright, but the 5.1.441 is the spot in the answer where the referenced character in the title speaks their final line - so they "stop there"!

I'm being a little cheeky here, mostly because it was just May the 4th, but the word in the spoiler is actually a common misquote of the line. The real line in the movie uses the two-letter answer in the grid!

Thanks, Walden! That's a solid time for a Friday puzzle and you had to navigate the scrappiness. Thanks for sticking with it on mobile! Monday is typically only a 3x3 grid and 9-letter anagram, so I suspect you might break sub 3 mins if you tackle that one next week!

Not bad at all! I've seen a few veteran solvers manage sub-minute scores, but the current user interface doesn't lend itself nicely to speed runs. Plans in the works to help make inputting much easier but will take a bit of time to implement!

For sure! https://youtu.be/nrWfklj0DR0?si=Y-wlh_Bxv7WghvZW

That's completely fair! Because there are so few clues, I tend to try and combine some easier clues with more obfuscated ones. With games like Wordle, I feel like when I solve it in 20-30 seconds it feels underwhelming, so I try to include a few clues that give pause for thought and a bit more of a sense of accomplishment when solved. I think this one was a touch heavy on the trickier clues though.

The hardest thing about making these puzzles is being so restricted by the letters I can use for each puzzle. I used to include three-letter country codes in my grids, but eventually deemed them a bit unfair for the average solver. That said, I eventually want to be able to let people opt in to obscure knowledge that they know, so I can provide puzzles I've only been able to create that have those obscure acronyms and terms in them!

11 minutes while also figuring everything out is still a solid time, but yes, desktop will significantly reduce that time!

Thanks!

And yes, social sharing is definitely on the map for when mobile is working better and there are a few more quality of life changes for word entry. I'll check out the daily games and post a few there, thanks for the suggestion!

Ah that's a good point. Having two obscure answers intersect isn't ideal in a construction. I have some plans for that in the future but until those plans happen I'll be more mindful of that!

Oh no! I do try to make the clues a little harder on Monday because it's an easier anagram, but perhaps I went a little too obscure today!

Totally agree! Whenever I've done them in the past, I've provided both sets of clues so people could choose their own adventure. Might test the waters in a week or two by proving two options to see if any takers!

Any love for cryptic clues? Or would the increase to solve time be undesirable 😅

Thanks for the comment!! Appreciate you watching even a bit of it. My capacity for editing is a bit limited, however, I definitely agree that I should pick the main things that I want to talk about beforehand so that there is a bit more structure, instead of me trying to remember things in the moment (could not for the life of me remember the Fetid Rat..). Appreciate that advice!

Nicely done!! Wednesday and Friday get a little harder but now you know the lay of the land!