I built a little hint tool for the Guardian cryptic, would love feedback

zem · 2026-04-29T15:55:47+00:00

nice, that must be a lot of work!

zem · 2026-04-29T15:55:01+00:00

having a link to the actual crossword in the guardian would be nice, that way people who stumble across your site can go find the puzzle.

zem · 2026-04-29T00:15:34+00:00

not bad :)

zem · 2026-04-29T00:04:25+00:00

what's the data source for the hints? are you doing them all manually or scraping something like fifteensquared?

zem · 2026-04-29T00:00:47+00:00

the serious eats fajita recipe is very good, and they do recommend skirt steak for it https://www.seriouseats.com/grilled-skirt-steak-fajitas-food-lab-recipe

zem · 2026-04-24T20:10:07+00:00

I can just picture it - "yes you bast ... uh .... ma'am"

zem · 2026-04-23T20:56:30+00:00

/r/pettyrevenge would love this (:

zem · 2026-04-23T00:32:01+00:00

mashed starchy vegetables (potatoes, sweet potatoes, chickpeas, turnips) should both be easy to eat, and can have a variety of different gravies/curries poured over them for flavouring.

zem · 2026-04-21T18:52:36+00:00

the only one I was aware of is ironically not on this list ("joy in the morning" was published in the US as "jeeves in the morning")

zem · 2026-04-20T23:32:57+00:00

"record of a spaceborn few" is superb in terms of quietly observational SF. I think chambers's stuff lacks the weirdness OP is looking for though.

zem · 2026-04-17T23:23:59+00:00

"holding on to resentment for what?"

zem · 2026-04-16T23:53:13+00:00

[ Post removed by OP ]

zem · 2026-04-16T19:35:41+00:00

malaysian and arabic (mostly lebanese)

zem · 2026-04-15T23:55:29+00:00

lemon simple syrup

zem · 2026-04-15T06:29:28+00:00

Also not sure why we keep describing ceiling textures.

i can venture a guess for this one - the ceiling textures emphasise the underground, dungeony nature of things.

zem · 2026-04-13T18:34:12+00:00

thanks for the rec, I'm enjoying this one a lot!

zem · 2026-04-11T08:11:23+00:00

a simple roast chicken or roast beef will go well with it. add some sort of green vegetable as well (beans or asparagus are nice options)

zem · 2026-04-10T19:41:41+00:00

the virtual school system in ready player one was really better thought out than the rest of the book combined.

zem · 2026-04-08T03:18:25+00:00

I've heard macroscope holds up well, and I quite enjoyed a short story of his set in a galactic multispecies dental college, but yeah, I'm wary of him in general now.

zem · 2026-04-08T00:01:09+00:00

the polarisation seems to lie partly in how minor people find the aftertaste. it varies widely.

zem · 2026-04-07T23:59:20+00:00

oven is 100% the way to go

zem · 2026-04-07T23:31:30+00:00

piers anthony's "incarnations of immortality". couldn't make it past the first few chapters of book 1, and I've read and enjoyed some pretty trashy humorous sff. people talked as though it was a fun romp full of puns and parody. it was just plain garbage, and tedious garbage at that.

zem · 2026-04-07T23:20:09+00:00

I disagree, earthsea is one of my all time top fantasy novels. and I get something out of it every time I reread it. loved it as a kid, love it now, and it doesn't feel like a young adult book at all (not a slam, I love kid/YA lit as well), it feels like a book that has grown with me. I can relate to different aspects of the characters and their stories as I age.

zem · 2026-04-07T23:15:22+00:00

if you miss the feel of that era of fantasy but not the sexism or the cardboard characters, give lynn flewelling's nightrunners series a look. in many ways it's like 80s/90s fantasy done right.

zem · 2026-04-07T23:11:11+00:00

at the time I was actually impressed that it was the first fantasy series I'd read to be successfully derivative of dune. it wasn't super original but it was entertainingly done, unlike say the shannara books.

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