I just posted this in my review in the authors’ private section. But you won’t be able to read that. Though @Ally will. Here’s what I said:
Apologies to @Ally and @Allx - I didn’t dare try the new version to see if it fixed the bug while I was still many days into my nearly completed game. However having quasi finished I am happy to report that yes, the lower/upper case thing now works fine in my Mac Safari using the Sep 8 version It’s also working (though I hadn’t tested it before when I think it wasn’t working) in iOS 15.7.8 on my iPod touch running Safari.
Once upon a time, there was a little platypus who lived in a big forest. But she was no ordinary platypus — she had 5 million tonsils! Because of that, the other animals in the forest called her Tonsilsie The Many-Tonsilsed Platypus. Then, one day, a giant horse shoe was threatening the forest, and she managed to find it with her many strong tonsils…
Was pretty fun. I’ve been enjoying coming back to this game every day
I love seeing what players come up with — it’s often so different from what Alex and I thought to try! Tabitha posted mad libs#2 on the Discord recently, which was also fun to read
I’ve updated the game today with a small FAQ in the sidebar, in hopes of guiding players who are confused by my too-vague descriptions.
In other news, we’ve just hit 20 beads purchased (and with a very nice spread between all the charities, too)! You guys are awesome!
Once upon a time, there was a little capybara who lived in a big forest. But she was no ordinary capybara — she had 42,800,729 legs! Because of that, the other animals in the forest called her Legie The Many-Leged Capybara. Then, one day, a giant air was threatening the forest, and she managed to skydive it with her many strong legs…
Got my first bead today! (I think we can keep playing to get more, and make further charitable contributions, if I’m not mistaken? Either way the fundraising aspect of this game is pretty wonderful)
I am completely stuck on this one too! I looked up “leaves” as a verb in French (part) and thought I might be on the right track there, but no luck… I am assuming though that it’s a two-part clue with the “French leaves” part followed by the “idleness infraction” part, given the use of “after” in the clue. My brain is stuck on “idleness infraction” meaning “something that violates idleness”, i.e., work/productivity, but that may very well be the wrong interpretation and might be why I haven’t gotten it yet…
Oh, and I had also thought about “after French leaves” meaning “take the letters f, r, e, n, c, and h out of a word meaning ‘idleness infraction’”, but couldn’t think of anything for that either.
I have a couple different possible approaches to hints here.
The two different pieces of the cryptic clue
Idleness | infraction after French leaves
@alyshkalia you’re very close!
2. Think of other ways to signify “French”. You don’t have to translate anything into French–translation is a bit of a red herring here.
A quick list of the cryptics I did solve, for people who want some nudges:
Page 1:
All the small demons.
Page 2:
Spooner’s gift shears…
Repel man…
Page 3:
First Woman…
Spherical fruit…
Page 4:
Tiny insect…
Page 5:
Turning around…
Chinese board…
Leaving me with:
Ruminant initially goes outside after tea.
(Only 4 letters, so I’m thinking of T-Cow, a rare species of early mammalian herbivore, the earliest known fossil of which was found in England, that rivaled the T-Rex in its voracious appetite. Its food didn’t run away though, so it had less impressive hind leg muscles.)
Idleness infraction after French leaves.
(Which we’re talking about now, a little higher in the thread.)
Mental confusion leads to loud sorrow.
(I’m thinking along the lines of “haze” and “wailing”, but I haven’t really given this one much attention yet.)
Shamrocks found in country of anger!
(If I understand correctly, the exclamation mark signifies a pun or some far-fetched wordplay?)
Harmful pattern of a violent bike?
(Gotta love the image this one produces.)
“Initially” usually means you’re taking the first letter of something, or several somethings.
The ! means basically that the entire clue constitutes the definition, including the wordplay elements (although in this case only one of the wordplay elements is really necessary to the definition).
Edit: I’ve solved all the clues, so I’m happy to try to give hints on anything people want help with, although I’m not very practiced at giving hints on cryptics so I worry about giving the whole thing away.
Some of your guesses are really cracking me up (the T-Cow is now my favourite prehistoric animal), and others are making me go “Oooh, clever! Now that would have been an interesting clue!”
I have to admit I’m not sure if I used punctuation 100% correctly; I feel like I’ve seen it employed in slightly different ways by different cryptic crossword authors, and in the absence of a universal guide, I kind of just followed my instincts — I’m really sorry if it ends up causing any confusion. I think on the whole both Rovarsson and Emery are correct about what these marks tend to imply in my own clues!
Yeah, it definitely varies, and it doesn’t help that the use of ? and ! has leaked out into non-cryptic crosswords where they both seem to sort of interchangeably mean “this is a pun.”
My base assumption about ! is more or less “one or more wordplay elements are doing double duty here” and that served me fine for this game.
Yeah, wow, it’s tricky trying to think of how to hint these without just giving them away.
Maybe… of the ones @rovarsson and @alyshkalia have left, there are two where you want to look at synonyms of clue words. And another one other than “ruminant initially goes outside after tea” that has a word that marks the wordplay-type.
Re: “repel man”, am I on the right track in my thinking that “cleaning product” is a punny word or phrase that I’ll then have to remove the letters M-A-N from?
@alyshkalia I really like the way you’re thinking these through and I’m really loving seeing everyone posting their thought process as they’re trying to solve these! I wish this thread was around when I was trying to solve these while playtesting.
In this case, though, I would suggest trying a different train () of thought…
It’s also working (though I hadn’t tested it before when I think it wasn’t working) in iOS 15.7.8 on my iPod touch running Safari.
) of thought…