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Smylers
@smylers.uk
Ilkley Christian geek board-gamer puzzle/quiz/crossword fan and parent
Looks like the BBC's schedule is claiming that the King's speech at 3PM on Christmas Day this year will be a repeat?
www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p0...
December 3, 2025 at 2:08 PM
EBay: How likely are you to recommend this thing?
me: 8 out of 10.
EBay: We're sorry you had a less than optimal experience.

I gave it 8 out of 10! That's a good score!!
December 3, 2025 at 1:24 PM
I can't help but think this email subject from DHL eCommerce UK has too many words in it.

And I bet that when the driver is asked about their job, they don't say “I work for DHL eCommerce UK”.
December 3, 2025 at 10:01 AM
And I tried to open door 1 in my advent calendar, but got this instead: bigdave44.com/2025/12/01/d...
December 1, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Also, today's unrelated book review is ‘How to Solve Your Own Murder’ (a novel, not a guidebook!) by @kristenperrin.bsky.social, which I very much recommend:
bigdave44.com/2025/12/01/d...
December 1, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Today's Telegraph #CrypticCrossword has some great clues, including:
Silicon Valley disposing of a creep (5)
Field force to meet large alien flier (7)

The hints and explanations include these pictures and 2 hidden songs: bigdave44.com/2025/12/01/d...

Just ask if you want a gift link to the puzzle.
December 1, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Re-added some tickets, clicked through the same bits again to pay, first 3 pages seem to be going well, and then … the Cloudflare error has been replaced by a direct web server error:
November 28, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Ah, thank you — I had been wondering why I'd never noticed the mansion on top of Boots Opticians, but that explains it!
November 28, 2025 at 9:58 AM
This page for a Fairphone 5 says in different places it comes with Android 15 and Android 13: broadband.yourcoop.coop/mobile/phone...

So I asked which it is, and the chatbot told me it's … Android 14!

Is it just taking the average‽
November 27, 2025 at 9:45 AM
From a forum asking about giving up on watching TV shows — what does Peter think “second chances” means?
November 26, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Disappointed that ‘The Guardian’'s interactive budget calculator only has options for cutting overseas aid or leaving it as it currently is, not for reversing previous cuts:
www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...
November 25, 2025 at 10:15 AM
I can accept we might have to spend $200–$400 on a device for the child. I do not accept that wouldn't count as spending much or make it something we'd be OK with loosing:
uk.pcmag.com/mobile-phone...

Also, prices in dollars in a UK publication?
November 24, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Ah, KaiOS devices can't run WhatsApp any more anyway: faq.whatsapp.com/420008397294...

Glad we didn't buy a child a KaiOS phone just before that happened. (But WhatsApp being able to do things like this is precisely why I wish people and orgs wouldn't use it!)
November 24, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Apparently @yougov.co.uk's survey designers don't believe in the existence of people who've never bought a car:
November 24, 2025 at 9:35 AM
‘The Nutcracker and the Music Box’ is on in #Ilkley Thu–Sat.
stagestubs.com/wta-dance-ac...

Here's my contribution to the cake stall:
November 19, 2025 at 11:47 PM
My unrelated book review is of Trevor Noah's memoir ‘Born a Crime’ — which he was, having a black mother and white father in apartheid South Africa, and being unable to be seen in public with either parent: bigdave44.com/2025/11/17/d...

Highly recommended.
November 17, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Hints and explanations for today's Telegraph #CrypticCrossword feature a board game, a model village, a mountain goat, and Asterix's friend: bigdave44.com/2025/11/17/d... — with music from Bellowhead and Pavement, and more sausages than I was expecting in the comments.
November 17, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Having enjoyed the show, this ‘Matilda’ Q&A sounds really interesting. It's also free for Friends of Bradford Theatres, which I am …

.. but it's at a time I can't go! To get there I'd have to set off 10 min before the children's school bus gets them home. *Sooo* close!
November 10, 2025 at 12:26 PM
A surprising addition to this morning's commute: being assaulted by a train door.
November 4, 2025 at 8:24 AM
This evening Spouse and I are going to see ‘The Unfriend’ at #Ilkley Playhouse. I don't know much about it other than it's by Steven Moffat, who also wrote ‘Press Gang’ on TV (among other things).

ilkleyplayhouse.co.uk/IlkleyPlayho...
November 3, 2025 at 6:21 PM
We all saw ‘Matilda the Musical’ at Bradford Alhambra yesterday. It was as wonderful as I'd been hoping! One of the most impressive things I've ever seen on stage.

Lovely meal in the theatre's 1914 restaurant before the show as well.
November 3, 2025 at 6:18 PM
#Ilkley parents: free half-term board games event this afternoon: www.yourilkley.com/events/event...
October 29, 2025 at 8:19 AM
That's a lot of faulty trains all on the same day. #Ilkley
October 24, 2025 at 6:06 AM
I really can't decide if this is brilliant or terrible.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
October 23, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Took a phone call from school. Came back to my computer to find I was 1 letter off completing this, and that's now massively inflated my solve time!
October 21, 2025 at 11:43 AM