iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 15h

Hey, Grok! Can you get me a pair of cargo pants, please? Here's my credit card and my mother's maiden name. > Sure thing, buddy! > Working on it now. > > The item you ordered was out of stock so we have substituted it with an alternative. > Please enjoy your brand new Tesla Firetruck.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I'm sure there are 9 letters in antichrist, and 10 in paedophile. I'm struggling here.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Tattoos are special. They are the only fashion crime that comes with a life sentence.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

There is also a noticeable lack of "Meta banned me for life for calling Zuckerberg a spineless Nazi collaborator."

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I take your point on parochialism in British crosswords (I'm currently writing a blog post on why we shouldn't expect the whole world to know about cricket). The Graun suffers more from it than most, but I certainly wouldn't see it as an entry point. Times and Trumpograph are friendlier options.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Actually, there's also a more widespread Caribbean version - no idea how it works - it's very high speed and looks more like a game of Mah Jong.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I'm a Brit and I live in the town where I was born - pretty much bang in the middle of England. Doms, I think (not my game, to be honest), depend on region. Round here, 5s and 3s; up north, some more jigsawy variant; down south - "What's a domino?"

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I was watching The Long Walk the other day (worth a watch), and thinking about how Death Race 2000 - a movie from 1975 - was so influential in 2026. Then I turned on the news. It's time to wake up!

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

That tortoise looks an awful lot like my mate Andy - but it can't be him because he only plays dominoes!

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Something earlier reminded me about an old unfinished script that involved cribbage - it could yet happen!

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I so rarely get a game these days, and, yes, if you haven't played for a while, it's hard to remember all the details. It's a complex beast of a game!

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Hawkwind were the first band I ever saw. They popped my space-bunny-glow cherry. I adore them. To this day, I'd stand for being a decade older if it meant that my first gig could have been on the Space Ritual tour, back when the mighty Lemmy was doing his thing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNQp...

youtube.com

H̲awkwi̲nd - S̲pace R̲itual (Full Album) 1973

YouTube video by Classic Rock

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I'm sorry that you feel like that. Pete speaks very highly of you. Only this morning, he said "You know that Flashling? He's my besht mate in the whole wide flat thingy, he ish, and watch more he'sh a zillionty times better than this vodka what I got from Epshtein. Schwouldn't get a fly pished!"

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

That really is rather brilliant. The beauty of it is that the solver can be entirely oblivious to the 4-word aspect and still enjoy a good and seemingly regular puzzle without even beginning to suspect that the setter opted to do the pogo on a bed of nails. A1 stuff!

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Four out of four for this one!

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I shall miss this today as I have to be elsewhere, but I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who enjoys crosswords and/or penguins.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Somewhere amongst my mountain of unfinished classics is a playlet I half-wrote a few years ago in which a TV crew were covering a friendly game of cribbage in the corner of a pub as if it were the World Cup final. Anyway, tomorrow I will mostly be watching ...

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

The Changeling is a good movie. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, on the other hand, never quite delivers whatever a film called Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things is supposed to deliver.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Phoney nostalgia is the entirety of what the right-whinge has to offer. And will somebody kindly tell the Trumpy little numbskulls that we are perfectly free to watch Alf Garnett make absolute monkeys of them on pre-watershed TV.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This line from the Indie speaks volumes: "We will additionally retain the daily concise crossword, and there will be a weekly general knowledge crossword." They do not seem to begin to understand their own market.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Talk of Etsy reminds me that they are one-stop handy place to but "happy little space bunny" T-shirts. These are the genuine article as worn by the actual, real-life Burrows and very, very few other people.

etsy.com

Happy Little Space Bunny T-shirt | O.g. Bunny Graphic Unisex Tee - Etsy

This Gender-Neutral Adult Tops & Tees item is sold by littlespacebunny. Ships from United Kingdom. Listed on Aug 22, 2026

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

That's a rather neat idea. I'd buy one if only they would allow me anywhere near sharp objects!

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It's an anagram - I think the indicator is out of sequence, though.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

That was some bionic solving, Pat, and a great pair of puzzles. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The on-site YouTube version is showing a video error, by the way.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It's crazy that people are using this picture to critique the Glorious Deputy Leader of the Free World™. There are 666 invisible communists scuffing up the surface with wire brushes. They are right there in the picture. Have you never seen an invisible communist before? That's what they look like!

The reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial looking something like a dried-up oil-slick in varying shades of brown. It is not pretty.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I was looking for a copy of the Ximenes book, but it's very much out of print (something that surprised me a little). The good news is that I have managed to find a PDF version. xotaotc.nfshost.com

xotaotc.nfshost.com

Ximenes On The Art Of The Crossword

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The Independent crossword. "Fun and engaging", as The Indie, itself, describes it. "The only reason I buy a paper" as I describe it. What on Earth are they thinking at @the-independent.com?

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

How and why were "think tanks" ever allowed to become a thing? What school did you have to go to to be on one? Why are they too ashamed to wear their sponsors' logos? There are so many questions to be asked.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Ah, the good old days when there was something to look forward to after the pub ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID3q...

youtube.com

Serious Drinking - "Countdown to Bilko"

YouTube video by Utter Wendy

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Not all of us Brits are stupid (sorry, Nigel!) We now have an 11-year-old WGM - how cool is that? Why FIDE think it's okay to set different levels for men and women (2500 vs 2300) in 2026 is entirely beyond me, but it's one hell of an achievement. Go, Bodhana! www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

Bodhana Sivanandan: British schoolgirl becomes youngest woman grandmaster

The 11-year-old has broken another chess record after a remarkable performance representing England.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Let us hope and pray that somebody at the Indie is listening. @the-independent.com

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

You would say that! I have done it.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I watched @liari.bsky.social solve this one on Friday and it was interesting to see another solver tackle the same grid. I regret not having done it prior to either solving, and I strongly recommend it - it's a very nice grid from @skirwingle.bsky.social www.mycrossword.co.uk/cryptic/3952

mycrossword.co.uk

Cryptic crossword No 3,952 · MyCrossword

Solve Cryptic crossword No 3,952 on MyCrossword. 15x15 grid with 32 clues by Skirwingle. Published Thu 24 Sep 2026. Features annotated solutions. Free to solve online.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

We only call his Jay-Zed when we feel the need to be pointedly British!

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Looking at your list of alumni, I am extremely tempted.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I'm thinking that au contraire should maybe be a reversal indicator, rather than an anagrind, but at least you've made me hungry. Are accents interchangeable in French anagrams? Do the French even have crosswords? Confused? You will be after this week's edition of Cryptofranglais!

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Worth it for the subtitles alone!

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

As a fellow Rookie Corner dweller, I wish you luck!

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The next public schoolboy to describe the UK as third world country should be sent on a no-expenses paid holiday to Burundi.

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I thought that Wittgenstein had quietly retired after that Doctor Who episode where everyone runs round screaming "Oh my God, the Tractatus!" He could have taken it far better than he did, by all accounts.

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Reposted by Burrows

Twm @twm-barlwm.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I set today’s Sunday Telegraph Prize Toughie www.telegraph.co.uk/puzzles/inde... Private Victor Watts has deserted (5) Weed this writer's spotted in middle of cowpat (4) Old people online civil in retirement? Not entirely (5)

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

It's a rare day when Burrows discovers a new drink!

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Speaking as one of those people who spends half their time muttering "Argh! My ****ing knees," I very much hope that this is an entirely temporary situation. Best wishes to Matt!

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Burrows @happyspacebunny.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The alt-right are a poor take on the Taliban. Western regressives aim for the 13th Century while the O.G.s are firmly fixed on the 7th.

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