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stevebwriter.bsky.social

@stevebwriter.bsky.social
29 followers 11 following 929 posts
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
The primary dictionary meaning of “kite” is neither - it’s the bird.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
In my case, the key word is “kites”. Their question is about cultural traditions involving flying toys. My previous posts, I realise after a moment’s thought, were probably more abstract, about quadrilaterals with equal adjacent sides.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
“As someone who has answered questions about ____ before, can you answer this question?” I wonder what #Quora's hit-rate is for sparking genuinely useful answers with this approach.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Today’s #nineletterword at mhb.nz is “explosive“. Amazingly, “plosive” is not accepted as a real word. #Google it and you could find yourself, as I did, in Emily Dickinson’s poetry.
mhb.nz
Home | Code is Mandatory
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
How many points would you five (sic) our Olympic competitors as they soard (sic) into the air on their snowbaords (sic)? Maybe it’s the excitement, but the frequency of misprints in RadioNZ coverage seems above average even for sports reporters.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
No, it’s taken off in a different direction. Today’s (Feb 4 2026) is one of those words whose chief us is for word-puzzles; few people use it in ordinary speech.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
I look forward impatiently to tomorrow’s answer, to see if the repeat of 2021 continues.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
In apparent celebration, today’s Wordle is a repeat of the First Wordle Ever, from 2021. Anyone remember it?
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
A significant day for Wordle. Today the daily word puzzle abandoned its principle of making all its answers unique. From now on, repetition of an already used answer will be allowed.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
It‘S abit pretentious, but I still indicate the day of the week by its planet symbol - so I find myself crossing 2s and lower-case hs In ordinary writing
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
From my other #nineletterwords site:PILCHARDS. I used to love eating them as a child, usually at my Cockney paternal grandmother's home. I was trying words featuring CRISP.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
Today's #nineletterword: MISSIOFUN. She sounds like the life of the party; but the anagram is FUSIONISM - a political philosophy combining elements of “left” and “right“.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
#autocorrect of the day (so far) “eunuch“ when I was trying to type “runup” (to ChristmaS).
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Facebook is sending me "friend" requests from people I meet often IRL but whose surnames I realise I've not known until now. I suppose I didn't consider it important and never thought to ask. .
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Surprised to get into this account remotely and be able to post. Is it working properly?
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
…or a lingua Franca.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Also COSTLIER and CREOLIST. Linguistics has its specialists, and a creole is different from a pidgin or a dialect.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Pair. I keep missing out letters on this annoying on-screen keyboard.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Official answer: ELICITORS. Eight-letter approximations: CLOISTER and CLITORIS -an interesting pai.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
I don’t see why SOLICITER, in the general sense of someone who solicits something, shouldn't be a valid word. Recent #nineletterword puzzle doesn’t have enough Os to do it professionally.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
What long or obscure word do you remember having discovered in early childhood? The one I've been thinking of recently is PACHYDERM (thank you R. Kipling); but I've just re-encountered FERRULE. It was in a comic-strip detective story, where someone's umbrella tip left a print in soft ground.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
BRIGNONUS? anagram of SUBORNING.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
I'm also interested to see the eight-letter words generated by missing one of the letters. They often have nothing to do with the main word, or with one another. HAILSTONE, for example, gives rise to HOTLINES and TOENAILS.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Really messed that one up. Should be “salt-tolerant“, “glassmaking“ and “ashes are” (missed space). I hate on-screen keyboards.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Other current nine-letter words: BARRENEST (my first guess ARSEBERNT; also BANTERERS). AICONVENT (robotic nuns?) = NONACTIVE. CLAPITUNE? INCULPATE.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
#nineletterword of the day: GLASSWORT. As I thought, it's a plant. Genus Salicornia. Grows in marshes. Salt-toleran. Its ashesare considered a rich source of sodium carbonate, used in glassmakin.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
The appeal of a #ninletterwored is possibly that it's long enough to be interesting but short enough to be easily remembered. But does adding words like calamites and petiolule to my vocabulary achieve anything meaningful?
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
“How” prompts for “do”, “to” or ”many”. But”what” prompts for “is”, “are” or an emoji that looks lIke a grumpy cat's face. #whatisthat?
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Answer: ”who“ prompts for “is”, “are” or “wants“; “when” for “you”, “I” or “are”; ”where” for “is”, “are” or “do” (in that order of preference) “why” prompts for “is”, “do” or “are” (different order)…
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
We (should) all know about the “six Ws” - the questions who, what, where, when, why and how, that any piece of writing should answer - but (it occurs to me to ask) what words does autocomplete prompt for to follow each of those question-words?
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
The one that really defeated me was SAM/RIT/BDI. I saw SMART BID but that‘s only 8 letters. There‘s another I. Gave up and clicked “show answer”. The #nineletterword is TRIBADISM. If you don’t know, Google it.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Having studied Latin (and being a #wordnerd), I can guess what that word means but I'd honestly never seen it before.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
EUS/LII/DCF. #nineletterword: DULCIFIES (makes [a foodstuf] sweeter).
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
NEON HORSE presents a visually appealing image, but I'm not sure exactly what NONHEROES are. #nineletterword.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
“Why is that flying saucer painted green and adorned with recycling symbols?” ”It’s an ECO UFO, SIR.” And the #nineletterword is? FEROCIOUS.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
An endless supply of the Target letter arrayS is at nine.mhb.nz. Just refresh the display to get a new one.
nine.mhb.nz
Nine Letter Word Puzzle
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
There must be at least one #nineletterword on the list, say the instruction. A major part of the puzzle is to spot this long word.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
The central letter of the nine, distinguished by being printed in white on black, is to be included in every word.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
I've recently been directing my #wordnerd brain cells to #nineletterwords. They're popularly presented in the form of the Target puzzle, as a 3x3 array of lettered squares from which as many words as possible of four letters or more are to be extracted.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Today I learned (via a word puzzle): a dido (not to be confused with a dado, a dildo or a diode) is a prank or act of mischief. Possibly connected somehow with the legendary queen of Carthage - but possibly not.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Meta-meta-question: how far should we go in applying Latin-style grammatical categories to English?
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Nice @nytimes.com Connections puzzle (purple and blue sets) today. Meta-question: when is an -ing word (part of an English verb) a gerund and when is it a present participle?
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Thought arising from a family conversation: if “Sulfur” is now the IUPAC-approved spelling for the element, then why not “fosforus”?
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
“Deep in thy wounds, Lord hide and shelter me”. How can you not be affected by having to sing that repeatedly at the age of 7?
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
More religiously, Jesus & the 4 officially approved evangelists or Jesus's 5 crucifixion wounds.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Any set of five things, particularly where one is different from the other four, as. eg 4 old men & a donkey (Joyce) or 4 Teletubbies & a vacuum cleaner.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Article here https//blog.marcan... calls it the queen of symbols. But what does it symbolise?…
blog.marcantonioarchitects.com
The Quincunx: Queen of Symbols
A quincunx (pronounced kwin-kunks) is simply a cluster of five points arranged as on a die. One finds the pattern everywhere, from the common arrangement of trees in an orchard, to the exalted arra…
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Make, not mark.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Hope it’s not a #spoiler for anyone, but worth noting 4 of the 5 letters in today’s Wordle are also included among the 7 letters of today’s NYTimes #SpellingBee. Wonder how often that happens.
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stevebwriter.bsky.social @stevebwriter.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
One unrecognised word in that #SpellingBee is CLEW, a ball of twine, as you might use to find your way through a maze. Also one of the cords holding a hammock. I knew there had to be a name for those. Not accepted by NYT, though. Nor is CLODDED #itsinthedictionary.
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