iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 29/08/2026

It's also lovely (and a bit scary!) when Serious Crossword People enjoy your silly little website enough to want to put it in print. Thank you to everyone who is enjoying, has contributed to, or has advocated for, Cryptick. I've not run out of steam yet, watch this space for more daily clues!

An excerpt from Unch magazine mentioning Cryptick

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Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 10/06/2026

Some of you got my little wink wink nudge nudge in yesterday's clue, but for those that didn't ...

A picture of an ice-cream with a bit of chocolate sticking out, commonly called a "Flake 99" or "99 with a flake"

010

Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 02/06/2026

Chambers seems okay with it, but if it's unfair or misleading then that takes priority ofc!

List of words abbreviated by "a" from Chambers, including "Advance"

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Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 13/05/2026

Very true, this was me writing the clue last night 😅

A stereotypical hippie with fingers in a "peace" sign

110

Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 23/04/2026

Hi #crossword folks, it's time for a cheeky midweek Cryptick update, and it's quite a cool one if I do say so myself. ✅ Cryptick now supports definition, indicator, and fodder hint buttons. 🎉 Try it out yourself on this clue: cryptick.wildvale.co.uk/clue.html#W1... But how does it work? (1/n)

Cryptick clue with the definition highlighted in green.

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Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 06/04/2026

Something new (and much requested) has finally arrived on Cryptick 👀 cryptick.wildvale.co.uk/clue.html#Rm...

The Cryptick Clue create page now has an optional author field.

050

Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 05/04/2026

As an example, historic clue of the day entries are now a scrollable list rather than a dry table with some data, complete with date and author too. Hints on solve pages also appears as a pop-up now. Going forward, all clues and "things that pop up" will be designed in this manner. 🎉 (2/4)

A list of historic Clue of the Day entries on Cryptick

Cryptick clue with a card-like pop-up showing a hint rather than text on the background.

130

Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 21/03/2026

Hi #crossword folks, normal service has resumed with another weekend Cryptick update! ✅ Lots of quality of life changes this week, starting with the big one; change of layout between mobile and desktop. ✨ Cryptick will hopefully feel more natural on mobile and make pages easier to find. (1/5)

The header for Cryptick on desktop, showing navigation links to "Create a clue", "Recent clues", "Statistics", and "About"

A screenshot of Cryptick on mobile, where the navigation has moved to the bottom of the screen with icons for "Home", "Recent", "Create", "Stats" and "About".

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Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 07/03/2026

Finally, to tie a bow on everything, Cryptick's Clue of the Day is exposed as an RSS feed that you can plug into the RSS reader of your choice. I am a very strong believer in open standards like RSS and making products open and available :) You can grab it at cryptick.wildvale.co.uk/feed.xml

A screenshot of some XML which makes up the Cryptick Clue of the Day RSS feed.

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Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 07/03/2026

In keeping with the open-source ethos of Cryptick, the list of clues is open and open to change requests from the public! If you want to add a clue, you can raise a change request to the `cotd.json` file in the Cryptick repo with the URL fragment and your author details (name and link). (2/3)

A screen shot of some JSON containing clue of the day information for the 3rd and 4th of March

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Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 07/03/2026

Hey #crossword folks! It's another Cryptick update from yours truly, and the big headline this week: Clue of the Day! ✅🌄 This rolls over every day, with a fresh clue to solve, mostly from me but submissions are open! I've also tweaked the HTML metadata to make preview links much nicer!. (1/3)

Cryptick's clue of the day, by Wildvale, "Turn up after detectives leave (9)"

A screenshot of a Discord link preview with the clue of the day in the metadata

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Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 15/02/2026

How it feels reading the news then trying to write my silly little cryptic crossword clues.

"Stroking the sword while lamenting the social realities", engraved by Shen Qianqiu. Ming Dynasty.

031

Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 14/02/2026

✅ Better sharing: The eagle-eyed among you might have noticed a 'Share' button next to 'Copy' and 'Open'. This uses device native sharing functionality so you can copy clues to e.g. BlueSky, Reddit, email, or whatever! The power is in the users' hands Hope you're all still enjoying Cryptick!

A 'sharing text' modal on mobile showing a copy button, send to devices, or create a QR code.

040

Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 14/02/2026

Hey #crossword folks! Here's a cheeky weekend Cryptick update ✅ Longer answers: I capped the answers at 15 letters, but have bumped it up to 20 (and removed auto suggest because it was annoying me) (1/2)

An answer box on cryptic containing the word Spaghettificationing

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Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 08/02/2026

✅ Install as app: on compatible browsers such as Chrome or Edge, you can install Cryptick as a local app. This downloads the static content to your device and makes it much faster to open Cryptick links. Thanks to everyone who has supported Cryptick and enjoyed it so far; more to come!

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Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 08/02/2026

Hey #crossword folks! I've continued chipping away at Cryptick and have added two major new things: ✅ Explanations: shown when the word is solved or revealed, so the author can share their thinking with the solver. Thank you @henriwords.com for this feature request, a very good shout! (1/2)

Cryptick clue "Nervous friend recoils quietly during story (9)".

Hint is "Definition is nervous"

Explanation is "Pal, reversed, plus P, all inside Fable"

161

Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 01/02/2026

This is who runs this account

Shaggy from Scooby-Doo is visibly flinching as a hand reaches in from the left, off-screen, and touches his shoulder.

010

Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 01/02/2026

There is now a lovely simple share button once you've completed a clue!

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Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 27/12/2025

"May he who illuminated this, illuminate me" ... "What did you find dad?" "Me? Illumination"

A meme of Martin Scorsese in black and white, overlaid with the text "Absolute Cinema"

000

Wildvale Cryptic @wildvale.co.uk · 17/10/2025

Can't wait to crack into these this weekend; thanks @unchcrosswords.com!

Copy of Unch Crossword Magazine, issue 1

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