man drinking tea while walking

National Tea Day

Thursday 21 April is National Tea Day. By a happy non-coincidence, that’s the date of the Queen’s real birthday (Many Happy Returns, Your Majesty!) as opposed to her official birthday in June, when the weather is more suitable for celebratory parades. Apart from Her Majesty, there is nothing more stereotypically… Read More

Spanish word of the week: pepino

This week’s Spanish word of the week is pepino. Pepino is a noun that means cucumber and you can find how to pronounce it here: Pepino is the Spanish word for cucumber. For example, if you’re shopping at the market, you could say: Dos pepinos, por favor. Two cucumbers,… Read More
illustration children playing board game

What the Wordle?

Everybody’s favourite social media phenomenon Wordle is still going strong! According to the New York Times, over 300,000 people play every single day… and counting. One of the best things about Wordle is the sheer breadth of its vocabulary. Creator Josh Wardle says that there are approximately 2,500 words… Read More
children playing board game

Adventures in Wordle Land: Wordle #285

I started Wordle #285 with a streak of forty-nine consecutive wins, hoping to notch up a half-century. It proved to be a close-run encounter. I started with my usual opening word, using the two most common vowels, A and E: TARES* For the third time in five days, none… Read More
children playing board game

Adventures in Wordle Land: Wordle #282

Some Wordle puzzles leave you scratching your head to find any word that might fit into a particular pattern of letters. Wordle #282 was just the opposite of this, and provided a situation where I had too many solutions – more than the number of guesses available to me. I… Read More
illustration children playing board game

What to do when you are stuck at Wordle

Wordle #281 was not my finest hour. However, it did raise the interesting question of how to get started again when you come to a grinding halt. I started with my usual opening word, using the two most common vowels, A and E: TARES* None of the letters were… Read More