Aaron Riccio
@illogicaljoker.bsky.social
video game reviews @ slantmagazine.com
cryptic crossword solves @ twitch.com/thatcrypticguy
puzzling musings @ crosswordscholar.wordpress.com
cryptic crossword solves @ twitch.com/thatcrypticguy
puzzling musings @ crosswordscholar.wordpress.com
Do companies just not care about errors any more?
November 1, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Do companies just not care about errors any more?
Happy Unch is Here Day!
New cryptic magazine editor has skill that's off the map! (9)
New cryptic magazine editor has skill that's off the map! (9)
October 21, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Happy Unch is Here Day!
New cryptic magazine editor has skill that's off the map! (9)
New cryptic magazine editor has skill that's off the map! (9)
I've got this week's Browser cryptic crossword! I hope you'll check it out; more importantly, I hope you like it. It's the culmination of everything I talk about in my twice-weekly cryptic evening streams!
After everything else, oil up masculine frat guy in the middle of Instagram scandal (9)
After everything else, oil up masculine frat guy in the middle of Instagram scandal (9)
October 12, 2025 at 12:04 PM
I've got this week's Browser cryptic crossword! I hope you'll check it out; more importantly, I hope you like it. It's the culmination of everything I talk about in my twice-weekly cryptic evening streams!
After everything else, oil up masculine frat guy in the middle of Instagram scandal (9)
After everything else, oil up masculine frat guy in the middle of Instagram scandal (9)
For what it's worth, NieN's "Only for you" is a gentle 122 BPM introduction into the hell that is coming for you as DJ Max Respect/V starts getting serious about its difficult note charts, and I'm just on 4 button tunes!
September 23, 2025 at 4:50 AM
For what it's worth, NieN's "Only for you" is a gentle 122 BPM introduction into the hell that is coming for you as DJ Max Respect/V starts getting serious about its difficult note charts, and I'm just on 4 button tunes!
Like, I think this is decent for being five hours in?
And also, I cannot imagine playing this on a controller ever again.
And also, I cannot imagine playing this on a controller ever again.
September 20, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Like, I think this is decent for being five hours in?
And also, I cannot imagine playing this on a controller ever again.
And also, I cannot imagine playing this on a controller ever again.
"The law doesn't protect people; people protect the law.
Humans have always fought against evil and sought out a righteous way of living as a group. Those feelings, the accumulation of society's feelings, are the law. (1/3)
Humans have always fought against evil and sought out a righteous way of living as a group. Those feelings, the accumulation of society's feelings, are the law. (1/3)
August 26, 2025 at 11:04 PM
"The law doesn't protect people; people protect the law.
Humans have always fought against evil and sought out a righteous way of living as a group. Those feelings, the accumulation of society's feelings, are the law. (1/3)
Humans have always fought against evil and sought out a righteous way of living as a group. Those feelings, the accumulation of society's feelings, are the law. (1/3)
Wait, what do I do with myself now that I've become a Bongo champion? (8/22)
August 23, 2025 at 6:07 AM
Wait, what do I do with myself now that I've become a Bongo champion? (8/22)
I can live with mine as well!
August 15, 2025 at 8:51 AM
I can live with mine as well!
Like, I have never had a city skyline view before. Even though the necessary window guards and bug screens, this makes me very happy.
August 7, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Like, I have never had a city skyline view before. Even though the necessary window guards and bug screens, this makes me very happy.
Still in this shitty phase (old place emptying).
August 5, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Still in this shitty phase (old place emptying).
I love this city.
July 23, 2025 at 12:08 AM
I love this city.
Took a short break and then "showed" my kid how to play.
Felt pressure of a different kind to be the cool dad who is good at video games, even nerdy ones like these.
Felt pressure of a different kind to be the cool dad who is good at video games, even nerdy ones like these.
July 6, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Took a short break and then "showed" my kid how to play.
Felt pressure of a different kind to be the cool dad who is good at video games, even nerdy ones like these.
Felt pressure of a different kind to be the cool dad who is good at video games, even nerdy ones like these.
I'm not going to beat this before my kids wake up from nap time, especially since I now feel pressured to do so, but damn, it's fun. The typing isn't the hard part (for me); it's the increasingly erratic pattern tracking.
July 6, 2025 at 8:21 PM
I'm not going to beat this before my kids wake up from nap time, especially since I now feel pressured to do so, but damn, it's fun. The typing isn't the hard part (for me); it's the increasingly erratic pattern tracking.
I am all-in on Daniel Linssen's Typing Challenge:
managore.itch.io/daniel-linss...
A perfect combo of Asteroids-dodging, Super Hexagonal Zen-states, and classic letter/word edutainment games like Word Castle.
Type an adjacent letter to move there, dodging foes as you go:
Literal bullet hell.
managore.itch.io/daniel-linss...
A perfect combo of Asteroids-dodging, Super Hexagonal Zen-states, and classic letter/word edutainment games like Word Castle.
Type an adjacent letter to move there, dodging foes as you go:
Literal bullet hell.
July 6, 2025 at 7:45 PM
I am all-in on Daniel Linssen's Typing Challenge:
managore.itch.io/daniel-linss...
A perfect combo of Asteroids-dodging, Super Hexagonal Zen-states, and classic letter/word edutainment games like Word Castle.
Type an adjacent letter to move there, dodging foes as you go:
Literal bullet hell.
managore.itch.io/daniel-linss...
A perfect combo of Asteroids-dodging, Super Hexagonal Zen-states, and classic letter/word edutainment games like Word Castle.
Type an adjacent letter to move there, dodging foes as you go:
Literal bullet hell.
An impossible task to keep sorted, but here's my current top 7.
May 13, 2025 at 2:18 PM
An impossible task to keep sorted, but here's my current top 7.
He will never be as cool as either officer from Mathnet.
April 29, 2025 at 7:04 PM
He will never be as cool as either officer from Mathnet.
Obviously, that's not catchy language, and it doesn't encapsulate puzzles that give you the linear rules outright versus those that teach through nonlinear experience (The Witness, Outer Wilds).
It's the expanding brain meme.
It's the expanding brain meme.
April 11, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Obviously, that's not catchy language, and it doesn't encapsulate puzzles that give you the linear rules outright versus those that teach through nonlinear experience (The Witness, Outer Wilds).
It's the expanding brain meme.
It's the expanding brain meme.
Behold, the cannibal Oreo (or a Lynchian body horror cookie).
April 11, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Behold, the cannibal Oreo (or a Lynchian body horror cookie).
You gotta fix this, though:
March 26, 2025 at 10:12 PM
You gotta fix this, though:
IS THIS SEAT TAKEN? has a charming, puzzle-y demo that asks you to satisfyingly seat everyone (in cars, bars, theaters, etc.). It's fun practice for planning a wedding or dinner, with great art and cute vignettes as recurring characters weave through scenes.
store.steampowered.com/app/3035120/...
store.steampowered.com/app/3035120/...
March 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM
IS THIS SEAT TAKEN? has a charming, puzzle-y demo that asks you to satisfyingly seat everyone (in cars, bars, theaters, etc.). It's fun practice for planning a wedding or dinner, with great art and cute vignettes as recurring characters weave through scenes.
store.steampowered.com/app/3035120/...
store.steampowered.com/app/3035120/...
Spoilers in this video, obviously, but now that I've figured out how to create clips on Twitch (yes, I know, I'm slow), check out this pivotal aha moment while solving the latest @therackenfracker.bsky.social; this is the pure joy and excitement that comes of pushing through to solve a puzzle!
March 5, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Spoilers in this video, obviously, but now that I've figured out how to create clips on Twitch (yes, I know, I'm slow), check out this pivotal aha moment while solving the latest @therackenfracker.bsky.social; this is the pure joy and excitement that comes of pushing through to solve a puzzle!
My son is determined to clean this beach.
February 21, 2025 at 6:33 PM
My son is determined to clean this beach.
I mean just marvel at the news these days!
February 1, 2025 at 11:01 PM
I mean just marvel at the news these days!
Genuinely curious about this take, which rightly acknowledges that ETERNAL STRANDS is designed to make NOT using magic more onerous, and then criticizes it for NOT having more melee, "on principle."
January 27, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Genuinely curious about this take, which rightly acknowledges that ETERNAL STRANDS is designed to make NOT using magic more onerous, and then criticizes it for NOT having more melee, "on principle."