{"id":12911,"date":"2026-05-06T16:12:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T04:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/?p=12911"},"modified":"2026-05-06T16:12:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T04:12:31","slug":"brain-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/06\/brain-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Brain power"},"content":{"rendered":"

Read yet another article about how to age well last month.<\/p>\n

A lot of it is the same old stuff: eat healthily and not too much; get enough sleep; don\u2019t smoke; don\u2019t drink; have a positive attitude to aging (Dammit! Currently anaesthetising another facelift.) In addition to advice about keeping your brain engaged, there was a suggestion of a website that will teach you how to do cryptic crossword puzzles, and will give you one cryptic clue per day, with as many hints as you need to get the answer.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/Minutecryptic.com<\/a><\/p>\n

I signed up then and there and it\u2019s been fantastic. (Learning how to do cryptics was my New Year\u2019s resolution a few years ago, which never went anywhere. The main thing I learnt was never to have New Year\u2019s resolutions. ) I currently have a 45 clue streak, possible because I\u2019ve been going through the back catalogue. Having learned the tricks, I\u2019ve improved hugely, which is quite gratifying. It\u2019s strangely hit and miss, though. I solved today\u2019s clue without needing any hints.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Although, full disclosure, I did google synonyms for descent.)<\/p>\n

However, the clue yesterday had me stumped.<\/p>\n

\"\"My first thought was something to do with boats, but then the phrase \u201csupplied by vessels\u201d made me think of the cardiovascular system and blood supply. Vessels could also refer to something you drink out of, though, couldn\u2019t it? I was making no progress, so in the end needed hints.<\/p>\n

\"\"Hints come in different categories: \u2018definition\u2019, which is self explanatory and my favourite hint; \u2018fodder\u2019, which are the words that are chopped up to form part of your answer; and \u2018indicators\u2019, that tell you how to manipulate the fodder. This is a great way of explaining how cryptic crossword clues work, I think. The last sort of hint is when you\u2019re completely at sea and scraping the bottom of the barrel, if I may mix my metaphors. It\u2019s just giving you letters from the answer.
\nThe excited looking man in the video presumably explains the stuff that\u2019s written there in more detail, but to be honest I\u2019ve never watched one. Well, after five – count them! – five hints, I finally worked it out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"I feel a little embarrassed since it\u2019s a bit of medical jargon that you might have assumed I\u2019d be more familiar with than most people. But there you go, clearly cryptic crossword people are cleverer than your average Joe! (With apologies to my son in law, obviously not your average Joe!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read yet another article about how to age well last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-3mf","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11542,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/15\/sushi-is-brain-food\/","url_meta":{"origin":12911,"position":0},"title":"Sushi is brain food","author":"Interloper11","date":"March 15, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Look how far I\u2019ve come after just three weeks of learning Japanese. I have to match the Kanji for some words, on the left, with the Katakana versions on the right. Pretty astounding progress IMHO. And I got the answers 100 % correct. The caveat is, of course, that I\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_0573.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_0573.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_0573.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_0573.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_0573.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_0573.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10225,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/14\/lest-we-forget-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":12911,"position":1},"title":"Lest we forget","author":"Interloper11","date":"June 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"We arrived just in time for our French movie double feature yesterday, and as I sat down in the comfortable couch arrangement that all good theatres have these days, I reached around behind me to find the seatbelt. As I realised what I was doing, I froze in horror. I\u2019ve\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3194,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/02\/i-dont\/","url_meta":{"origin":12911,"position":2},"title":"I don\u2019t","author":"Interloper11","date":"September 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I love weddings, actually. I can\u2019t understand why I never get invited to any? I mean, I think they\u2019re a bizarre anachronism, but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the reason. One of the last weddings I went to was my brothers, when I was heavily pregnant with the twins - so\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13165,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/11\/bon-voyage-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":12911,"position":3},"title":"Bon voyage","author":"Interloper11","date":"August 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Did I mention I was going back to France in a few weeks? Currently it\u2019s on fire and under a heat dome but Simon assures me it will have all settled down by the time we get there. We\u2019re doing a week long road trip North of Paris, then flying\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_6691-768x1024.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_6691-768x1024.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_6691-768x1024.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11241,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/23\/are-you-feeling-lucky\/","url_meta":{"origin":12911,"position":4},"title":"Are you feeling lucky?","author":"Interloper11","date":"December 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s Christmas Eve and I\u2019m at work, but I\u2019m not feeling sorry for myself. Pity the poor soul I\u2019m helping look after who has been given a brain tumour for Christmas. It seems like we get a terrible run of bad diagnoses every year around this time, I have to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_1165-225x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12902,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/29\/subconscious-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":12911,"position":5},"title":"Subconscious","author":"Interloper11","date":"April 29, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"My general surgery list came as a bit of a surprise to me yesterday. That particular surgeon specialises in thyroid surgeries, but instead our list was filled with more run of the mill things like gallbladders and hernias, typically described as a list of rats and mice. Mind you, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_1303-1024x185.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_1303-1024x185.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_1303-1024x185.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}