My Dear Times: I am irked and irate
Cuz Connections and Wordle are great!
And they’ve caused my affliction,
A puzzling addiction.
Kindly STOP using word games as bait!
Archive for the ‘Games Humor’ Category
My Puzzling Complaint (Limerick)
Monday, April 1st, 2024I’m Always Game To Play Word Games (Limerick)
Tuesday, December 19th, 2023Sundry word games are making me daft.
I pretend they’re improving my craft.
But I’ll play till I drop,
Though I know I should stop.
Now I’m drowning. Don’t laugh! Where’s my raft?
(Games Day falls each year on December 20th.)
My Spelling Bee Plight
Friday, November 24th, 2023My dear husband will freely admit:
About spelling Mark doesn’t know shit.
Yet he speedily sees
The Bee’s pangrams with ease…
While I languish — a pangram-less twit.
Yet Another “Connections” Limerick
Monday, September 18th, 2023There are times I feel smart as a whip,
Even savvy, and “with it,” and hip.
But for THAT I must score
A “Connections” game “four.”
Doing worse means I’m losing my grip.
Connecting With “Connections.” (Limerick)
Wednesday, July 19th, 2023The New York Times has given me yet another addiction: Attempting to solve “Connections” every midnight:
I am hooked on a puzzling new game
Called Connections; the Times is to blame.
“Create four groups of four”
Is the goal. Simple chore?
No, I often flame out, to my shame.
Puzzling Limerick
Sunday, January 29th, 2023It’s “National Puzzle Day,” which gives me a good excuse to post this limerick:
I never play Wordle in “hard mode.”
It feels like a feathered and tarred mode.
I would rather control
All my moves, on the whole.
It’s too bad they don’t offer a “bard mode.”
More Life With Mark And Madeleine
Tuesday, January 10th, 2023Limerick-Off Monday – Rhyme Word: SALE or SAIL at the end of any one line (Submission Deadline: December 10, 2022)
Sunday, November 13th, 2022It’s Limerick-Off time, once again. And that means I write a limerick, and you write your own, using the same rhyme word. Then you post your limerick(s) as a comment to this post and, if you’re a Facebook user, on Facebook too.
I hope you’ll join me in writing limericks using SALE or SAIL at the end of ANY ONE LINE. (A homonym or homophone not listed here may be used in lieu of the designated rhyme word.)
The best submission will be crowned Limerick-Off Award Winner. Here’s the last contest’s winners list.
Additionally, you may write themed limericks related to GOSSIP, using any rhyme word. And of course I’ll present an extra award — one for the best GOSSIP-related limerick.
And for a THIRD SEPARATE CHALLENGE, I’ve used a “Random Word Generator” to generate five random words. Your challenge is to use AT LEAST TWO of the Random Words anywhere in your limericks.
Here are the FIVE RANDOM WORDS for this contest: CLASS, CATCH, FLASHY, STARE, GAIN.
(You’re free to singularize/pluralize the designated random nouns and to change the tense of the designated random verbs. You can even turn adjectives in adverbs and vice versa. And you are NOT required to use any of them as rhyme words, as long as at least two of the words appear somewhere in your limericks.)
How will your poems be judged? By meter, rhyme, cleverness, and humor. (If you’re feeling a bit fuzzy about limerick writing rules, here’s my How To Write A Limerick article.)
I’ll announce the winners on December 11, 2022, right before I post the next Limerick-Off. So that gives you FOUR full weeks to submit your clever, polished verse. Your submission deadline is Saturday, December 10, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time.)
Here’s my SALE or SAIL-Rhyme Limerick:
Playing Wordle, for me, is a sport,
Though it doesn’t use balls or a court,
And it fails to entail
Racing skills, or a sail.
(I am more of a “sitting down” sort.)
And here’s my GOSSIP-Themed Limerick:
A gal who was known for her chutzpah
Owned a pricey and popular foot spa.
But she gossiped about
Ev’ry foot-fetish lout,
So alas it’s become a kaput spa.
And here is my RANDOM WORD GENERATOR Limerick:
In class, I expelled a loud yawn.
(Its eight o’clock start felt like dawn.)
I stared at the clock
And got caught. Said Prof Locke,
“Bored? Then leave!” In a flash, I was gone.
Please feel free to enter my Limerick-Off by posting your limerick(s) in my comments. And if you’re on Facebook, I hope you’ll join my friends in that same activity on my Facebook Limerick-Off post.
To receive an email alert whenever I post a new Limerick-Off, please email Madkane@MadKane.com Subject: MadKane’s Newsletter. Thanks!
More “NYT Spelling Bee” Blues (Limerick)
Monday, October 24th, 2022Dear Bee, though I hate to complain,
Your word list is clearly insane.
How dare you exclude
“Trayf” and “ranty!” That’s rude!
And no “tarty?” You’re taunting my brain!
“NYT Spelling Bee” Blues (Limerick)
Wednesday, October 19th, 2022I’ve been bilked once again by the Bee.
It rejects kosher entries with glee.
My claim’s not debatable:
Spurning “deflatable”
Violates fairness! (Says Me!)
Please Don’t Suggest Chess! (Limerick)
Thursday, September 1st, 2022I count “chess” among the many things I’m bad at. But to those who enjoy it, happy “American Chess Day!”
I hate losing, so playing a game
That I’m poor at feels foolish and lame,
Which is why I avoid
Playing chess. I’m annoyed
When I look like a dim-witted dame.
WordleBot Woes (3-Verse Limerick)
Thursday, July 21st, 2022The WordleBot’s frequently callous
And when rating my play displays malice.
It shows frequent ill will;
Credits luck, rarely skill.
So it MUST have a miniscule phallus.
A Wordle solution in three
Brings me joy, so I’ll murmur: “Yay, me!”
Then I check with the Bot,
Who reviews what I got
And dispels any feelings of glee.
When I (rarely) solve Wordle in two,
All I get is a snide “Whoop Dee Doo!”
What’s it take for a pat
On the back from that rat?
This goes on too much longer? I’ll sue!
Chastened Chess Player (Limerick)
Wednesday, July 20th, 2022When I learn a new word, I sometimes feel compelled to use it in a limerick:
At chess, he is far from adept;
He’s slow-moving, sloppy, inept.
Many call him a patzer;
An apt term at that, sir.
When he gave up the game, no one wept.
(Today, July 20th, is International Chess Day.)
Wordle Downers (Limerick)
Wednesday, May 4th, 2022Frustration’s a puzzling norm
When in word games like Wordle you’re warm:
You need one letter more
And you’re pissed to the core;
You’ve guessed “story” and “stork,” but it’s “storm.”
My Latest Addiction (Limerick)
Tuesday, February 22nd, 2022Please help! I’m addicted to word games.
One might argue that some are absurd games.
I also play cards,
But (like linguists and bards)
Prefer verbal brain-teasers — my nerd games.
Yet Another Wordle Limerick
Monday, January 31st, 2022Though he’s brilliant, my husband can’t spell.
And his less/fewer usage? Pell-mell!
But despite his word-hurdle,
He beats me at Wordle…
And kvells as I yell, “What fresh hell!”
Limerick For A Puzzling Day
Saturday, January 29th, 2022It’s “Puzzle Day.” Which one’s your fav?
I’ll try the Times Crossword, when brave.
I’m better at Mini;
Don’t feel like a ninny.
But it’s Wordle I savor and crave!
National Puzzle Day is celebrated each year on January 29.
A Colo(u)rful Complaint (Limerick)
Wednesday, January 12th, 2022After encountering a colo(u)rful complaint about my new favorite word game “Wordle,” I felt compelled to write this limerick:
Some harbo(u)r a gripe against “Wordle,”
Cuz their labo(u)rs encounter a hurdle:
Just one “u” used in rumo(u)r?
This causes ill humo(u)r…
And apparently makes their blood curdle.
A Limerick Ode To Dice
Saturday, December 4th, 2021“Our son has a terrible vice;
He’s a gambler and not very nice.
When we tell him to stop,
He says, ‘Mother and Pop,
All my cards on the table: No dice!'”
(December 4 is “National Dice Day.”)
