Conciseness

Every line is directive ("Open with the point in one or two sentences... Write no preamble and no apology", "If the target is still unclear, ask one short question instead of guessing"); there is zero explanation of concepts Claude already knows and no padding. Matches the 'lean and efficient; every token earns its place' anchor.

Actionability

Guidance is concrete and executable for an instruction-only skill: a decision table for targets, a defined fallback (ask one short question), an ordered structure (point first, then implications), and a checkable Done criterion. Not 5 because no worked example of a good explanation is provided, which is a minor gap against 'specific examples cover the common cases'; not 3 because nothing is vague or pseudocode-like.

Workflow Clarity

A simple single-purpose skill where the action is unambiguous: the 'What to explain' section sequences target identification with an explicit fallback, and the **Done:** line acts as an end-state checkpoint. The simple-skill exception applies (no destructive or batch operation, so no validation cap), so the unambiguous single action scores 5.

Progressive Disclosure

The skill is under 50 lines with no external references needed, and the body is organized into clear sections (What to explain, How to explain) with a bolded Done criterion. Per the under-50-lines exception, well-organized sections alone merit 5; there are no buried or nested references.

Specificity

Enumerates concrete targets ("the last message, or a supplied file, link, or passage") and a precise, measurable outcome ("plain language a person follows on the first read"), matching the 'several specific actions; minor gaps' anchor. Not 5 because it describes one core action applied to enumerated variants rather than multiple distinct concrete capabilities; not 3 because the targets and outcome standard are specific and largely comprehensive for this domain.

Completeness

Explicitly answers what ("Explain the last message, or a supplied file, link, or passage, in plain language a person follows on the first read") and when ("Use when the user invokes wtf because they did not follow something") with a concrete trigger phrase, matching the top anchor exactly.

Trigger Term Quality

The natural trigger phrase "Use when the user invokes wtf because they did not follow something" plus "plain language" gives good keyword coverage a user would actually say. Not 5 because common synonyms (e.g., "confused", "what does this mean", "lost me") are absent; not 3 because the core natural phrasing around not-following something is explicit and well-targeted.

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

Clear niche (plain-language explanation on user confusion) with minimal conflict risk: it explicitly partitions adjacent skills ("Use ce-explain to investigate how or why code works, and ce-noslop to rewrite prose"), and the skill is user-invocation-only per frontmatter, so it cannot fire on the wrong skill.