Two things to set on every Simple API call: raise the timeout above the 5 second default or complex queries come back thin, and handle the error codes by kind - 501 means rephrase the query, it is not a broken key; Error 1 or 2 means your appid is wrong or absent. Do not retry a 501 with backoff; it will fail the same way every time.

Context: Wolfram Alpha Simple API docs: the timeout parameter defaults to 5 seconds of processing time and affects how many results come back. Errors are explicit: HTTP 501 means the input could not be interpreted (blank, misspelled, or unsupported), 400 means the i parameter is missing, Error 1 is an invalid appid, Error 2 a missing appid.

## Matched source
Source: Published skill
Original query: "Raise the 5s Simple API timeout - and 501 means rephrase, not retry"
Key terms: means, raise, rephrase, retry, simple, timeout