Blog - David Astle

Notes on a Sandal

2012-05-17T00:00:00Z

Just heard a bunch of manipulated book titles as part of an NPR podcast. The rule was omission, where a single letter had to be axed. And amid the Tweeted suggestions:

Minor portent observed during the American Civil War: Little Omen

At peace among nature: One With The Wind

Cormac’s cowboys wear umpteen dainty socks: All the Pretty Hoses

The Jewish Kama Sutra: The Oy of Sex

Not too shabby, but I kept thinking this corner of cyberspace could do raise the bar – or is that The Return of the Naïve? Anyhow, some brain starters:

Trucking Magnate: Lord of the Rigs

Allied mutiny in the Somme: All Quit on the Western Front

Peak-hour freeway shuffle: Oh the Paces You Will Go!

Drop me a line: MailDA

Or better still, post your own depleted publication, and see if we can’t out-shout the sexy oy.

Venez the Menace

2012-05-15T00:00:00Z

In case you missed the yarn across the weekend, a crossword setter named Neptali Segovia found himself in major doo-doo. The Venezuelan puzzler intersected ADAN (the president’s brother) with ASESINEN (the plural of the imperative form to kill). The palace wasn’t pleased. Secret police in unmarked Cadillacs came to make inquiries….

Segovia is safe for now, thank God. The criss-cross was accidental. But the story highlights the danger of a volatile clue. And that’s where we go with this week’s Storm – another clue-fest, but this time with full disclosure.

Create a clue that may oblige a midnight call from ASIO, the CIA, the FBI, the Stasi and/or Mossad. Please, for reasons of lawsuits, don’t make things too red-rag, just edgy. Enough to cock a security eyebrow. Like this:

SHORTEN: Throne’s rigged by Cabinet Minster

BIMBO: Lara Bingle, perhaps, detonated one bomb

DERRICK: Cabal murder Ricky with old gallows

Be alert, and alarm us with your wordplay. Before Thursday 9pm, submit your favourite three, and I will judge the pick on (a) quality, closely followed by (b) menace.

Salon 28

2012-05-14T00:00:00Z

Question: is yucky stuff a fair definition for grunge? I reckon, but Paul seems to think that gunge goes nearer the mark, hence his peculiar clue on Saturday:

Yucky stuff about right for 80s music genre?

The recipe is a container, with R inside GUNGE. But as Paul goes, a setter who sets his bar aloft, that would have to be one of his lowliest in a while. Not to mention his stale chestnut for SLOT MACHINES: Cash lost in ‘em. Must think our champion was having an off-day. He’s allowed. (Or am I being harsh?)

Before we turn the spotlight onto this week’s lot of Oz and G clues – when’s the last time you said whom? Are you a whom subscriber? Or have you placed a gentle pillow over the word’s visage and pressed forcibly, following the lead of Kurt Cobain? Would love to hear your who/whom thoughts, with a Wordplay column on the back burner.

Now’s the time to talk about clues. In the Comments at least. Enjoy your solving.

WoW: Dauerlauf

2012-05-14T00:00:00Z

Polyphonic Painters [BB362]

2012-05-13T00:00:00Z

If salve + adored + alee sounds out a certain Spanish painter, can you arrange the words below to reveal five more notable painters? (Words can stem from anywhere in the cluster below, yet can only be used once only.)

And as a further challenge, if your ear is tuned, can you break up other notable folk into homophonic chunks? Best way to present your find is to clue each fragment (including length) and see if we can pinpoint the mystery luminary…

chair/chomp/darker/day
din/do/fed/free/freeze
hock/knee/low/mar/mart
sell/silicon/ski/vase

SOLUTION NEXT WEEK
BB361 SOLUTION: Staircase, saddle, trombone, column, book, epee, brain, hang-glider

Pomp & Ceremony

2012-05-12T00:00:00Z

Not since Penn and Teller, have we oohed and aahed with such goggle-eyed rapture. Yes, the Jack-and-Jill slamdown, where coupled clues could only stand by their merits, was a Storm worthy of a prize.

But before going there, my own impressions. Some clues were zingers (like Thelma’s Simon, held back by economist). Others innovated (think 99’s homophone nudge ‘hit the waves’), but unless the companion clue rose to equal heights, I went elsewhere. Cruel, but them’s the rules, and a reminder to all – if you’re not on the honour board, you still may have crafted gold. Or half-gold. Now to the real gold:

FIFTH on 11 points (3 votes) is Saatchi, for this hairy combo:

SAMSON: Sun commences morning issue
DELILAH: Broadcast held about retiring boxer

FOURTH is Oates (aka Astle) on 13 (4) with a white-good whirlpool:

FISHER: Speaker’s crack
PAYKEL: Kath’s demand to be a kept woman?

BRONZE is Saatchi again – a strong campaign with a 14 (5) return – for his/her stellar:

HUTCH: Church chases accommodation…
STARSKY: …for heavenly couple

SILVER now dangles on Rosencrantz 15 (3!!) for a proven dynamic duo:

BATMAN: Spooner’s blackout?
ROBIN: Partially disrobing

While Michael Quinion’s wonderful Q-with-U book will be zooming across to the very same, Mr/s Rosencrantz for the high-scoring – 32 (8) – hi-fi genius:

BANG: Bar closed by midnight
OLUFSEN: Flu shot stopped runny nose

Hip & hip to Rosie for an emphatic smash & grab. (Your Olufsen was five-star.) In fact the whole tumult rocked – with some great ideas, and plenty of generous feedback in transit. A pity the podium has only three cluers aboard, since there was ample delight from Isolde, Abercrombie, Taxes, The Whale, Dr Gonzo, Withnail….you know who you are. Except we don’t. Fess here, and thanks for the thrills & spills.

Gemini Enigma

2012-05-10T00:00:00Z

While our minds are racing with doubles – Abbott and Costello, Thelma and Louise – the time may be right to consider twinship. In case you don’t know, there’s a trend afoot to concoct cute and compatible names for twins – like Polly and Holly, or Aiden and Diane.

Sure, rhymes or anagrams are sweet. Or maybe a trip to the Gospels will give you Luke and Matthew – but what about some pairings with a more cryptic connection? Like Oscar and Emmy, or Dawn and Aurora, or these:

Steele and Nicholas (Nick)

Olivia and Wanda (beheaded nations)

Hugo and Amelie

Ash and Craig (cigar)

Get the game? Sift the census for haywire overlaps, using wordplay or theme, and let’s have some gemini hijinks while our double-Storm plays out.

Jack-and-Jillathon

2012-05-08T00:00:00Z

Big Storm this week, with a flash prize too. For a chance to win Michael Quinion’s eclectic and erudite book of word origins – Why Is Q Always Followed By U? – you need to pick on other famous pairs in fiction, life, business and elsewhere. You know the nominees I mean:

Oscar & Lucinda, Brad & Angelina, Proctor & Gamble, Hawke & Keating, B1 & B2…

Choose a pair, any pair, and clue both. No need for a definition, just wow us with wordplay. In the end you’ll need to choose two pairs only from your output, for communal voting on Friday. With that in mind, choose half a famed couple as your alias.

Remember, this is all about the strength of two – if one clue is five-star, but the pair’s other half has only a so-so clue, then that pair is in peril. The ultimate winner will produce a dazzling duet, according to the playing electorate. Handy if you submit clues this way:

BLACK: Front of Lancia smashes into rear
DECKER: Audience look at KO specialist?

Don’t forget your alias. And to handpick your own TWO PAIRS by Thursday 9pm. Then on Friday to vote from five (fab) to one (fine), treating each couple as the one entry. Under the guise of Cher, or Cheech, or whatever name I go with, I’ll declare the podium – and Q/U winner – on the weekend.

Salon 27

2012-05-07T00:00:00Z

A correspondent named Susie sent in a clue last week, begging for salvation. With no cross-letters to offer, I found the challenge tough. Can you help – or theorise? The clue is below:

A king in residence beheaded (5,5)

HENRY TUDOR?
MIDAS TOUCH?
ROYAL FLUSH?

Not sure. Any clues to Susie’s clue?

Or any clues from the week that warrant a whoopee – here’s the place to share. I’ve just browsed today’s Times, and it looks fun: one to recommend. After a spell from solving (desk work and socialising, people), I’m hungry for a tasty diversion.

WoW: Poshlost

2012-05-07T00:00:00Z

Three-Piece [BB361]

2012-05-06T00:00:00Z

If shank, eye, point and gape are all parts found on a fishhook, or an orthogonal rail, a stylus and a window comprise elements of an Etch-A-Sketch, then can you identify what object claims each set of parts below? (And can you deconstruct your own thingummyjig to try and stump the rest of us?)

newel, riser, baluster
cantle, pommel, surcingle
bell, key, slide
scotia, fluting, echinus
gutter, orphan, spine
tang, button, shim
fornix, pons, sulcus
rib, skin, kingpost

SOLUTION NEXT WEEK
BB360 SOLUTION: Arrest warrant; Kurri Kurri; Darren Berry; terra-cotta warrior; arranged marriage; Narre Warren; Turramurra, Yarrawarrah, Starry, Starry Night; Mirror, mirror…; Harry Harrison; Tirra Lirra by the River; eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die]

News Clues 8

2012-05-04T00:00:00Z

Just to fill a spare Friday moment, why not flex your cryptic pecs and see if you can clue any of these seven newsmakers. In case the first entry is a mystery, the FLUORO COLLAR identifies the bloke in the picture, a new class of worker common to the high-res realm of mining.

As for the last two celebs, both gone now, I have been keeping their names on hold. (Both own letters seem too good to ignore!) For your clues, please, a definition element is preferred.

fluoro collar
Hunger Games
The Scream (Munch painting)
Mark Zuckerberg
James Hardie
Whitney Houston
Ian Turpie

5 To Chop

2012-05-03T00:00:00Z

If you missed it, this week’s Salon outlined how the New Yorker canvassed readers for their chosen word to chop from English. Literally and actually rated high, along with the customary gags of tax, Washington, Kardashian and a string of life-threatening diseases.

But I’d love to hear your own TOP 5, with an eye to composing next week’s Wordplay column. Reckon this topic has get real traction for a wider Spectrum audience, and would love to enliven the New Yorker poll with your own scapegoats.

And since we’re all about sharing, my five:

infrastructure
process (over-over-used, as is….)
context
community (ditto – a snoozer)
journey

Yours? List’m below, and see your bleats get aired next week.

Randling TAB

2012-05-02T00:00:00Z

A reminder to all word-o-philes at this watering hole: tonight is the pilot ep of Andrew Denton’s new baby, Randling. ‘This is no hit-and-giggle game show,’ said the MC on breakfast radio, planting an elbow in the ribs of Spicks and Specks, ‘but a show where every point counts.’

The holus-blus focus is lingo, with a loco Dentonic tweak. Look forward to the parlour games, from tonight at 8.30, and the Hufflepuffy guise of the ten competing pairs. For a sneak peak, and some very funny interviews, go here.

My money is on The Southern Furies – Julia Zemiro and Michael Williams, two sharp cookies in a jar full of Smarties. Though plenty of market share is riding on the Bette Davis Cup Squad, featuring Jonathan Biggins and David Marr, the eminences grises, as Julia Z would say.

Place your bets before the camera rolls. Who will steal the Randling bling at the business end? And come tomorrow, let’s compare notes about the games and words here.

Homosexual Scorches Track

2012-05-02T00:00:00Z

Came across a very funny blooper while on language safari yesterday. As you’d expect, the American Family Association has high moral values, explaining why their website’s software is geared to alter any untoward terms creeping into their dispatches. Vulgar, loaded or ambiguous words are auto-corrected for the safer and more saccharine kind.

Fine – unless your report is about a sprint star called Tyson Gay. Yep, you guessed it. With no subs on duty, or off-guard at least, the headline ran:

Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympic trials

Read more about the gaffe here. Sort of makes you wonder what other breast traps (wait, that should have read booby!) are lurking in the language, or the who’s who of news coverage. Here’s a few more sanitised morsels we can await:

Malcolm Turnfiction

Indigenous Cheese

Sstoole the bottom of the barrel

Bear in mind that some of your ideas may well be spam-netted. (I’ll have to go down back and see what gems I can recover from the sewer…) But thougt you’d appreciate the cackle.

Conundrum Cornucopia

2012-05-01T00:00:00Z

As a break from our customary storm, two fresh conundrums for you to undo, plus the generosity of Geoff Bailey’s MUM. (Ahem, let me explain – that’s the Melbourne Uni Maths puzzle hunt.) So instead of finessing your clues, or refining your puns across the week, let’s roll up the sleeves and combine our brain cogs. But before we meet MUM 3.1, here are my two teasers, both with a film flavour:

Q1: Ironically, what film charting a slow breakdown in communication can be reversed to spell a modern breakthrough in communication?

Q2: FOLIO can be seen as two Manx animals – the FOX and LION minus tails. Now name the setting of major movie that’s a triple cluster of Manx mammals.

MUMS 3.1: If you haven’t seen the contest before, here she blows. Many of these puzzles have a strong numerical kink, so best left for Lily and her peers. Unlike Only Connect (3.1 on this menu) which offers a brain-strain of association.

Can you link partridge to Shanghai, or maybe monkeys, or clover leaf…? Even our Dabbling mate Mauve has been implicated. What the hell is going on? If Geoff can hold his fire for now, let’s see if we can make a paper chain of these 16 concepts.

Theorise here. And/or share your thoughts for Q1 & Q2. And for those with a twinkle in their eye, can you contrive similar challenges (using reversal or Manx play) to keep the cornucopia flowing?

Salon 26

2012-04-30T00:00:00Z

Imagine you owned a scalpel, and the surgical licence to snip one word from the English language. Where would you start? What would you choose? There’s the Canberra waffle, the bureaucrat bunkum, the Z-speak, the verbified nouns….Oh the choices, people.

This quandary was put to New Yorker readers last week, as discovered by beloved Dabbler, Mr Nib, who sent us the link. Enjoy the read, and see if you can justify the contest’s bizarre winner. SLACKS?! Seriously? What about infrastucture? Or impactful? Or utilise? Or what would you suggest…?

And while words are streaming through the veins, ensure you pounce upon today’s LR in Fairfax, another member of the extended blog family, as well as the best from The Oz and The G this week. Utilise this post to share your thoughts.

WoW: Shandrydan

2012-04-30T00:00:00Z

Birrdbrrain [BB360]

2012-04-29T00:00:00Z

Today’s dozen answers purr with two double-Rs each. A veteran Aussie actor, for example, is Terry Norris. There’s a Clive James book called Brrm! Brrm! (seriously), while a current state premier is Barry O'Farrell. Derr, rright? Fine, let’s see how rough & ready you R in sorting out the rest.

Licence to nab (6,7)
Hunter town (5,5)
Veteran Vic keeper (6,5)
Chinese figurine (5-5,7)
Networked nuptials? (8,8)
Melbourne suburb (5,6)
Two Sydney suburbs
Don McLean hit (6,6,5)
Vain chant opener (6,6…)
Sci-fi humorist (5,8)
Miles Franklin winner (5,5,2,3,5)
Enjoy life while you can! (3,5,3,2,5,3,8,2,3)

[Any morre offerrings?]

SOLUTION NEXT WEEK
BB359 SOLUTION: Genome, indigo, meerkat, torment, andante, intrepid, interact, shoehorn, achiever, cameraman

Deified

2012-04-28T00:00:00Z

This may be a first – five outright leaders, with no double-dipper in the prize pool. And all this by the celestial power of the secret ballot.

Though before we go wow over the winners, a pause to applaud the Storm’s level of excellence, with nearly 100 posts from a dozen mysterious AKAs. The addition of clue notes (at the shortlist phase in particular) is welcome, as is your collective energy: posting, cajoling, listing and voting. This was a joy to host – in absentia.

Okay, goes the mosh. Enough preamble. Who won this palindrome punch-out? Well, those who went close were Eve (with ‘her’ SELES clue – a favourite of mine), and AKA with ‘his’ hidden EYE. Nan also won hearts (mine too) for ‘her’ TUMUT, and Otto was pipped with ‘his’ hallucinogenic REFER. Anyhow, here’s the wow:

In fifth place, with 10 points (5 votes out of ten) is Viv for NUN: She’s in the habit of saying nothing [I’d like to thank the academy, my mum…as I was Viv.]

Fourth on 14 (4) is Eve with PEEP: Exercise class, upon reflection, was not a good look! [Dab use of mirror in a gym setting, with a playful definition.]

Bronze on 15 (4) is porn legend, Naomi Moan, for her BOOB: Jug whole-heartedly consumed by Hawke [A lewd salute to the sculling king. Perfect.]

Silver on 20 (5) is my beloved Nan for OMO: Surf competitor’s promotional segment [Em, who logically can’t be Nan, confessed ‘I’d give it all 15 points if I could.’]

Gold on a ginormous 31 (7) is Ava for her stellar NOON: Ducks into topless bar, followed by PM [I adored this clue at hello. A worthy Wow-Meister, and proof that when quality comes along, it bites one & all.]

So thanks Dad and Dr Allard, Ubu and Naomi, Ava, Eve and all other reversible colleagues. (Be nice to put names to bylines, of course…) Again a blast to play and host, not to mention the added buzz of the backroom tally. Look for another storm cloud on the radar, Viv. XOX