May 06 2012

Three-Piece [BB361]

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?)

1. newel, riser, baluster
2. cantle, pommel, surcingle
3. bell, key, slide
4. scotia, fluting, echinus
5. gutter, orphan, spine
6. tang, button, shim
7. fornix, pons, sulcus
8. 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]

7 comments

May 04 2012

News Clues 8

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.

1. fluoro collar
2. Hunger Games
3. The Scream (Munch painting)
4. Mark Zuckerberg
5. James Hardie
6. Whitney Houston
7. Ian Turpie

9 comments

May 03 2012

5 To Chop

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.

27 comments

May 02 2012

Randling TAB

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.

4 comments

May 02 2012

Homosexual Scorches Track

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.

6 comments

May 01 2012

Conundrum Cornucopia

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?

41 comments

April 30 2012

Salon 26

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.

23 comments

April 30 2012

WoW: Shandrydan

SHANDRYDAN [SHAN-dree-dan] – hooded chaise carriage; jalopy, or any rickety vehicle [Origin unknown] Traffic cops are liable to clap a pink slip on any shandrydan they encounter.

7 comments

April 29 2012

Birrdbrrain [BB360]

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.

1. Licence to nab (6,7)
2. Hunter town (5,5)
3. Veteran Vic keeper (6,5)
4. Chinese figurine (5-5,7)
5. Networked nuptials? (8,8)
6. Melbourne suburb (5,6)
7. Two Sydney suburbs
8. Don McLean hit (6,6,5)
9. Vain chant opener (6,6…)
10. Sci-fi humorist (5,8)
11. Miles Franklin winner (5,5,2,3,5)
12. 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

3 comments

April 28 2012

Deified

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

23 comments