Puzzles, posts, news and general word-chat.

Diabolically Arcane

Bingo. You’ve reached David Astle dot com, a carnival of words, puzzles and more words. Welcome aboard, and have fun.

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Needing No Intro

15 January, 2013

Feel like a game? Here’s a gimmick I conjured over lunch, playing around with the phrase, ‘needing no introduction’. Applying that expression to some household names (and removing their surname’s first letter), you may find a composed leg-spinner is Shane Arne, or director of The Birds is Wes Raven.

Or being wackier, could an accident prone singer be David Owie, and a cold novelist, David Alouf? See if you can identify these characters below, with altered initials supplied, and then share the ploy with byline and numbering.

  1. Procrastinating fullback (BL)
  2. Procrastinating court champ (PA)
  3. Bicycle removalist? (CV)
  4. Heiress Wallaby skipper (GR)
  5. Trash-talking gourmet (PE)
  6. Personal mountain trainer (MR)
  7. Poet of Nottingham (CS)

Blab the names, and clue some more, below.

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Rewording The Brain

Focus & memory, lateral leaps & logic - every aspect of cognitive health is lit in Rewording The Brain, a book revelling in how puzzles boost your brain. Part 2 equips your brain to conquer any twisty clue, plus the wild crossword finale. Pop science meets neural gameplay, Rewording is rewarding, and out now.

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Rewording The Brain

Care to renew your noodle? Rewording The Brain explores the latest neural studies, seeing how puzzles (and twisty clues) boost your neurons. Part 2 helps you crack such clues, and prep the grey matter for the crossword showcase to finish. More here

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101 Weird Words (and 3 Fakes)

From Ambidextrous to Zugwang, this mini-dictionary teems with rare or alluring words, plus bonus riddles, puzzles and fun word-facts. Dictionary detective will also nab the collection's three fakes. Ideal for late primary schoolers, or word-nuts in general.

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Gargantuan Book of Words

Sneeze words. Fake pasta. Viking slang. Gargantuan is a jumbo jumble of puzzles & games, mazes & quizzes, tailor-made for that wordy wonderkid in your life. Or anyone in love with letters, secret codes, puns, rhymes, emoji & all things languagey. More here 

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Recent Comments

Riddledom Rave

If you missed my riddle chat with Richard Fidler, then feel free to slurp the podcast at http://ab.co/1I9t1x5

Text-speak is creeping into Scrabble. Where do you sit?
OBVS I'm fine with it
Entrenched stuff - like LOL and OMG - but no more.
Words With Friends, maybe. Scrabble, no
Let the 'real' dictionaries decide first
Just the handy stuff, like FAQ and EUW
I mean, WTF?! No way
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