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.

Loading tweet...

Cryptic Court 7

31 January, 2013

Curious experiment in last week’s Paul. His clue involved the anagram fodder being buried in a phrase. I’m not ‘hating on’ the innovation at all. But keen to get your own verdict, especially as this week’s DA breaches common etiquette. (You’ve been warned.)

But please, your thoughts on Paul’s trick, and these other three clues before the Cryptic Court.

  1. Broad characters in Spactacus, fine picture to broadcast = UNSPECIFIC [Paul getting us to mix CUSFINEPIC. Thumbs up or down?]

  2. Does he make complaint about crumpet regularly? = GOURMET [Times 9307 pushes the envelope with a broad definition. Perhaps gourmets adore crumpet…]

  3. As you like it, part of Florida = ORLANDO [I don’t mind Philistine down-casing the Bard’s play, but that leaves the definition incomplete. Or can ‘part’ have a dual role?]

  4. Devotees of old Chinese whisper mix-ups = CONFUCIANS [Arachne always excites (and niggles) in her puzzles. She’s a setter on the rise, but this clue’s a niggler. Whisper can work as an audio cue, kinda. Leaving the debate of discrepant sound, surely.]

Leave your verdicts, and DIY clues, below. Unspecific looks a tough nut to crack.

comments powered by Disqus

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.

Medal

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

read more +

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.

read more +

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 

read more +

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
See Results