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Diabolically Arcane

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Salon 19 (Out Bush)

16 June, 2014

Presuming I can acquire a Weekend Oz when I return to the big smoke, and optimistic I can crack both puzzles therein, I’ll be looking at Crossword #48 today. A lot of ifs. And lot of slips between puzzle and pen-tip, but…. The half-century looms.

A busy week this week, as I’ll be rebounding from Cape Otway trek to solstice event in Wodonga, raising awareness on depression and suicide. An important evening, as you can appreciate, so please abide by patchy services here.

But let’s try two conundrums:

  1. What professional who deals with an element of nature can lose their first and last letters to spell a creature of the wild? (No proper nouns or names involved.)

  2. I have in mind a 5-letter word. If you drop its K, then plant an R in the midst of the cluster, you will spell an equivalent synonym of the original word. Name both words.

Blab below. Or join the Times Tally challenge. Or at the very least, have a verbal and peaceful week.

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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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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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