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Diabolically Arcane

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Times 9178

6 December, 2011

Pretty rare for a single crossword to score its own post, but yesterday’s Times puzzle packed that kind of punch. Three outstanding clues among some genuine zingers, plus three clues that still hound me, even on knowing their answers. I can see most of the play, but not all. Let’s start with the best:

School almost over, drop your bag in here? = TEACUP

Cathedral’s vergers returned uniform for festival = CANDLEMAS

It’s presumably not made with puff pastry? = HUMBLE PIE

And now for the long-lasting huhs. Please help:

Prunes containing unspecified number of calories whick players take finally = CURTAIN CALLS

Most naive to have abridged welcome: fit in a larger one = GREENEST

Wasting no time after centre goes bust = RUIN

(Treat this session as your Storm warmup, since our next contest features some top-drawer Times clues of yore, both to solve, and then to emulate.)

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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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