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...

Wry Toasts

1 September, 2015

To celebrate the launch of Riddledom, let's do something different for this week's Storm. Relying on puns - the very stuff of Western riddles - let's invent a bunch of toasts for a young couple, or perhaps a youngster on the cusp of adulthood.

Feel free to toy with homophones, or double-meanings, or maybe a twist of idiom. The essence gets down to wordplay, with a neat or unexpected punchline. Here's a sampler, the first two cribbed from gag websites:

May all your pain be champagne.

May all your ups and downs be under the sheets.

May all your ails come cold and cheap.

May all your pitfalls turn into goldmines.

Here's to being positive, except at the pathology lab.

Raise your glass to X, the hero himself inside pheromones.

May glee be yours, and never a rerun.

You get the drift - a sneaky quip, a sleight-of-tongue, a verbal curveball. If it helps, specify the person whose being toasted, or the occasion. Otherwise, lift your glass and dazzle us with eloquence. See who can win over the room.

PS - if that room is near Brisbane, then come along to any of my four sessions at this weekend's Writers' Fest, and let's clink glasses. Cheers, and may all your banes be Brisbane!

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