Puzzles, posts, news and general word-chat.
Diabolically ArcaneBingo. You’ve reached David Astle dot com, a carnival of words, puzzles and more words. Welcome aboard, and have fun.
BOTHSIDESISM - tendency to treat all policy debates as if opposing sides present equally sound arguments; whataboutism [Neologism generated by Trump's ambivalent response to the violent Unite the Right rally in Virginia, 2017] False balance - ensuring every news story includes a counterview - falls into bothsidesism.
QUAQUAVERSAL [KWAR-ka-VER-suhl] - radiating outwards in all directions from a common centre. [From Latin quāquā in every direction, plus versus towards] Daisy petals - whether 'they love you or not' - are quaquaversal.
FEGHOOT - Humorous story often ending in a pun, or rejigged version of a familiar phrase; a shaggy-dog tale [From sci-fi writer Reginald Bretnor - under his anagram of Grendel Briarton - who developed the format in a series of stories - 'Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot' - from 1956-1973.] Each elaborate tale told by Denis Norden and Frank Muir on 'My Word' was essentially a feghoot.
MALAPHOR - a mangled metaphor, or flawed idiom blend, such as 'spanner in the ointment' or 'that's the way the cookie bounces' [Fusion malapropism + metaphor, attributed to Lawrence Harrison in Washington Post article "Searching for Malaphors" (Aug. 6, 1976).] Finding malaphor examples is not rocket surgery.
Another dose of cryptic dypepsia - at least those British clues inflicting unrest and unease in my system. While I can glimpse the general sense behind most of these, all eight clues possess an element I've yet to plumb in full. So if you can diagnose my aggravations, I'd be one grateful inpatient.
And as some extra bout of rehab, see what clues you can craft for the same answers. Treat the therapy as extension of the weekly WoW regimen. Cheers, and thanks in advance.
1. Dumb, forms words silently in turn, picking Oscar out = SHTUM [Times 11, 598]
2. Parisian refusal put on commune eating aristo food, say = COLLECTIVE NOUN [Times 11, 594]
3. Adherents of cleric, last out of church, first to enter coach = BUDDHISTS [as above]
4. Novel campanologist the Sunday after Easter = QUASIMODO [ditto - that puzzle was a delightful house of pain]
5. Are you wearing a tie? So dine perhaps = A LA CARTE [Times 11,608]
6. Woman briefly recalled what may be top of volcano = ISLE [Times 11,605]
7. Share Jill Masterson's fate? Cheerio! = ADIEU [Times 11,619]
8. Hearing warning of attack, left =AURAL [Times 11,630]
GENETHLIAC - relating to birthdays [From Greek genethlē race, family, offspring, from the stem of gignesthai to be born] Household candles remain relevant for blackout measures and genethliac duties.
SNOUTBAND - someone who rudely and continuously interrupts in order to assert their own opinion. [Bridle strap allusion to nosiness.] Mansplaining is common outbreak of the everyday snoutband.
EUSTRESS [YEW-stress] beneficial stress [Coined by endocrinologist Hans Selye in the 1950s. From Greek eu- (good) + stress, linked to Latin stringere: to bind.] At its optimum, eustress hones focus and effort, as any cryptic devotee can report.
UNTOURISM - practice of seeking out destinations seldom visited by tourists in the hope of having some real cultural exchanges. [Tourism - from old French tor, tourn, tourn "a turn, trick, circuit" from Latin tornos - lathe.] While overseas, leaving a train at random stations will improve the odds of untourism.
CLATHRATE - lattice-shaped; a compound wherein molecules of one component are trapped inside the crystal structure of another [From Latin from clathri - lattice bars - via Greek klēthra] Icecream pools into the sockets of clathrate waffles.
MOULIN [MOO-lin] - cylindrical shaft that extends through a glacier, one that's carved by meltwater from the surface [From Latin molinum - a mill or grindstone] Robert Macfarlane rappels into a moulin's maw as part of his latest nature paean, Underland.
SCARAMUCCI [skar-ah-MOO-chee] - ten-day period between a person's hiring to firing; also SCARAMOOCH or MOOCH. [Named after White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci who was dismissed by the Trump administration almost as quickly as was hired.] Volatile executives may only last half a Scarmucci in the top job.
SOIGNÉ [swan-YAY] - elegantly dressed or well groomed. [From past participle of French soigner ‘take care of’, from soin ‘care’] Audrey Hepburn is the epitome of soigné.
NEANIMORPHISM - the quality of looking younger than your age. [From Latin neanias - young man - plus Greek morphe - shape or form.] Yak milk and Photoshop are the two secrets of neanimorphism.
GRAUPEL [graw-PEL]- soft hail-like precipitation consisting of condensed snow pellets. [From German diminutive of Graupe, hulled grain; akin to Russian krupa, groats.] As a fiddler on the roof, Topol had to watch out for graupel.
WARNOCK'S DILEMMA - online scenario where a blog post or forum article attracts zero responses due to (a) indifference, (b) absence of readers, or (c) the post's completeness - where nothing more needs to be added. [Named after US Usenet observer Bryan Warnock in 2000.] To be pedantic, Warnock's Dilemma is more a trilemma of possibilities, or more going by the man's manifesto.
SHURIKEN [shooh-ruh-KEN] - a concealed star-shaped weapon thrown by ninjas or other assailants as an aerial dagger or distraction. [Japanese 'hidden hand blade'] The shuriken is also known as a throwing star - or ninja star.
Long overdue for an opaque clue or two. Below is a batch of perplexing clues drawn from an array of British puzzles, with each of them still thwarting my bid to grasp the wordplay in full. If you think you can shed some light on the matter - any of these matters - then your counsel is encouraged.
(And if you feel like some freewheeling clue-mongering, then you're welcome to conjure original clues for the same answers. A chance to strut with 'normal' words, away from the WoW challenges.) Thanks for both in advance.
1. Stitch finally made runner fall = PURLER (Times 11,453)
2. Attending party in NI, doctor by nature smart = DRESSED UP (Times 11,456)
3. Picks up brown coat leader of hospital body’s dropped = RUSTS (Times 11,457)
4. It follows funk broadcast in European city = SOFIA (Times, 11,449)
5. Man with cross to bear: that’s self-evident = AXIOM (as above)
6. Reduced opening for leasing arrangement = GROUND RENT (Times 11,499)
7. Plant by seawater never appearing evenly = YEW TREE (Loglady - The Indy)
ONIOCHALASIA [ON-ee-oh-CARL-ay-zhe-uh] - purchasing of objects as a form of mental relaxation; retail therapy. [Greek onios - for sale - plus chalasis: loosening, relaxing.] Bookshops are where I practise my oniochalasia.
TOODLEMBUC - game-of-chance device consisting of a skewer, a cotton reel, and a disc marked in sectors, each bearing a horse's name and odds proportional to sector size ; also toodle-em-buck [From 'toodle doodle' reduplicative aligned with spinning, plus 'em them + buck - a gambling marker] Bet you can't find a toodlembuc image, as a roulette diagram was the nearest I managed.
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