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Diabolically Arcane

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Budge-T Night

13 May, 2014

Here’s an idea, with a prize attached. Instead of despairing over fuel excises, debt levies and Newstart allowances, why don’t we budge T?

Choose a word where a T can shift, like TEAS, say, which can morph into EAST. Or TASER triggers ASTER. Then clue both words for a chance to win a vintage collection of Fairfax crosswords, including 25 DA classics. (That’s right – I have a prize budget this week!)

A few ground rules. Only the T can budge, ruling out such pairs as THING/NIGHT, or STEAL/ASTLE – though THIN/HINT is kosher. Therefore:

HINTTrace naked Japanese religion? [s/HINT/o]
THINDilute hydrogen in metal [T(H)IN]

Second, as above, clue both words, including definition and wordplay. Let’s also bear in mind, since the pairs aren’t plenteous, that players are allowed to toy with the same duo.

And last, choose an alias with a fiscal flavour. GDP? Forward estimate? Bracket creep? I’ll compete under a pseudonym, not that I can win. I’ll decide the winner after the Thursday midnight deadline, and announce the fanciest financier on the weekend. Happy budge-t-ing.

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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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