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...

Can'tDidn't

9 October, 2015

The what? Well, if we're being granular, the direct opposite of CANDID would be CAN'TDIDN'T. Or to massage the message a little: UNABLERENEGED.

That's our folly this Friday: to pick any word and provide the antonym-string of its components. Another example might be ARMSTART, the technical opposite of LEGEND. (Of course, ARM and LEG aren't pure opposites. There will be some licence in action here. A better switch might be ONSTART, calling cricket into the equation.)

Anyhow, you have the hang. Can you supply the flipsides of these combos? And can you create your own antonym chains? Let's target words only - no names or titles etc. Lack misery (Have fun).

DA1 - SLIMHIM (6)

DA2 - WALKDISEMBARK (9)

DA3 - COMEKEEP (7)

DA4 - JOINSLOW (9)

DA5 - HIGHUP (7)

DA6 - HAVEPLURALLY (8)

PS - Last chance to grab a ticket to my Riddledom riff in Canberra this Monday. The National Library is the ideal setting, and already 100 curious minds have opted in. Bound to be a great session, with riddles to solve & prizes to win.

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