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Diabolically Arcane

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Chemical Conundrum

22 November, 2013

The periodic table contains 14 elements in total that own a single-letter symbol. Those symbols are BCFHIKNOPSUVWY. Amazingly there is a Melbourne suburb (and a Sydney suburb) that can both lose left or right to reveal eight different symbols from this list. Name both locations.

(And with duplicates allowed, can you name a NSW town of nine letters?)

And lastly, can you unravel these clues, where the answers use only those 11 letters, with zero repeats?

  1. Sort of castle (6)
  2. High boot (6)
  3. Squelch (6)
  4. Dream on! (3,4)
  5. Spry and mischievous (6 and 7)
  6. Sit on it! (7)
  7. Monsters (7)
  8. Two poets (both 7)

Share your eurekas below. And offer your own clues, manipulating the same 14 symbols, and using byline and number to mark each clue. Let’s adhere to the no-repeat rule.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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 

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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
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