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...

Climate Con? Ha!

30 May, 2011

Just had to share that topical anagram with you, mixing the letters of MICHAEL CATON, the actor enmeshed in the carbon trading campaign, along with Climate-Cate. Major props to both of them, by the way, if this blog can wave a flag for a moment. Good to see some citizens – and two charismatic hirelings – create some counter-energy in the face of The Abbott & Barnaby Show, and the ulterior coal lobbies.

Enough tub-thumping. Time to rap a Wall Street Journal piece. The story looks at the hyper-newness of slang, how “yesterday’s cutting edge is tomorrow’s ho-hum”. Click here to learn about rando and rickrolling, biffles and vertical coffins. And see how you fare in the 8-question quiz. (Honest truth, I grubbed out a miserable three.).

And what new words can we add to the endless glossary? I love the gimmick I caught last week, namely antiversary, being a commemoration of a relationship break-up. Or the word in today’s Australian, to plip. Any takers? Pure onomatopoeia, of course. Plip is the new-century word meaning to unlock your car.

What more slang can we unlock? How about catonia, being the delusional trance suffered by Barnaby Joyce? Heard any coinages lately? All donations welcome.

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