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Diabolically Arcane

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Contraband Countdown

18 December, 2010

Celebrity has a powerful pull. While directing our last Storm towards an open brief, daring you lot to find hidden words in titles or names, most of us aimed at names. Actors. Pollies. Sports heroes. One exception was newcomer Boniface, who dwelt on a books and films, and warrants his own medal for being independent.

Two other special mentions – PRS for showing us the 3 Faces of Ted Baillieu, and xobhcnul for summarising the seven High Court judges. Though in the end, appraising over 70 entries, I have drafted a countdown, from 10 to 1 of kickass contraband. Read them, from left to right, as you travel down, and see how crafty we became at finding the smuggled goods:

  1. Schapelle = CELL [xobchnul found a stark and simple truth in a single name]

  2. Homer Simpson = HOON [And look dg, the word is on the fringes, making Homer ripe for an &lit container clue]

  3. Martin Scorsese = MAIN SCORES [As SK knows, a film is only as good as its soundtrack]

  4. Richard Morecroft = CHARMER [And he is Nib – I promise to tell him this covert property when next I see him, in real life]

  5. Diego Maradona = EGO MAD [Coke, dummy spits, yoyo diets – SK nails el muchacho]

  6. Shirley Strickland = SHE RAN [xobhcnul again, with a succinct bio]

  7. Matthew Flinders = THE FINDER [PRS explores the explorer to find an epithet]

  8. William Archibald Spooner = I AM A RIBALD ONE [Rifting the sector, Nib finds gold]

  9. Arnold Schwarzenegger = AN OLD SHAGGER [You can take the Governator out of body-building gyms… Brilliant work, SK – and while midair too.]

  10. Jacques Cousteau = AQUEOUS EAU [Robskee gets my smuggled tiara, for diving into fresh meridians and discovering bilingual treasure – a dazzling discovery.]

So congratz all round for finding the hidden parcels borne by some famous names. And look for a minor snowstrorm next week, before Santa hits town.

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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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