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Diabolically Arcane

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Dynamic Duets

3 October, 2014

Our Friday Folly is devising two names that share a puzzly link, seeing if others can figure out the logic. The NRL player Michael Ennis, say, could be matched with Agent 99 (anagram of NINES, and 99). Or Harold Pinter could sidle Eddie Eagle. Why? Both dog breeds with a letter missing. 

Simple game, but there are dozens of formulas at our disposal, keeping things wordy, versus biogrpahical. Name and number your couples, so we can take a stab. (Please ignore my dontattempt handle - I'm really DA with a current tech hitch.) Can you crack my opening six? And what recipe will your items obey?

DA1 - Kanye West & Thomas Hardy

DA2 - Bill Granger & David Jones

DA3 - Eva Cox & Malcolm X  

DA4 - Andrew Denton & Jules Verne  

DA5 - Bruce Springsteen & Banjo Paterson 

DA6 - Tori Spelling & Penny Cook  

Some easy. Some tricky. Can you undo the duos?

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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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