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Extra Elementary

26 April, 2016

Spoiler alert, Fairfax solvers. If you haven't given last week's DA puzzle a shake, then you may need to skip this Brainstorm. Or the next paragraph at least.

Because the periodic table was my theme, using the atomic numbers as pointers to a dozen different elements. Clue 10, say, led to NEON. While 27-Down was COBALT. But the table remains largely under-plundered, ready to be rumbled by this week's clue-fest.

And just like Friday's themer, tweaking elements into clues, the relevant number is the only definition you require. Below is a sampling of some you can craft, as well as an example clue, but feel free to visit the actual table to pick and choose your own substances to make your mark.

Goggles on. Lab coats buttoned. Let's see who will excel elementally!

3 - Lithium

5 - Boron

7 - Nitrogen

9 - Fluorine

14 - Silicon

19 - Potassium

30 - Zinc

36 - Krypton

42 - Molybdenum

51 - Antimony

99 - Einsteinium

112 - Copernicum

115 - Ununpentium

POTASSIUM - Stagger up to a miss, 19

ANTIMONY - I'm totally into Shakespearean lover, 51

TUNGSTEN - 74 licks heard on Pearl Jam album

Have fun in the letters lab.

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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
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