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.

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Grass Sport

9 December, 2011

Congratz all Dabblers for such a lively Stormathon – Week One. (Tickled pink to see the calibre of clueing and all-round collegiality, where solving is strengthened, and the best clue will out.) I’m aiming to garner the peer-picks today, and announce our current front-runners on the weekend…

But enough of a good thing – it’s time to laze in the long grass, the pampas in fact, as there’s something most bizarre about that word. If you’ve already sampled my reading confessional, you’ll know that PAMPAS spells two rhymes in reverse – SAP and MAP.

Gee, thinks me. What other words and names can pull the same stunt? Answer these clues, and you’ll learn three more, but then I start to scratch around. Surely there must be more. Feel free to add them as your own clues, if you can go bravely beyond.

  1. Killing fielder (3,3)

  2. See above (3,3)

  3. Apple (6)

Any more? Kudos to any claimant.

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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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