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Diabolically Arcane

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Meh 22

29 October, 2015

For those unfamiliar with the Meh category (and it has been over a year!), then this is where I parade a set of clues that seem weak or wanting in some capacity.

I know it's a risky practice, speaking as a compiler, but just as I can cop my lumps, so should other setters get their tut-tuts. All in the name of making better clues, of course, which is what you're invited to do, using the same solutions below. (As well as decide whether I'm being overly harsh in any case.) Enjoy the debate, and the create.

1. What a Saudi adulterer wouldn’t volunteer is WOW = STONE ME  (This from Sunday Times 928 fails both the taste test & hookworm test, where the wordplay echoes the definiton.)

2. Extremely stupid of the French doctor in face of clot = DUMBASS  (Same puzzle. Taste test, just. Hookworm - problem.)

3. Juggling item taken from delhi nightspot, maybe = INDIAN CLUB  (Times 10165 gives us Indian twice - another hookworm. In fact, this whole post is worm-eaten.)

4. European office workers sample food from bakery = DANISH PASTRY (See? This from Nutmeg in the G)

5. Basket Alaskan malamute finally used in irish pound = PUNNET (Overstraining surface  story from the Times 10249)

6. Use any method to be awkward = UNEASY (Not sure the puzzle, or the signpost.)

7. Temporary bypass in gridlock is only partial solution = PASSING (Clunky hidden from Gazza on Big Dave's blog.)

8. Board are agreed in France and Germany = OUIJA (Phssthpok in the Financial Times gives us the etymology of the answer as wordplay.)

Unfair? And who will deliver the flair?

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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
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