WoW: Logomaniac
LOGOMANIAC - one obsessed with words, or talking. [From Greek logos, word, plus -mania, fixation] Without naming names, or bylines, I suggest this blog may entertain more than one logomaniac.
Cartoonist Contest
Cartoon fans will know these names, or recognise the messy signatures attributed to each legend. All 20 are giants of the New Yorker cartoon desk, cranking out gags for more than half a century.
(Pssst - cartoon fans will also love the four events I'm hosting over the next fortnight, toasting the work (and new book) of Melbourne imp, Oslo Davis. For details, head for the events page on Oslo's site. All are free, inc a caption contest with prizes.)
But perhaps you can win Oslo's book - Drawing Funny - right here. In celebration of all things, see who can best convert any of these captioneers into a nifty cryptic clue - with no wordplay needed. No call for a cover-name. Just go nuts, and submit your finest before Friday 5pm. I will pick the pearl next week.
So have fun with the letters, and come celebrate the funny pictures if you can.
CHARLES ADDAMS PETER ARNO
CHARLES BARSOTTI GEORGE BOOTH
ROZ CHAST TOM CHENEY
LEO CULLUM DANA FRADON
EDWARD KOREN ARNIE LEVIN
FRANK MODELL GARRETT PRICE
MISCHA RICHTER WILLIAM STEIG
SAUL STEINBERG PETER STEINER
MICK STEVENS JAMES THURBER
BARNEY TOBEY JACK ZIEGLER
WoW: Makiwara
MAKIWARA [mark-ee-WAH-ra] - a padded stake used in karate training, the Eastern equivalent of a punching bag. [Literally 'rolled straw'] As dojo students develop, they graduate from a soft makiwara to a stiff makiwara.
AWOL Animals
To bookmark the blog's disappearance for 10 days - damn domain disputes - let's try a Storm where beasts beat a retreat.
Pick any word, where any kind of animal is nesting. Perhaps that's a PUMA in SPUMANTE, or the OWL in SUPERBOWL. Once these animals go AWOL, you are left with SNTE and SUPERB to clue.
That's the trick - concocting a clue that defines the original word, yet wangles the wordplay upon the leftovers only. Here's my first stab:
PAVI (PAVILION) - Cake on one stand
BRIE (BRIEFLY) - For a twinkling French wheel?
C (CRAVEN) - C-Chicken
Have some fun with the format. See who can qualify into the Who's Who of the AWOL Zoo.
WoW: Thrasonical
THRASONICAL [threy-SON-i-kuhl] - prone to boasting; vainglorious [From the braggart Thraso, as appears in Terence's play, Eunuchus] Grand final celebrations will tend to foment a rash of chest-beating, thrasonical behaviour.
Plese Give Bld
Ding-dong the glitch is dead. The DA website is back in action, after an enforced lull of IT wrangling and platform disputes.
The hiatus reminded me how rewarding this portal can be, hosting the cream in creative clueing, and sharing news, words and other scuttlebutt of an alphabetical nature. I hope you missed your word-nerd hit as well.
So to celebrate the site's resuscitation, let's do what some companies did last month - and donate blood. In name at least. In case you missed the yarn, several UK firms agreed to remove the blood types (A, B and O) from their names, inspiring folks to give their own blood.
Lovely gimmick. And a perfect Storm idea. Pick a company, and remove its various blood types - then clue the new transfused entity. Like so:
FXTEL - Movie racket OK in hindsight [FX + LET<]
NISC (NABISCO) - Regular clients mismanaged [CINS*]
PTUS - Puts out
As you can see, please provide parsing [where the clue is unpacked] for the more intricate bits of wordplay. And maybe let us know the company - like NABISCO - if the blood-drawing is extensive. Otherwise, get gory. Tell us an amazing story.
Long Time No Blog
Seems the blog is back on air. Hoo-bloody-ray and many thanks for your kind words over Twitter and personal email in the interim. Over a week of cyber-silence that's set to be broken tomorrow with a brief Storm, just like old times.
But this post is a place-holder in the meantime, a phew to recognise DA.com's revival. The glitch was linked to a muddle in domain names and domain renewals, but all that's in the tedious past.
To celebrate the return of abnormal services, a few zingers from this week's Picaroon to savour:
Sarkozy's very small - it's a bit of a shock (5)
Bedazzled throng following One Direction (9)
Public scoffs a starter of cheese and ham (7)
Good to be back.
Australian A-Z (2)
Two weeks back I wheeled out the quirkier entries from the Australian National Dictionary, which gets its free Melbourne launch tonight. (I'm hunching the gig is booked out, but you can always try here.)
Anyhow, we kneaded a dozen Oz words, from AMPSTER to GONCE. A bonza Storm in anyone's vernacular. So now to fanfare the launch, we get our chance to mangle the alphabet's second half, all terms drawn from the same handsome tome. Carn - take a crack, digger.
GUMLEAF MAFIA - Australian actors in Hollywood
HOOSHTER - a camel driver (after the common Afghan call)
KOALA STAMP - merit award
LOLA MONTEZ - rum cocktail, named after a notable stripper
MULLENISE - to clear scrub (after Charles Mullen, a Gawler farmer)
NIGEL NO MATES - loner
OOGLIE - undesirable fish (corruption of ugly)
PACIFIC PESO - Australian dollar, as stigmatised by Paul Keating
PATIO INTELLECTUAL - pseudo-academic or general blowhard
SHINDYKIT - business consortium (alteration of syndicate)
SPEEWAH - imaginary station of many tall tales
YANKEE START - unfair advantage
WoW: Menoporsche
MENOPORSCHE - angst exhibited by some men upon reaching middle age, especially in the guise of a new sports car, or a fling with a younger woman; a luxury car purchased by a man undergoing a mid-life crisis. [Menopause + Porsche] Big boys with flash toys are often a symptom of menoporsche.
Home Letter
Can't say what will happen with this Storm, but that hasn't stopped me in the past, so why should it stop you?
English has several words that can be cased in two letters, so making two adjacent words unlinked to the opening term. OMELETTE, say, can sit in HR to create HOME LETTER. Just as the surname CAMPBELL can convert into SCAMP BELLY.
Choosing wisely, you may turn any seven-plus letter word or name into a sweet phrase, or at least a phrase that could warrant a comical-cryptical definition. To show you the drill, try these four:
LOVER HEART - It throbs for thee
SALAD DINE - Vegan feast
'UPON TOONS' - Animation Oration
FATTEN DANCER - Prepare for the 17 veils
As you can see, your source word can vary in length. (But let's aim for seven-plus.) Just as the two-word split can fall anywhere, though TO MISSIONS isn't such a staggering makeover of OMISSION. Likewise, if you can, avoid a hookworm duplication like SHOOK WORMS, or morphing winehouse into SWINE HOUSED etc.
Aside from that, see what we can create. In essence, we have a double challenge: who can contrive the most stylish split, and the sleekest clue? Or possibly that feat will be one and the same. Start fattening your dancers.
WoW: Ahimsa
AHIMSA [a-HIM-zaa] - core principle of Buddhism and Hinduism promoting non-violence towards all living things. [From Sanskrit, a- meaning non-, plus himsa, violence] The sacred cows of Varanasi benefit from the citizens' ahimsa.
Australian A-Z
Melbourne bodies, help us raise a schooner to toast a brand-new dictionary landing in the Australian landscape in a few weeks. The event is free at Readings bookstore, though bookings are essential.
I'll be chatting with the lexicon's leading lights, Bruce Moore and Amanda Laugesen, getting their take on Ned Kelly pies, mates' rates, motorbike frogs and grey nomads. Plus these other entries below, which seem ripe for clue-crafting.
Can you convert any of these home-grown terms - including definition - into a bonza clue? An admiring tip of the Akubra to the pick of the crop. (As you can see, I've only raided the early alphabet, so rich is this lexicon.)
AMPSTER - decoy who works with a sideshow operator, acting like an enthusiastic onlooker to arouse the interest of others; spruiker's stooge
ANGASI - mud oyster
ANZACKERY - wartime memorablia
AUSTERICA - mishmash of Australian and American culture, as coined by Robin Boyd
BIRRIDA - gypsum claypan
BOKO - animal blind in one eye
BUCKEENING - ritual killing of the enemy for kidney fat
BUNYIPIAN - fantastic; monstrous
CAFE LATTE SET - you know who you are
COWPAT LOTTO - fund-raising game involving a paddock of numbered squares and wandering cattle
CRAWLSOME - obsequious
DREY - possum nest
FANTAIL BANGER - heavy morning coat
GONCE - money
Perhaps I'll unleash H-Z next week, closer to the lexicon's Melbourne lift-off. Be great to see youse there. Ooroo.
WoW: Princess Lointaine
PRINCESS LOINTAINE [LWAN-tayn] - beautiful yet unattainable woman [Literally 'distant princess', based on the 1895 play by that title, by Edmond Rostand, creator of Cyrano de Bergerac. The play follows a troubadour who falls for the Countess of Tripoli despite never having seen her.] In the interests of equality, for every Princess Lointaine, there must be an out-of-reach Prince Charmer.
Brainstorm (R)
R stands for Registered. C stands for Copyright. While TM represents Trademark. So what would happen if we sprinkled any of this commercial shorthand among some well-known brands? How would these new ingredients (one, two, or all three) influence a clue's wordplay?
This week we find out, as we strew the world of car models, airlines, cameras, shampoos etc with their customary warnings. MINOLTA, say, could become MINOLTAC, allowing for the clue: Bubbly mint cola?
Or MINTMOLTA, inserting the TM: New island sound [MINT + 'Malta']
See the sleight? You have one of three symbols to add (or a combo), and may add them wherever you like in the brand, to aid you wordplay. No need to include a definition, unless it benefits the clue overall. Not sure if this crazy idea will fly, but there's only one way to try!
PIRELLITM - I'll permit frolicking
TOSHRIBA - Rubbish joke opening act
COMO - Cleaner singer?
See who can command the expanding brands.
WoW: Mahurat
MAHURAT [MEH-hyu-ret] - an auspicious time for an event, enterprise or ceremony to begin; inauguration ritual that often opens a Bollywood film in production. [From Hindi, linked to Sanskrit muhūrta 'a division of time' (approx 48 minutes, or one thirtieth of a day).] In traditional Hinduism, a devotee will consult a pandit to learn the mahurat for a planned wedding.
Oxford Arrivals
You may have missed the fanfare, given the general chaos of 2016, but the Oxford Dictionary accepted some 1000 new words in late June, with the list below a random sampling. And a red rag for cluemongers as well, a chance to weave some brand-new threads, from boteh (Persian paisley) to corrido (a Mexican ballad).
Please excuse the simplified definitions. If you'd like to explore the nuances in greater depth than hit the link and see the hardcore Swedish music of gabba is an audio assault with its own strange history, etc.
But otherwise, see if you can make sweet boteh of these fifteen, splicing both wordplay and definitions elements. Ole'.
AGENDER - person who doesn't identify with either gender
BAO - Chinese bread roll
BOTEH - Persian paisley
BOTIJO - clay pot
CONVERSATE - to chat
CORRIDO - Mexican ballad
DIVEY - Hinglish label for a seedy venue
DOPIAZA - Indian meat dish with onion garnish
DUDETTE - see ladette
FLAUTA - long deep-fried tortilla
GABBA - frenetic hard-core techno
GIANDUJA - rich hazelnut chocolate
KAYFABE - the unspoken pretence of wrestling [love this word]
SPOACHER - thief who sifts through your personal belongings
TROUT POUT - supermodel's moue
Who can concoct the tastiest dopiaza, the crunchiest flauta? Dig in.
WoW: Cenobite
CENOBITE [SEE-noh-bite] - member of a religious order living in a monastery or convent; social bee [From Latin 'coenobium,' convent, which stems from Greek 'koinobios,' living in community.] And yes, I told the nun with an audio bent, cenobite really does sound like 'see no bite'.
Sevens Fever
Well, our blokes were duds, but the women shone. I'm talking sevens rugby, the gold-snaffling squad that built their own franchise in 14 hasty minutes of a tough final. In tribute to the team - and lending us a chance to hone our clue skills - here is the player list for your manipulation.
Wordplay only please, as we know you'll be referring to one of these sizzling, stud-footed, mouth-guarded, limb-pumping sisters. Congratulations from a Sunday-park touch-tragic. It was a brilliant campaign.
NICOLE BECK
SHANNON PARRY
EMMA TONEGATO
SHARNI WILLIAMS
EVANIA PELITE
GEMMA ETHERIDGE
CHARLOTTE CASLICK
CHLOE DALTON
ALICIA QUIRK
AMY TURNER
EMILEE CHERRY
ELLIA GREEN
Who can find the gold in this medal mob?
Lancelottery
As shooters shoot, swimmers swim and goalies go for gold, I thought you'd appreciate a slice of brain food to offset so many TV dinners. Not that I'm the chef de mission. Rather we have SK to thank for this hyper-themer.
Yes - this is an extraordinary puzzle where every clue is influenced by one theme, that's likewise identified in one of the solutions. And you thought pursuit cycling was difficult? This is a puzzle that surrenders its rewards slowly.
Here on the DA site, I'm happy to host regular guest grids from forum cluemongers: a chance for all of us to enjoy Stormers' more sustained work. (If you'd like a grid considered then send a link, as platform sites work better than unpostable A4 formats.)
By the same token, I encourage all of you to suss out and sustain the vibrant zine, The Cruciverablist, kick-started by our own CB and SL. Indeed, within the latest issue you will also encounter their work, plus someone called Lancelot (aka SK).
Enough preamble. Enough caveats. Enjoy Rio. Enjoy SK. (And feel free to offer hints and huzzahs and feedback in the forum.)
WoW: Maecenas
MAECENAS [mee-SEE-nus] - generous patron, especially in the arts [After Gaius Cilnius Maecenas (c. 70-8 BCE) who patronised the careers of Horace and Virgil.] Without a steady stream of revenue, most artists desire their own unstinting maecenas.
Recent Comments