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.

Loading tweet...

Paul's Pearls 3

27 May, 2012

By fluke, I suppose, these last seven from Paul’s Guardian collection are the toughest. Just when you thought you were attuning your mind to his wavelength, bam. The treachery here will knock you sideways – but all for a good punchline. And as always, a cheers to Anthony for sending these gems our way.

(Go ahead. Lap this lot – compare notes in the forum – then let’s see how we ‘do a Paul’ in the forthcoming Storm on Tuesday.)

  1. Sings, getting drunk and worn (10)
  2. Social security in social security (social security in social security) (6)
  3. Terribly industrious (can’t play) (5,10)
  4. The mountains are a warning to mice! (8)
  5. Victoria was not Posh Spice initially (synthetically made exterior) (6)
  6. When done with responsibility, do! (10)
  7. You have faith in me, though you shouldn’t (4)

PAUL 2 SOLUTION: 1 Oscar Peterson 2 Castle 3 Knickers 4 French loaf 5 Sentence 6 Eternity 7 Brunette

comments powered by Disqus

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.

Medal

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

read more +

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.

read more +

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 

read more +

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
See Results