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Diabolically Arcane

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Salon 2

14 January, 2013

Two diversions to Schweppervesce your day – including a prize contest. The first relates to advertising. You may have missed the coinage, but UK PM David Cameron recently cited a slogan for a resin called Ronseal: It Does What It Says On The Tin. That is, a Ronseal deal is an agreement geared to deliver what has been promised.

So what other slogans, mottoes and commercial catchphrases have filtered into English? For all those you can recite, there are very few that have infiltrated into idiom. A Clayton’s promise? A Kodak moment? Let you fingers do the walking? Any you can add to a finite list? Don’t fret if you can’t make a long list, as it won’t happen overnight.

Second – in honour of an ailing ARAUCARIA – a copy of the latest Smith Journal (with my Esperanto jaunt to Brizzie included) for the Dabbler who can craft the best clue for the word/man. Or the person to contrive the best Storm idea in Araucaria’s honour. Let the monkey puzzling begin.

And share the cryptic love here too, from the Times and G. Have a great week.

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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

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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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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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