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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Salon 30

4 June, 2012

A cute fluke took place last week. Five-Down in the latest Fairfax puzzle was STRIKER, coinciding with a journo walk-out in both cities. (I swear Your Honour, it was a fluke. I composed the grid six weeks before publication.) But those eerie things strike quite a bit. Readers of Puzzled will know I dub the syndrome Crossword Voodoo.

Can you recall a weird resonance happening to you? Maybe you fill in a word, only for the same term to crop up in conversation? (Already one dabbler has told me that AMANUENSIS in Friday’s Quick echoed Anna Funder’s novel, All That I Am, where the narrator has just that gig. And no, I have yet to read that book.)

Or maybe a name has surfaced – a celeb, or a hotisorical figure – and the same week seeing the person hit the news. Share your voodoo tales here. And then let’s take pleasure in pinpointing the best of the week’s clues from the G and Times here too.

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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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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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