Puzzles, posts, news and general word-chat.

Diabolically Arcane

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Scattered Fog Patches

27 October, 2011

Morning all – you’re in for a mild day with isolated showers in the western district and on the ranges. There’s a frost warning for all strawberry farmers, and south-easterly breezes on the bays. We’re looking at a top of 25 degrees…

Reason I’m fudging a forecast is due to the Australian Met Bureau throwing down tools this week. A pay dispute, by all accounts, and I predicted the subbies would make merry with the puns, but not so far. To date, the headlines have been pretty lame:

Stoppage by Meteorologists Won’t Halt Weather Forecasts [The Australian, hohum]

Weather Bureau Forecasts Strikes [SMH – warming up]

Forecasters' Strike to Leave Weather Up in the Air [the best on record, from ABC Online]

Surely we can do better?!

And while on matters misty, and mystical affairs, two word treasures for your pleasure. The first is from blog regular Nib who found this elegant piece of Anagram Art, with punctuation included. (Shades of Stanley’s Dr Strangelove in this week’s awesome Storm.)

And second is the sweetest strawb of all – a brand-new, whistle-and-belled themer from one of UK’s best compilers, the man they call Loroso. Or Anax. Or Dean Mayer. A feast for the mind, I forecast. Feel free to bung your appraisal in the Comment section, with hints + hee-hees, but no spoilers please.

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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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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
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