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...

Selamat Sor\xC3\xA9

13 July, 2011

…or g'day, if you prefer. The plane has landed, and the Bali tan is already fading as you can see. (Unlike the Taliban, which is a different complexion altogether.)

You’ll be glad to hear I resisted the braids, and the butterfly nail polish, though I did succumb to a pair of bogus Vans (those low-cut plimsolls if you’re too square to roll), and a hot-stone massage, with scorch marks to prove it.

Climbed a volcano. Surfed. Snorkelled. Lolled. Cracked puzzles. Fed monkeys. Drank Luwak coffee – look it up! Paid tribute to the Hindu pantheon, and haggled like a harridan to secure a set of Pan pipes – only to wonder why I wanted them in the first place.

Learnt some great words too, like hati-hati (watch out), bagus (cool), lucu (pronounced loo-choo, meaning funny), and my favourite – the label for any tourist calling on a plantation: an agro wisita.

But most importantly, I filled the word tanks and replenished the puzzle ideas, ready for a fresh skirmish on page and blog. Just to prove it, see if you can solve this conundrum:

What particular Asian of seven letters can be encoded SBn?

Nice to be back, and thanks for keeping the home kindle crackling so brightly. Look forward to scrolling the forums in the coming days, as well as catching up with a brand-new swag of puzzly emails and queries I’m bound to handball your way. Terima kasih.

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