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Diabolically Arcane

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Sleight of Origin

28 May, 2014

I’ll confess. I’m a major Origin fan. Call me a sucker for the gladiatorial hype, the pantomime hatred, the Gus Gould sophism, Rabbit’s call, the wallops and velocity. Everything but The Voice cross-promotions, really.

Hence my eagerness to wheel out ten likely names from this week’s Game 1 – five from each squad, with a blend of rookies and promising apprentices. Plus a couple with great letters!

Let’s see what we can make of them. Give it your best cryptic shot, with no definitions required. In fact, you don’t even need to know the colour of their jerseys. That way, when we see the elite arise from the scrimmage, comparing whether your own excellence as a cluesmith mirrors the result at Suncorp.

Jake Friend
Matt Gillett
Aidan Guerra
Trent Hodkinson
Chris McQueen
Josh Reynolds
Beau Scott
Ben Teo
Daniel Tupou

Which mate – which state – will produce the golden point?

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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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