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Diabolically Arcane

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Tis the Cup, So Giddy Up

2 November, 2010

Can you hear the Flemington fanfare, Fernando? The drum of hooves? The allegro racing of the heart? The falsetto sigh of drunken marqueens?

That’s right, punters: the season is here for the handling of horse flesh. A clue contest in fact, turning the eight previous winners below into an elegant piece of wordplay – plus the winner of this year’s race, to make a total of nine possible prizes.

Pick a horse, any horse, and convert the creature into a clue (with no definition required). Or pick the field and see how well you can handle the conditions. As chief tout, I’ll be on the lookout for fresh approaches, concision, elegant surface sense – and good pedigree of course.

So, your choice of champs:

Makybe Diva
Media Puzzle
Rogan Josh
Jezabeel
Doriemus
Vintage Crop
Tawrrific
At Talaq
Plus this week’s winner: AMERICAIN

To post an idea, just identify the horse by its initials, followed by the wordplay, like so:

MD: Possibly gained $1000 from opera star

VC: Graffiti signature in foreign province

The crowd is hushed. The barrier gates locked. The starter mounts his gantry. His finger settles on the button – and they’rrrrre off. (All bets invalid after Thursday sundown.)

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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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