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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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Turbo Trivia 2

15 August, 2013

I’ve been indulging in trivia a little more lately. I can recommend subscribing to the free weekly mailout from Ken Jennings – the Jeopardy Jedi. His last question is allegedly Google-proof, which you have to admire. And challenge.

Here’s the latest poser – a list of people “with a surprising (but not unusual) distinction”. Thought I’d share the ten blokes with you, as there’s every chance we can cook up all sorts of reasons or theories:

Cesar Chavez, Mahatma Gandhi, Vaclav Havel, Stephen Hawking, James Joyce, Lise Meitner, Dmitri Mendeleev, Vladimir Nabokov, Marcel Proust, Nikola Tesla

And as a bonus brain-bender: what fictional hero of popular culture was almost known by his two syllables in the opposite order, a century ago?

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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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