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Diabolically Arcane

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Hindi Heirlooms

23 November, 2016

The DA blog will take a low profile for the next while, as I'm heading off to India for a Wordburger barnstormer, from Delhi to Jaipur. (Look for a column - and a Brainstorm - about the rare joys of Hinglish come late December.)

Before then, I've preloaded a few distractions, from the customary WoWs, to a few Clues of Repute, plus a Friday folly if you're up for the fun. So by all means drop by. Have a crack. Drop a line. Just don't think I've dropped off the perch. Blame Bangalore instead.

Meanwhile, to keep the mind in the mould, here's a dozen words we owe to Hindi. Can you devise a fresh clue for any example? Feel free to add the definition element only if it suits your clue's surface reading. Alavida, for now!

AVATAR

BUNGALOW

CASHMERE

CHUTNEY

COT

CUSHY

JUGGERNAUT (corruption of the god Jaganath)

PYJAMAS

SHAMPOO

SWASTIKA

SORBET (and not French as I'd suspected)

THUG

Enjoy the chicanery, and your early summer. Who will outdo the Hindo to-do?

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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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