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News Clues 13

29 May, 2013

Over the last few months I’ve been composing a clue for Jonathan Green’s Sunday Extra on Radio National. The answer is always a name in the news. (You can catch the conundrum online, or on air – with the winner anounced by show’s finale.) Some recent examples:

STELLA PRIZE: Revolutionary mattresses spring up as declared
ERIC ROOZENDAAL: Cleaner radio broadcast captivates our nation
DAVID BECKHAM: Eager beaver initially cut the cards for radio enthusiast

As you can see – no defintion is needed. Just the wordplay. But can you play with some of these more difficult names in the news? The first few seem ripe for a rumble, while I’d be mightily wowed if anyone can make a pearl from these last three:

  1. BILL GATES
  2. STEPHEN DANK – aka Dr Ageless
  3. HOUSE RULES – one more reality show
  4. CHRIS HADFIELD – charismatic Canadian astronaut back to earth
  5. DISABILITYCARE – the new trust fund-to-be
  6. INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE – the league of graft and swagger
  7. ABDELLATIF KECHICHE – Palme D'Or winner for his lesbian love film, Blue is the Warmest Colour

No Stella prizes, just a test of stellar skills. Chance your arm.

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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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