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Pharmacography

5 February, 2013

This week’s Storm enters the realm of medicine. The contest is sparked by my next Wordplay column, which tackles the X- and Z-obsession of drug names. The other trigger was this comical quiz appearing in Wired magazine.

Your challenge is twofold. Challenge (A) is creating a new drug name, and telling us what purpose it serves. This can be a real ailment, or perhaps a modern condition, like Lisa Simpson being prescribed Ignorital to help her quell her own eco-anxiety.

Challenge (B) is to select a word or name that already exists. Treat it drugwise, and tell us what it does. In that way, Fandango could be a cooling agent to help you maintain maximum performance. Or Deniliquin could be a malaria pill for lion country.

You get the script? Invent a medical alias, and submit two candidates in both categories for voting before Thursday 6pm. That’s four names overall. As for voting, let’s make it 3/2/1 in each category, and see who’s the fizziest Pfizer among us. Get quacking.

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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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