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Diabolically Arcane

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Salon 47 - Only Connect

6 October, 2014

Found a fantastic bunch of lateral thinking puzzles. It's a fan-site for Only Connect, a BBC gameshow that asks contestants to link unlikely words or names. BIRDS, PINK, SHUT and MAGIC, say, can all precede EYE. While ORPHAN, RIVER, WIDOW and GUTTER are all typesetting terms.

In the same spirit, what links these:  

DA1 - Arctic, hill, elope, hem

DA2 - pride, flock, swarm, blend  

DA3 - prawn, serpent, trout, warrior  

DA4 - cone, inane, tern, cast  

DA5 - pack, charge, steel, raid

Invent your own, if you like. See if you can stump us. And/or share the pick of crosswords from The G and The Times. Like this gem from a recent puzzle: Make an effort and breed (6). Enjoy your week.

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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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Recent Comments

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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