Master wordsmith and crossword guru David Astle shows how cryptic crosswords can boost your brain power and improve your memory and cognitive capacity.Recent studies have shown that puzzle-solving and wordplay are among the most effective ways to boost the power and agility of your brain. A cryptic crossword a day can help keep memory loss at bay.Why? The answer lies in the art of teasing out a clue, a discipline that calls for logic, interpretation, intuit...

Are you sick of the same old tourist spots like the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House? Do you own too many happy snaps of koalas and kangaroos? Offbeat Australia is the guide to the weird and wonderful attractions that most tourists miss.Explore the odd places that make Australia truly offbeat. Find out where you can:sleep with lionsjoin a riverboat postman on his routerent a cave for a nightentertain the kids at gruesome hideouts, quirky mazes and ...

*Why are ladies like arrows?When is a bird not a bird?What do you call a nun with a washing machine on her head?*Welcome to the weird new word adventure from David Astle, plunging into the realm of riddles, chasing down and prising open 101 curious questions from around the planet. A mindtrip across time and place, Riddledom uncovers relics from over 50 cultures, delving into language and deception, sampling Pompeii walls and Dothraki warriors. Readers can ...

As a child, David Astle's hero was the Riddler. Figuring out brainteasers like 'Where is a man drowned but still not wet?' (quicksand) and 'How many sides has a circle?' (two - the inside and the outside) became an obsession and, eventually, his life: his cryptic crosswords now appear in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald every week, to the delight and frustration of thousands.In Puzzled, Astle offers a helping hand to the perplexed and the infatuated alik...

Puzzles and Words 2 is the second pocket-sized puzzle book from Australia's best known puzzle-maker and word nerd, David Astle.There are over 175 original puzzles from anagrams to riddles and quizzes for all ages and all levels. Accompanying these are some 250 of David's entertaining word stories-What does zemblanity mean? How does cosmic link to cosmetic? Where does a seahorse sleep each night with an almond?Puzzles and Words 2 will keep your brain active...

Fun facts about 101 of the weirdest words in the English language from the wordiest guy around, David Astle - plus 3 bonus fake words: can you spot them?101 Weird Words (and Three Fakes) is a mini-dictionary jam-packed with unusual or interesting words, followed by a fun and descriptive definition for each one. Filled with silly pictures and strange wordy facts, this is a book to sweep the reader through the alphabet from AMBIDEXTROUS (no repeated letters)...

How to be a champion word puzzler in 20 quick bites! Packed with word puzzles, tongue twisters and brain teasers, this book will give readers all the ingredients they need to solve cryptic crosswords.Kids of a certain age become obsessed with crossword puzzles: what are they? how do they work? when can I solve one all on my own? Word wizard David Astle has come up with a sneaky way to introduce children to the mechanics of cryptic crossword puzzles, by taking them ...

Puzzles and Words is a medley of puzzles and surprising word stories in one pocket-sized volume from Australia's best-known wordsmith, David Astle.There are over 170 original brain teasers from anagrams to word pyramids to keep all levels and ages challenged and amused. Accompanying these are some 200 of David's entertaining word stories that unlock the secrets and origins of everything from what a charnie is, to where Google's name came from and how Spanish roosters crow....

Ben Aaronovitch's bestselling Rivers of London urban fantasy series • “The perfect blend of CSI and Harry Potter.” —io9 • 2015 Locus Recommended Reading for FantasyWhen two young girls go missing in rural Herefordshire, police constable and wizard-in-training Peter Grant is sent out of London to check that nothing supernatural is involved.It’s purely routine—Nightingale, Peter’s superior, thinks he’ll be done in less than a day. But Peter’s never b...

BODY AND SOULThe song. That’s what London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant first notices when he examines the corpse of Cyrus Wilkins, part-time jazz drummer and full-time accountant, who dropped dead of a heart attack while playing a gig at Soho’s 606 Club. The notes of the old jazz standard are rising from the body—a sure sign that something about the man’s death was not at all natural but instead supernatural.Body and soul—they’re also what Peter will risk...

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author and “one of the modern masters of fantasy writing,” (Huffington Post) a dazzling, witty telling of the Norse myths."A lively, funny, and very human rendition of Thor the thunder god, his father Odin, and the dark-hearted trickster Loki (plus countless other gods and monsters)." — Petra Mayer, NPRNeil Gaiman, long inspired by ancient mythology in creating the fantastical realms ...

Mage Alex Verus is caught between a rock and a hard place in the eighth urban fantasy novel from the national bestselling author of Burned.Right now I wasn’t seeing Richard as the teacher out of my nightmares; he was just another Dark mage, and I looked into the future to see what would happen if I turned that knife on him instead…Alex Verus is still haunted by his time apprenticed to Richard Drakh. He’s been free of him for many years, bu...