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Puzzled
Puzzled: Secrets and clues from a life in words | David Astle
31 posts | 1 to read
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 alike, taking us on a personal tour into the secret life of words. Beginning with a Master Puzzle, he leads us through each of the clues, chapter by chapter, revealing the secrets of anagrams, double meanings, manipulations, spoonerisms and hybrid clues. More than a how-to manual and more than a memoir, Puzzled is a book for word junkies everywhere.
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Amiable
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Well, I WAS going to do some audiopuzzling, but then my son sat down and completed the entire 1,000-piece puzzle in just a few hours. 🤷🏻‍♀️ It‘s pretty, though—isn‘t it ?

AmyG It‘s beautiful. And only a few hours? Wow. 3y
Gissy Pandemic boredom? 🤣😂🤣😂

Beautiful puzzle!😍📚📚📚❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚
Where did you find it? I‘m not a fan of puzzles but that one I can fell in love with it and do it.
3y
LauraBeth I‘m super impressed! I have this puzzle and I ended up bailing on it bc I found it too difficult 😂 3y
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Amiable @Gissy It‘s definitely“trapped at home with Mom and Dad during a pandemic Christmas” boredom. 😀 I think I got the puzzle at SeriousPuzzles.com? (edited) 3y
Amiable @LauraBeth @AmyG This is the son who is an actual, real rocket scientist. I fully expected to spend at least the next few weeks struggling with it on my own. 😄 Now I‘m going to have to take it apart when he leaves and start all over again! (edited) 3y
Lindy 😂👏👏👏 3y
Traci1 Love that puzzle 😍 3y
cozypunk Ok, my mind has been blown! 3y
Tanisha_A 😍 wow 3y
juliekay Your son sounds like my husband. I can sit there for hours trying to find the right pieces. He sits there for an hour and fills in half the puzzle. I like doing them, but I‘m not very speedy at them. 3y
80 likes10 comments
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TEArificbooks
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Took a few days off reading to puzzle. And this happened. 😫😤😢🥺😡😱

britt_brooke Oh no!! 😫 4y
Mrs_B That is the worst! 4y
peaKnit I just found my last piece of a 1000 piece puzzle under my rug today! I finished the puzzle in March😂 (edited) 4y
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Lesanne 🤦🏻‍♀️ 4y
hannah-leeloo Oh no. Its a beautiful puzzle too. I know this pain, I love jigsaws 😔 4y
jdiehr Been there, done that. 4y
JoScho That is the worst! 4y
BookDragonNotWorm Ugh, I hate it when that happens! Hopefully it will turn up. 4y
CoverToCoverGirl Yikes! 🤭 4y
Ladygodiva7 A beautiful puzzle tho!! 4y
37 likes10 comments
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OrangeMooseReads
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NEW PUZZLES! Ordered from Puzzle Warehouse. Can‘t wait to put these together.
#quarentinelife #puzzlenerd

squirrelbrain They look fab! 4y
OrangeMooseReads @squirrelbrain the Vote for Women has a sheet/poster with a little bit about each woman pictured 😍 4y
squirrelbrain Even better! ❤️ 4y
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JoScho I don‘t know which one is my fave! I love Frida but all of them are awesome! 4y
OrangeMooseReads @JoScho I‘m having a hard tome picking a favorite as well 😊 4y
Leftcoastzen Wow !!nice puzzles! 4y
44 likes6 comments
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TheHeartlandBookFairy
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I did a curbside pickup for this adorable "I'd rather be reading" puzzle as we entered into the stay-at-home orders in our state. I'm still working about 40 hours a week and, my days off have luckily (for my yard) coincided with some nicer weather so I haven't even started this puzzle yet but I have got a lot of yard work done! I will get to the puzzle eventually, can't wait to see how this one comes together ???? #makeeverymomentcount ❤️

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Julsmarshall
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Our Christmas puzzle this year was a library puzzle! I did some audio puzzling but most of it was done chatting with the family. #wintergames #holidaytradition #elfies @StayCurious @Clwojick @Bookwormjillk

Tamra Yikes! I‘m feeling accomplished when my daughter and I finish a 300 piece. 😆 4y
Itchyfeetreader Wow this is beautiful and I love this tradition 4y
Bookwormjillk +21 love it! 4y
35 likes3 comments
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Marmie7
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Finished my puzzle! Received this 2 Christmas' ago, figured it was finally time to put it together😁 #teamstoker #scarathlon @TheReadingMermaid

BeansPage It's gorgeous! 🧟‍♀️ 4y
Tamra Beautiful! 4y
27 likes2 comments
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PathfinderNicole
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Watching the new season of Haunted on Netflix and doing a Halloween themed puzzle!! #scarathon #teamstoker @TheReadingMermaid

BeansPage 🧟‍♀️ 4y
17 likes1 comment
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andrew61

#booked2019 @BarbaraTheBibliophage @Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft
Hello all, i am just planning summer books for the challenge. Im just a bit stumped by genre busting. Im sure it's pretty obvious but could someone enlighten me!

mreads I picked a book that was a blend of genres, graphic novel, memoir, political essay. 5y
saresmoore I interpret it to mean a book that the sellers can‘t decide where to shelve it. I read the tagged book and even after finishing, I can‘t solve the bookseller‘s dilemma. “Is it literary fiction or fantasy or experimental or prose poetry??” 5y
Cinfhen @saresmoore and @mreads are both correct!! It‘s a book that can‘t be clearly labeled one genre ❤️ (edited) 5y
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andrew61 @Cinfhen @saresmoore @mreads thanks, I'll put my thinking cap on ☺ 5y
LiterRohde I was considering this for awhile and am planning to read it in the future. 5y
LiterRohde I needed up reading this book for the prompt. My review is the first post (as of right now) when you click on the link. (edited) 5y
21 likes6 comments
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Nessavamusic
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And bookish puzzle is done!

BethM 😍 5y
Linsy Beautiful! Jealous! 💚💚💚 5y
hermyknee I love this! 5y
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megnews Love it! 5y
bookish_wookish This is amazing! 5y
Tamra Wow! 5y
shellleigh33 Beautiful ❤️ 5y
iread2much That is a super cool puzzle! 5y
84 likes9 comments
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KatieanneF
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Big weekend, folks 🧩. Excited to frame and hang this over our new bookcase 💙 📚

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SW-T
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Well, we finished our puzzle. We double checked the box, but pieces were definitely missing. First time that‘s happened. Certainly made things exciting for a while.

Years ago a paperback was missing the last few pages. Wrote the publisher and they sent a new copy. Don‘t think we‘ll worry about the puzzle though. Rather just start a new one.

rather_be_reading 😍😍 5y
19 likes1 comment
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OrangeMooseReads
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Started this last night and just finished it. It‘s a really nice puzzle for The Dollar Tree

Bibliogeekery Lovely! 5y
Marina_h That's gorgeous! 5y
OrangeMooseReads @Bibliogeekery @Marina_h it is, the picture doesn‘t do it justice. I was very pleasantly surprised. 5y
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MaleficentBookDragon Ohhhh. I like that one. 5y
Faibka It‘s lovely! 💕 I love puzzles 5y
CometReadings That's fantastic! Love puzzles.😄 5y
TNbookworm ❤ this! 5y
88 likes1 stack add7 comments
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Suetara
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My oldest and I complete lots of puzzles over the kids‘ holiday break. Our latest is a bookish one. We bought a B&N one that is made up of covers of sci-fi/fantasy books. That one is up next.

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Suelizbeth
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Puzzle fun on a Friday! 🧩🧩

Leftcoastzen Cool ! Love the New Yorker puzzles! 5y
ephemeralwaltz 😍😍 I love this! 5y
Bookzombie So cute! 5y
75 likes3 comments
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Sarah83
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Look @Heideschrampf .... The next jigsaw 🤩😍

EH2018 So cool!! 5y
65 likes1 comment
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Sarah83
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Just finished it yesterday evening 😍 @Heideschrampf

Now I need to look, where I hide the second jigsaw. 😂😂😂

aprilpohren Wow! Love it!! 5y
rather_be_reading 😍😍 5y
julesG 😍👍 5y
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julesG BTW, still have 3 or 4 undone jigsaw puzzles in my closet. I need one of these puzzle rolls. 5y
Heideschrampf Woha. How long did it take you??? 5y
readordierachel That's so cool! 5y
Buechersuechtling @Sarah83 Sorry, but I just developed a crush on your jigsaw 🧩. Well done. 👍🏼 5y
Sarah83 @julesG they are really great. 😍🤩 5y
Sarah83 @Heideschrampf yesterday or you mean the whole time? 5y
Sarah83 @Buechersuechtling yes it is so great 😍 5y
Kaye Do you have a guess how long it took from start to finish ? 5y
Sarah83 @kaye in hours? I mostly did it on Sundays... Maybe ten hours?! 5y
Kaye I like doing puzzles but I‘m not very good at them. It‘d take me 10 weeks. That‘s if my husband was home to help. I sit and stare for hours looking for a piece, and he walks by and picks one up and puts it in the right spot ! 🧐 5y
Sarah83 @kaye I did a lot of jigsaws, when I was little, so I always use a strategy to puzzle it. 😉 5y
86 likes14 comments
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Sarah83
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My jigsaw looks already pretty good. 😁😍 @Heideschrampf I finally do my jigsaw. 😊

Heideschrampf And you‘re pretty far along at it! Well done! 5y
81 likes1 comment
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Sarah83
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Just needed a break from reading. Starting the puzzle season for this year. 🤩😍

Tamra They make such good puzzles. 5y
Moony Ist das eine Puzzle-Matte? 5y
Sarah83 @Moony japp. Ist es. 😁 Sehr praktisch. 5y
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Moony Oh cool, ich überlege mir auch eine anzuschaffen. Kannst du mir evtl. die Firma nennen? 5y
Sarah83 @Moony ich hab den Vorgänger, da war es noch keine Plastikröhre sondern eine zum aufblasen, aber allein das mit der Filzmatte ist schon sehr cool. 5y
Moony Super! Dankeschön! 5y
71 likes8 comments
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Conservio
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Does this book list familiar to anyone? I don‘t remember printing it off and there‘s only a few books in here that I would read. #puzzled #lists #help

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JulAnna
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I thought this would be a good snow day project! 😊

emilyhaldi Fun!! ❄️ 6y
LeahBergen Perfect! 😍 6y
Mommamanzi This puzzle makes me so happy! Enjoy! 6y
JulAnna I am looking forward to working on it during the Olympics! 6y
43 likes5 comments
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Kappadeemom
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Last night some of my family sat around the dining room table and put together this puzzle I received from @Reviewsbylola from my #secretsantapostalexchange. I really enjoyed our time spent together 😍😍

Dolly What literary fun! We‘ve been doing lots of puzzles this week too but unfortunately none are book related. 📚 6y
MinDea That is an awesome puzzle!!!! 6y
Reviewsbylola Yay!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 6y
L_auren @Reviewsbylola nice choice 6y
Ehbooklover I got this puzzle for Christmas! 😍 6y
66 likes5 comments
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Bostonmomx2
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My mom just got this puzzle for her bday so I know what we‘ll be doing over Christmas!

AceOnRoam That's awesome! 6y
TrishB Lovely ❤️ 6y
BookMaven407 💜 6y
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Tamra 👏🏾 6y
[DELETED] 3803335244 I love this puzzle! 6y
Bostonmomx2 @ForeverNerdy I can‘t wait to start it. 6y
91 likes6 comments
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JoeStalksBeck
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“This would definitely bring on the apocalypse in my home “. That‘s my #quotsynovember quote for #puzzles 😂😂

Leniverse That alarm clock would get smashed to pieces on the first day. 😵 6y
JoeStalksBeck @Leniverse right!?!! Lmao! 6y
DGRachel That wouldn‘t work for me. I tried the “put the alarm on the other side of the room” thing in high school. I could walk across the room, hit the snooze button, and fall right back asleep. 😂 6y
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Gina That is pure evil! 6y
tournevis 👍👍👍 6y
SilversReviews Oh my!! 6y
PerksOfBeingABookworm Hell to the no. I prefer the way my wife wakes me up--unleashing the hyper puppy in the bedroom. 😆 6y
RadicalReader @JoeStalksBeck makes me think about the alarm clock that hides itself until you wake up and find it to turn it off 6y
JoeStalksBeck @RadicalReader I‘d burn my house down to kill it lol 6y
mjdowens Sledgehammer first time! 6y
116 likes10 comments
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kitty_reads
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Discovered all of these puzzle books in my room and am going to work my way through them! So satisfying to finish one!

Megabooks 😎 7y
drbethandherkindle Please keep us posted on that American Girl game book 😂😂 7y
13 likes3 comments
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Betty
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I'm puzzled. Does Litsy ever merge duplicate titles? For example there are 3 of Ivey's Snow Child in the data base, plus a fourth off screen. Two of To The Bright Edge of the World. How do we know where to post?

BookishMarginalia Yes, they do. I think the email is librarian at Litsy.com but I'm sure if you shake the phone and leave them a message they will confirm what you need to do to report duplicates and inaccuracies 👍🏼 7y
DivineDiana I too have found this confusing! 7y
Betty @BookishMarginalia Thanks! Shook my phone--amazing technique! 7y
22 likes4 comments