Issue three of the Puzzle Section is up.

It’s a themer in the style of one you’d expect from DA.

The cryptic is an updated version of an old AS Special.

Issue two of the Puzzle Section is out.

The cryptic is somewhat harder than an LR and somewhat easier than a DA — I think that’s called the sweet spot.

If you’re feeling down about a lack of LR today in the Fairfax papers, try the Puzzle Section.

The first issue of the Puzzle Section is out, and the cryptic is penned by me!

An abiding obsession of each of the founders of the DA Trippers is the funk.

And yet again, the funk delivers, this time with a crossword anthem. Sly Stone, we thank you.

You fine DA Trippers might be interested in The Cruciverbalist.

Looks like fun… I find it odd that newspapers are still the primary vehicle for the cryptic… could the Cruciverbalist mag be the future?

So I’ve updated the theme again. This time, it’s because the previous theme was faulty: whenever it would update itself, the theme would bring back threaded replies, which I think we’ve decided is not what we want on the site.

Sorry for the multiple theme updates. But I hope you like this one!

As posted earlier, there’ll be no DA published this week, so why not this excellent themer from around Christmas 2011?

No DA for Christmas this year. And there was no LR on Monday.

All in all, a terrible week for cunning cruciverbalists, but hey, it’s Christmas. What’s to complain about, really?

Oh, and SMH peeps: I’m informed there will be a giant-sized cryptic-rich holiday crossword coming your way on the weekend as compensation for the lack of Friday fun.

We’ve undoubtedly got some budding crossword compilers in our midst.

If you’ve tuned in late, I’m choosing the best of an excellent bunch of clues for Riddledom, which is the title of DA’s fun and wondrous new book on a subject dear to all our hearts, riddles.

There was plenty of wonderful wordplay on offer, and first off, I thought I’d highlight four that I thought were excellent but needed a tiny bit more work:

RL: The Book of David will abolish initial doubts of model in decline – so good, I love that model in decline can mean many things and reveals itself as the last five letters of riddledom, but ultimately I did not add it to the short list of contenders because will is just hanging around. If will was to, the clue would have probably made the short list.
Kerry: Enigma champagne – I like the combination of champagne and enigma, but probably needed little more something to combine the two concepts more elegantly.
DA Nut: DA’s book to fiddle more, diddle less – almost, so almost. Just thought less wasn’t quite enough to signify drop the last letter on diddle and have that be the anagram’s fodder.
V&A: Spooner swindles short affair for DA’s tale – so close, but swindles becomes diddles, which means there’s an extra s marring this otherwise excellent clue.

For my short list of contenders, I chose the following fantastic five:

Bernie: Damaged home contents: David’s latest concern – very elegant surface reading, very understated, great misdirection with a potential anagram indicator being a straight synonym. Classy.
Bondles: Astle’s work in large brassiere held by muddy whip-wielder – excellent job playing to my preference for a little blue in a cryptic clue, and had me learning a new meaning for the word rile.
Tom: “Holey Mantra,” David’s writing – I liked thinking of riddledom as riddled om. I think that’s also a great title for a book about a drugged-up hippie.
Ray: Book bore Portuguese title – so ridiculously elegant with excellent misdirections on Portuguese title and on bore.
Helen Ryan: Q & A for Spooner’s trick of memory – it’s an elegant Spoonerism with a verb/noun misdirection — what more could one want?

Of those fantastic five, I chose the following thrilling three as winners:

Bondles: Astle’s work in large brassiere held by muddy whip-wielder
Ray: Book bore Portuguese title
Helen Ryan: Q & A for Spooner’s trick of memory

Bondles, Ray and Helen Ryan, shoot through an email with your address details so a copy of DA’s book can be posted to you. In the right-hand column of this website is the email address to send your details to.

Congratulations one and all.

David Astle, that’s DA, has a new book out.

DA’s specialty is riddles: he releases a whole set of them each week. Now, there’s Riddledom:

‘If you think riddles are solely the stuff of schoolyards and Christmas crackers, you’re about to have your head refurbished’ – David Astle

Welcome to a weird new word adventure from David Astle. Join him, as he plunges into the realm of riddles, chasing down and prising open 101 curious questions from around the planet.

• 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?

A mind-trip across time and place, RIDDLEDOM uncovers relics from over 50 cultures, delving into language and deception, sampling Pompeii walls and Dothraki warriors.

Readers can unravel each mini-chapter, wrestling with riddles from Wonderland or Zanzibar, Oedipus Rex or Harry Potter. Come meet French acrobats, coffee slaves, lusty maids and many more along the way. RIDDLEDOM is your chance to roam Tasmania and Mongolia, Fiji and Peru, seeking riddles on clay tablets and Popsicle sticks.

And to celebrate its publishing, Allen & Unwin have made three copies available to me to give away.

So to get yourself a copy, make a cryptic clue whose answer is RIDDLEDOM. The authors of the three clues I consider the best will be sent a copy of Riddledom.

Please limit yourself to two submissions just for my sanity. Do note: I have a weakness for &lit clues, Spoonerisms and slightly blue references.

Clue submissions will close at 23:59 on Tuesday, 8th of September. I’ll announce the winners the following day.