Here you'll find a variety of puzzle themed items and pieces of information to hold your interest. Learn about some of the wonderful words and phrases in our everyday language, find out about the health benefits of crosswords and puzzles, be entertained by Christine's Hello column… and there's much more on offer. The latest submissions appear below. Thanks for dropping by and we hope you enjoy your visit.
Christmas words often appear in our crosswords even outside of the season. The word Christmas can sometimes be clued as ‘Noël’, ‘Yuletide’, or ‘Present-giving occasion’.
Noël is a French word from the Latin nātālis meaning ‘a birth’. ‘Natale domini’ is another Latin phrase related to nātālis, meaning ‘birth of the Lord’. The given name Natalie [more…]
In Japan, for example, celebrating Christmas has only become widely celebrated in the last few decades, and because there isn’t a high population of Christians in Japan, it is seen as more of a family celebration than a religious holiday. One Christmas Eve and Christmas Day tradition in Japan is the eating of fried [more…]
The word comes from Old French estoffe ‘quilted material, furniture, provisions’ from estoffer ‘to equip’ from the Greek stuphein to draw together’.
You can do stuff for each other or you can use it as ‘etcetera’ – “she learned ballet and yoga and stuff”. “That’s the stuff!” is said in approval of something that has [more…]
I’m very excited to introduce to you all the newest addition to our Handy magazine range – Handy Binary + Hexoku! The latest craze for lovers of sudoku, these puzzles offer a fun twist on the original format, and only require logical thinking, not maths skills, to solve. With more than 120 binary and [more…]
The popular myth of the founding of Rome is the story of twins Romulus and Remus who were reared by a wolf. They decided to build a city but when Romulus killed Remus after a quarrel, in 753 BC, the city was named Rome after Romulus. There are other theories though, such as the [more…]
Papa, Vader, Baba, Apa, Dad, Daddy… There are many ways to say ‘father’, and many different definitions of the English word ‘father’ in the dictionary. Your father is your male parent, or a man who has raised you, a man can father a child, and a man who invented or started something can be [more…]
To give your word is to make a promise. If you keep your promises, then you’re as good as your word. You can put in a good word for someone, or have the last word, meaning ‘to make the closing remark of an argument’ but when something is the last word, it means it’s [more…]
Did you know that Australia and New Zealand are world famous for their coffee? It’s true, our coffee trends are copied as far away as London and New York. London has some top cafes dedicated to the antipodean style.
Yet it wasn’t always this way. Back in the 70s and 80s, the coffee was usually [more…]
