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Word of Mouth

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Series exploring the world of words and the ways in which we use them

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Word of Mouth: Language Games

Language Games

20/08/2013

BBC Radio 4 - Word of Mouth, Language Games

Chris Ledgard mulls over the language and peculiarity of puzzles.

Chris Ledgard visits the International Linguistics Olympiad to look at the language and peculiarity of puzzles.

From Ancient Greece, to Saturday nights watching TV, word puzzles have fascinated people for thousands of years. Chris Ledgard takes us on a journey through the language of puzzles, from anagrams to Call My Bluff, and visits the International Linguistics Olympiad to meet to some of the sharpest puzzle-solving minds in the business.

Puzzle setter for The Guardian, Chris Maslanka, explains the secrets of puzzle setting; Marcel Danesi from the University of Toronto explains the Riddle of the Sphinx; and scientist Katherine Friedlander explains how you can improve your puzzle solving.



Producer: Melvin Rickarby.

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