an absorbing romp through the history of mankind's preoccupation with the 403 septillion ways that the letters of the alphabet can be combined." -Los Angeles Times From the highbrow riddle to the lowly pun, The Oxford Guide to Word Games provides a comprehensive history of verbal wit and word play. Charades, hangman, anagrams, and tongue-twisters are among the many popular games described vividly in this new, updated edition of the lively guide to all kinds of word games and word play. With sections added to incorporate new and evolving games, Tony Augarde offers a highly entertaining history of the games and how to play them. Organized thematically, the book examines twenty-six forms of word game in absorbing detail, including Scrabble and Spoonerisms, crosswords and chronograms, riddles and puns. Neither the crossword addict nor the student of linguistics and lexicography will be able to resist.