David Robert Astle (born 9 November 1961) is an Australian TV personality and radio host, and writer of non-fiction, fiction and plays. He also co-hosted the

SBS Television The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World Movies, SBS ...

(SBS) show ''

Letters and Numbers ''Letters and Numbers'' is an Australian game show on SBS (Australian TV channel), SBS. It is hosted by former newsreader Richard Morecroft, co-hosted by David Astle and Lily Serna. Although it is based on the France, French game show ''Des chiff ...

'', as the dictionary expert, in company with

Richard Morecroft Richard Morecroft (born 20 January 1956) is an English-born Australian radio announcer, TV newsreader and presenter, and conservationist. He presented the Adelaide News bulletin, before becoming the long-running host of the nightly bulletin of ...

and Lily Serna, a role to which he returned for ''

Celebrity Letters and Numbers ''Celebrity Letters and Numbers'' is an Australian comedy panel game show on SBS which premiered on 2 October 2021. It is a revived version of the game show ''Letters and Numbers'', which aired on SBS from 2010 to 2012, with an altered format w ...

'' in 2021.

Career

Astle's cryptic crosswords, appearing under the name "DA" in ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' and ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' (for which he also writes the "Wordplay" section), have developed a large following which includes musician

Holly Throsby Holly Sarah Throsby is an Australian musician and novelist. Her work as a solo artist has produced six albums. She was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Female Artist in 2006 for '' Under the Town''; and in the same category in 2008 for '' ...

and actor

Geoffrey Rush Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. Known for often playing eccentric roles on both stage and screen, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Geoffrey Rush, numerous accolades, including an Academy Aw ...

. Rush called him "the

Sergeant Pepper ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (often referred to simply as ''Sgt. Pepper'') is the eighth studio album by the English rock music, rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by Musicology#Education a ...

of cryptic crosswords". In 2011, his portrait called "DA" painted by artist Amanda Marburg, was shortlisted for the

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

. Astle's 2013 book ''Cluetopia: The story of 100 years of the crossword'' celebrates the centenary of the crossword with a chapter for each year. Astle is a three times winner of the Banjo Paterson Writing Award. He won third prize in

The Age Short Story Award ''The Age'' Short Story Award is a competition that is run in conjunction with International PEN, the international writers' association. It was established in 1979. From 1979 to 1984 it was run in conjunction with ''Tabloid Story'' and was know ...

in 1990 and his first novel, ''Marzipan Plan'', was shortlisted for the

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the Will (law), will of Miles Franklin ...

. In 2001 he won the James Joyce Suspended Sentence Award for short fiction. His play ''Cowboy Humour'' was part of the Short and Sweet play festival in 2008, which has previously featured Astle's plays including ''The Gentleman Had An Axe'' in 2007 and ''The Mercy Kitchen''. Astle has taught journalism at

RMIT University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...

and in 2004 was awarded a DSC Teaching Award for best sessional teacher. In 2013, he helped create the word " phub" (a portmanteau of phone and snub), for when someone is ignored in favour of a mobile phone.

Radio & Television

In 2010 Astle was part of

, an Australian reboot of the UK series

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

. Astle was the dictionary expert alongside host

and maths expert Lily Serna. The show was produced by

Shine Australia Endemol Shine Australia is a subsidiary of Banijay Entertainment, a global content production and distribution company. The current CEO of Endemol Shine Australia is Peter Newman. Endemol Shine Australia is based in Sydney. The company’s pro ...

and ran for two seasons on

SBS TV SBS TV (Seoul Broadcasting System Television) is a South Korean free-to-air television channel operated by Seoul Broadcasting System. The channel was launched on 9 December 1991. Unlike competing network MBC, SBS operates using a federalized ...

. From 2015 Astle was a fill-in host on

ABC Radio Melbourne ABC Radio Melbourne (official List of radio station callsigns in Victoria, callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924 and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after Radi ...

as well as a regular word expert on ABC TV's ''

News Breakfast ''News Breakfast'' is an Australian news breakfast television program. It is broadcast on ABC TV and ABC News channel from 6:00 am to 9:00 am AEST or AEDT on weekdays and is hosted by James Glenday and Bridget Brennan. The program is also ...

''. In December 2019, Astle was appointed as host of the ''Evenings'' radio program on

and ABC Local Radio in Victoria replacing

Lindy Burns Lindy Burns is an Australian radio presenter. Career Burns started in radio at 1233 ABC Newcastle co-presenting the Saturday morning sports program "All in the Game" she has been a sports commentator with Triple J and presenting the statewide S ...

. Throughout 2019 Astle filled in for Burns whilst she was on long service leave. In 2021

was created with Astle returning as dictionary expert alongside Serna and new host Michael Hing. The show is currently in its third season and has featured guests including Nakkaih Lui,

Aaron Chen Aaron Chen (born ) is an Australian comedian and actor from Sydney. Early life and education Chen was born in . His parents are Chinese. His father, Peter, was a sent-down youth in the Cultural Revolution. His mother died in 2000 from breast ...

and Benjamin Law.

Bibliography

Novels

*''Marzipan Plan'' *''The Book of Miles'' (Minerva, 1997) 1-86330-589-0

Non-fiction

* "Rewording the Brain" (Allen & Unwin, 2018) * "Riddledom: 101 Riddles and Their Stories" (Allen & Unwin, 2015) * "Cluetopia: The story of 100 years of the crossword" (Allen & Unwin, 2013) * "Puzzles and Words 1" (Allen & Unwin, 2013) 9781743318546 * "Puzzles and Words 2" (Allen & Unwin, 2013) 9781743318546 * ''Puzzled: Secrets and Clues From a Life Lost in Words'' (Allen & Unwin, 2010) * ''Cassowary Crossing'' (Penguin Books, 2005) ; (re-jacketed as ''Offbeat Australia'' (Penguin Books, 2007) ) * ''One Down, One Missing'' (Hardie Grant Books, 2003) 9781740661416

For children

* ''Wordburger'' (Allen & Unwin, 2015) * ''David Astle's Gargantuan Book of Words'' (Allen & Unwin, 2017) * ''David Astle's 101 Weird Words (and 3 fakes): From Ambidextrous to Zugzwang'' (Allen & Unwin, 2018)

Plays

* ''The Gentleman Had an Axe'' (2007) * ''Cowboy Humour'' (2008) * ''The Mercy Kitchen'' (2008)

References

External links

Official siteCryptopia
a short documentary on DA and his crosswords
Hacronyms
an article by David Astle
The DA Trippers
a blog that pays homage to DA cryptics

an essay that originally appeared in

Meanjin ''Meanjin'' (), formerly ''Meanjin Papers'' and ''Meanjin Quarterly'', is one of Australia's longest-running literary magazines. Established in 1940 in Brisbane, it moved to Melbourne in 1945 and as of 2008 is an editorially independent impri ...

about how Astle sees words and the world
Astle's profile on Letters and Numbers websiteDavid Astle Re-works Words
a

Wheeler Centre The Wheeler Centre, originally Centre of Books, Writing and Ideas, is a literary and publishing centre founded as part of Melbourne's bid to be a Unesco Creative City of Literature, which designation it earned in 2008. It is named after its pa ...

video
David Astle on ABC's The Conversation HourPhubbing: A Word is Born videoLeaping lexicons: David Astle and the joy of words on ABC's ConversationsDo Not Ask for Whom the Pinball Chimes
David Astle at the

Gala 2017.
David Astle on ABC Radio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Astle, David 1961 births Living people 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian male writers Australian male novelists Australian male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Australian dramatists and playwrights Australian non-fiction writers Writers from Melbourne People educated at Barker College 21st-century Australian male writers Crossword creators Australian male non-fiction writers