Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 01, 2012 is:

abstruse • \ub-STROOSS\  • adjective
: difficult to comprehend

Examples:
The author's new book is not as

Did you know?
Look closely at the following Latin verbs, all of which are derived from the verb "trudere" ("to push"): "extrudere," "intrudere," "obtrudere," "protrudere." Each of these Latin verbs has an English descendant whose meaning involves pushing or thrusting. Another "trudere" offspring, "abstrudere", meaning "to push away" or "to conceal," gave English "abstrude," meaning "to thrust away." But that verb didn't make it past the 17th century. The "abstrudere" descendant that did survive is "abstruse," an adjective that recalls the meaning of its Latin parent "abstrusus," meaning "concealed."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 30, 2012 is:

spiel • \SPEEL\  • noun
: a voluble line of often extravagant talk : a speech delivered especially to sell or promote something

Examples:
Jonathan called the wireless company with a question about his bill; he was not expecting a spiel from a representative trying to sell him on a more expensive data plan.

"Springsteen has always been an incredible public speaker … because he is first and foremost a fan. And he gave a positively inspiring spiel in which that love came through, covering a half-century of pop-music through the prism of artists who influenced and inspired him…." — From an article by David Menconi in the Raleigh (North Carolina) News & Observer, March 16, 2012

Did you know?
There's more than one "spiel." Today's featured noun sense is well-known, and many of our readers may also be aware that "spiel" can be used as a verb for the act of talking extravagantly. But did you know that the verb can also mean "to play music"? That, in fact, was the word's original meaning — one it shares with its German root, "spielen." ("Spiel" is also found in "glockenspiel," a musical instrument similar to the xylophone.) In Scottish English, "spiel" is also sometimes used as a shortened form of "bonspiel," a name for a match or tournament of the icy game of curling.