It only took them 10 minutes:

[13:38] — alecm has changed the topic to: n1w s5t l2e n4d f1r c5l, p4e a3y w4n
[13:40] <davew> Erm
[13:41] <Avalon> *scratches head*
[13:41] <davew> Working on the basis that this follows the form of “i18n” etc
[13:42] <diamond> 1-5, 5 vowels? Nope, that doesn’t work
[13:42] <davew> 1st word is likely to be “new”
[13:42] <davew> 5th word likely to be “for”
[13:44] <davew> 3rd word could be “lame”
[13:45] <davew> Scratch the last guess
[13:46] <alecm> the hint is in the context
[13:46] <davew> 2nd word is therefore “subject” 🙂
[13:47] <Avalon> i get 5 matches from google for a search on all 8 3 letter words
[13:47] <davew> 3rd word is “line“
[13:48] <diamond> ah
[13:48] <davew> 4th may well be “need”
[13:48] <diamond> new subject needed for c____l….
[13:48] <diamond> channel
[13:48] <diamond> please
[13:48] <davew> apply
[13:48] <diamond> good
[13:48] <Avalon> within
[13:48] <alecm> yay!
[13:48] <davew> Bingo 🙂
[13:49] <alecm> see how much time is saved through that syntax ?