Cartoon Theories of Linguistics—Part 12—Syllables—Phineas Q. Phlogiston, Ph.D. SpecGram Vol CLIV, No 4 Contents
 
HanjieLinguru II
α = a’s in semisomnambulistic
β = b’s in dacryocystoblennorrhea
γ = g’s in prorhipidoglossomorpha
δ = d’s in unmisunderstandable
ε = e’s in trihemitetartemorion
ζ = y’s in hyperpolysyllabic
η = h’s in chromophotolithograph
θ = t’s in counterattestation
ι = p’s in hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
κ = k’s in bibliokleptomaniacal kaskaskian knickknackery
λ = l’s in cellulifugally and cellulipetally
μ = m’s in multimammate mummiform metagrammatism
 

HanjieLinguru II

Trey Jones
l’École de SpecGram, Tokyo

That new batch of Puzzle Elves™ from Japan are at it again with another token of the Linguistically-Themed Pseudo-Nihonese Puzzle type: HanjieLinguru II.

HanjieLinguru is a simple extension of the traditional Hanjie form, but keeping with SpecGram tradition, it adds a thin veneer of linguistics that keeps all the non-linguists feeling woefully inadequate. The rules are simple: first, replace each Greek letter with the number indicated by the clue provided. Then proceed with the standard Hanjie rules to determine for each cell of the grid whether it should be black or white.

The cells in the grid are to be painted black according to the numbers given at the side of the grid, which indicate how many unbroken lines of painted squares there should be in each row or column, and how long each is. A clue of “2 1 4” would mean there are groups of two, one, and four black squares, in that order, with at least one white square between groups.

Try the HanjieLinguru II puzzle, at right, with cluesthis one is a bit harder than the previous HanjieLinguru. If you fool yourself into thinking you have a solution, email it to SpecGram. At least one random winner chosen from among those who send in correctly completed puzzles by September 15th, 2008 will get the usual prize.

Speaking of solutions, the solution to the previous HanjieLinguru puzzle is shown above at left. You may recognize our friend ƕ. The folks below certainly recognized it, since they sent in correct solutions and will be receiving SpecGram magnets of their choosing:
  • Declan Whitford Jones of Germantown, Maryland
  • Lieselotte Anderwald of Kiel, Germany
  • Nils Schäffer of Pfosing, Austria
  • Paula Arnas Antolín of Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Spain
  • Sara Kessler of Rechovot, Israel
  • Siva Kalyan of Princeton, New Jersey
The one and only solution to the current puzzle, and the names of any prize winners will appear in the upcoming November 2008 issue. And if you get to it right away, there may still be time to torture yourself with the final installment of the Transform Puzzles from the last issue.

Cartoon Theories of Linguistics—Part 12—Syllables—Phineas Q. Phlogiston, Ph.D.
SpecGram Vol CLIV, No 4 Contents