HashiWordakero—Lacuna Mamihlapinatapai SpecGram Vol CLVII, No η Contents Akróstichon—Dr. Dr. Fortina Haecceity, M.D., Ph.D.

Rasmus Rask Puzzle I

by Lila Rosa Grau

This puzzle is worth 8 points.

I always swoon a little when I think of my favorite linguist, Rasmus Rask—voted the most eligible bachelor in Philology in 1926 and 1927! And so, when SpecGram commissioned me to create a new type of puzzle for their Summer Puzzle Mega Issue, I decided to devote a puzzle to Mr. Charming Scandinavian Linguist himself.

A Rasmus Rask puzzle is similar to a crossword puzzle, in that there is a grid for filling in words and phrases, and clues for the ACROSS and DOWN directions. However, all the squares in a Rasmus Rask puzzle are filled with letters, and the answers to the clues may (but are not required to) overlap. Clues for a particular row or column are given together, in the order they appear in the grid. No indication of the amount of overlap between clues is given. Letters spelling out RASMUS RASK along the diagonal are given to provide a framework for filling in the answers.

ACROSS
0   • Order either felons or limits on phono. reqs.
• Brothers of the Daughters of the American Revolution (abbrev.)
 
1 • Each (abbrev.)
• 2 Fast 2 Furious actress Devon
• Hawaiian glottal stop
• Favorite alphabet of the SpecGram editorial board
 
2 • Coherent light beam
• Bad liquor
 
3 • Mythological first linguist (or at least onomast)
• Common name among Scottish linguists (one supposes)
 
4 • The thing that makes a thing worthy of linguistic and literary theoretical study
 
5 • Couches between the jejunum and the cecum?
 
6 • Small vessel, from Latin phiala
• Trier’s model of semantic change (abbrev.)
• Archaic group of three
• Common phrase type in Phrase Structure rules (abbrev.)
 
7 • What “bad” data ought to do to a “good” theory
 
8 • This esteemed journal (abbrev.)
• Probably more than one of these controls the development of language
• A poor alternative to choosing your own career in linguistics
• Secretive U.S. governmental employer of linguists
 
9 • Comic gimmick when performing at the Department of Language and Linguistics in Colchester, England?
  
0 R 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 
1      A                                                        
2         S                                                 
3                M                                          
4                       U                                   
5                              S                            
6                                     R                     
7                                            A              
8                                                   S       
9                                                          K

DOWN
0   • Use a conjunction to indicate a subordinate clause that modifies a noun, but outside the U.S.
 
1   • If ease of pronunciation were the only constraint on language change, this would be the only word in any language
• Anglo-Saxon princes
 
2   • “___ before a fight”—according to the movie Police Squad!
• Edges of the roof
 
3   • SpecGram Contributing Editor since Vol. CLIII No. 4 (initials)
• First responder often found in crosswords
• N’Awlins University
4   • A pointy diacritic
 
5   • The study of proper names
 
6 • “Happy ___ Day!”—used only by Latin-soaked classicists
• Steve McGarrett actor Jack
• Homer’s favorite syllable
 
7 • Saussure signifier
 
8 • The Simpsons character with the best accent
• Crossword great ape: orang___
• Formican insects
• Romantic “yes”, modulo the diacritics
 
9 • Language of a cuddly, favored rodent?
Solution.

HashiWordakero—Lacuna Mamihlapinatapai
Akróstichon—Dr. Dr. Fortina Haecceity, M.D., Ph.D.
SpecGram Vol CLVII, No η Contents