Davie Dunnit’s Disparaging Dictionary—Advertisement SpecGram Vol CLXVI, No 2 Contents

The “Panama Guzzler” Anagram Puzzle

Trey Jones
l’École de SpecGram, Washington D.C.

You may or may not have noticed something a bit off in the article earlier in this issue by Barb Tyd-Laika and Tessie Chopp Durnford, entitled “The Nasal Tone: An Honest Tale”. If you did, then either you are very sensitive to nuanced subtleties of language, or you are just really paranoid.1 If not, you obviously have all the finesse of a rock thrown through a plate glass window.

In any event, the text is indeed special. It is what I like to call a “Panama Guzzler” Anagram Puzzle. Now, even if you are a little dim, you may have noticed that panama guzzler is an anagram of anagram puzzle. There they are, anagrams of each other, right next to each other, in semi-comprehensible, moderately grammatical text.

Sprinkled throughout the heart-warming tale of William and Anna and their nasal tones there are several instances of such in-line anagrams—at least 34 of them. The puzzle I put to you is to identify as many of them as you can!

The anagrams in question comprise two halves, each of which is at least two words long. Each anagram half is made up of some number of whole words—no slicing and dicing of words is allowed. The two halves are right next to each other, with no other words between them; but ignore any punctuation, sentence boundaries, or island constraints that may crop up.

If you’ve found more than a few anagrams, send your solutions to the editors of SpecGram by January 15th, 2013 and you could win a SpecGram magnet of your choice. The correct solution and winners, if any, will be announced in the upcoming February issue.


In the meantime, here are the answers to the puzzle from last time, the Christmas Carol Orthography Puzzle:

  1. O Come All Ye Faithful
  2. Hark the Herald Angels Sing
  3. Away in a Manger
  4. Once in Royal David’s City
  1. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night
  2. O Little Town of Bethlehem
  3. Joy to the World
  4. Silent Night, Holy Night

In a mad fit of holiday spirit, the Comptroller General has given the SpecGram Puzzle Elves™ permission to award a record number of prizes. All of the following puzzlemeisters have been awarded some retroactive holiday cheer, in the form of a SpecGram magnet of their choosing:

Adam Bernard • Bex Walton • Christine Boucher • Geoffrey Hooker • Gretchen McCulloch • Joey Whitford • Paula Arnas Antolín • Philip Newton • Robin Day • Thera Ringhofer • Trey Jones


1 Though keep in mind that that doesn’t mean they aren’t out to getcha.

Davie Dunnit’s Disparaging Dictionary—Advertisement
SpecGram Vol CLXVI, No 2 Contents