Rasmus Rask Mini
Puzzle VI
by Lila Rosa Grau
This is the sixth Rasmus Rask puzzle, devoted to the original Mr. Charming Scandinavian Linguist. The 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. Grey squares should remain blank.
Complete the puzzle and send your solutions to the editors of SpecGram by August 15th, 2017 and you could win a prize. The correct solution and winners, if any, will be announced in the upcoming October issue.
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Across
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• With
pre-, the courses you need to take before you can take the course you actually want to take.
• Important unit of measurement for grad students, who seldom see the “rare thing”.
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• The singular of that which Johnson snarkily defined as “a grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.”
• A flap by any other name would articulate as sweetly...
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• A noun with an artificial singular, derived from an Old French adverb, derived in turn from the lamest Latin motto ever: “to sufficiency!”
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• A recensionist cladogram of texts.
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• Reduplicated, a childish abdomen.
• In SpecGram lore, it might have had the value of 30, or possibly 14,550 or 15,252 if capitalized.
• Suffix used in the name of the Greek tragic hero “Swollen-Foot”, the Australian mammal “flat-foot”, and the mollusk “eight-foot”.
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• Peculiarities of phraseology.
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• The tintinnabulating past tense of an originally weak verb that gained analogical strength in Middle English.
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• He helped Angela get her groove back.
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• What vowels do with nasals to earn their tildes.
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• KJV translation of the Latin that English inherited as
mansuetude.
Down
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• The abuse that non-
monastic Friars heap on those of whom they are allegedly fond.
• Solmizational postcursor to solfègic abbreviation of Sancte Iōhannēs.
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• From a Proto-
Germanic word meaning “toward the sunrise”.
• A term for a manly man that loses much of its potency when paired with muffin or puppy.
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• Abbreviation for a more convenient representation of 512 or more drams.
• Prefix meaning “half”.
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• It’s the same as a root, except when it’s not.
• A measure of the number of units of speech per unit time.
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• When John and Mary are unavailable, linguists turn to Chris and this person.
• Bilabial-heavy palindromic antipodean enatic hypocoristic.
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• 1832.7236286 furlongs per fortnight (abbrev.).
• “From the Ministry of Silly Sounds” or “Research Assistants Are Being Paid,” for example.
• Cheek, in particular the kind these clues are full of.
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• An exhortative interjection implying that you could be the agent of your own delivery if only you would examine the enchiridion.
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• De-diacriticized volcanological term of Hawaiian origin, much beloved by vowel-
vexed Scrabblers.
• Digraphic diaeresis dodge for diacritically defective Druckereien in Deutschland.
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• If you get more than 5% of the clues in this puzzle without having to look anything up, you are one of these; doubly so if you also know the traditional chicken-
biting meaning.
Some plausible answers to June’s query concerning the fourth batch of L’Ishing du Gwujlang/Lusrveer mnemonically merged definitions (MMDs) are presented below:
- To skim special talents is to scan knacks.
- Categories prone to animosity are spite types.
- The remains of a large bodkin is sword dross.
- A misrepresentation of the candy’s location is an aisle lie.
- A hand squeegee is a palm mop.
- To recognize the highest points is to spot tops.
- An economical drupaceous fruit is a cheap peach.
- Sketch clicks are skit ticks.
- A brusque ottoman is a curt turk.
- Epidermis scratches are skin nicks.
- An explosive for a horde is a mob bomb.
- To shuffle suitcases is to juggle luggage.
- To expectorate lagniappes is to spit tips.
- The fellow in charge of reinforcement is the patch chap.
- Sales pitch bounds are spiel leaps.
- To instill knowledge into a charlatan is to teach a cheat.
- Speechless muck is dumb mud.
- An archaic reflex, defrosted, is a thawed “doth”.
- Appalling and animate is vile and live.
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Thanks to Vincent Fish, Doan Qui Thanh, Johan Ellingsen, and Keith Slater for their contributions to the decipherment. Each will receive a prize for their help.
