Linguistic Fortune Cookies—Advertisement SpecGram Vol CLXXXV, No 1 Contents

Domiphones and Dominasals

Keith Slater & Trey Jones

Traditional Dominosa is a puzzle game that requires you to pair numbers corresponding to the faces of dominoes. You are presented with a rectangular grid of numbers. Each number must be paired with one of its vertical or horizontal neighbors. As in a set of dominoes, each numerical value pairs exactly once with each other numerical value.

For example, this very simple grid...

0 1 2 2
2 0 1 0
1 0 1 2
...has this solution.

0 1 2 2
2 0 1 0
1 0 1 2

Naturally, SpecGram’s version of the puzzle involves some linguistics-related twists. Rather than boring and obvious numerals, we use symbols that linguists can enjoy and feel comfortable with. Furthermore, rather than making things predictably identical, we replace numerals with sets of analytical terms. Therefore, instead of the numeral 2 pairing once with 0, once with 1, etc., you might need to pair each consonant with a vowel, each noun with a verb, or each phonetician with an academic rank.

The first two puzzles, Domiphones and Dominasals, should help you get the hang of how this works. For these puzzles, there’s nothing too tricky going on—we’ve just replaced the domino numbers with phonetic symbols—though the dominasals are a bit rough on the eyes.

Domiphones

æ æ ȵ æ ʁ æ
ȵ ȿ ʁ ʁ ʁ ʃ
ʁ ʃ ȵ ȿ ȵ æ
ʁ ʃ æ ȿ ȵ ȵ
ȿ ʃ ʃ ʃ ȿ ȿ

Dominasals

m ɱ ɱ ɲ ɲ m
ɳ m n ɲ ɳ n
m ɳ ɲ n ɳ ɱ
m ɱ m n ɲ n
ɳ ɳ n ɱ ɲ ɱ

If you can complete one or both of the puzzles, send your solutions to the editors of SpecGram by July 15th, 2019, and you could win some SpecGram merch. The correct solutions and winners, if any, will be announced in the august August issue of Speculative Grammarian.


N O R M A N C O N Q U E S T W
I D E M O O F O N T O E
L E V I N S O N P H Y L A R
O S U I T T T H O M A S O N
T O T A R Y P O R K I
I L A E V E N A R C
C O N D I T I O N E D A N A K
B E R L I N D U F F C U E
M O W I C I V O R E L S
C E S T A T E H E R A N A
C P A D R I N O U E R P
A M E X A A R P T L E A H
R I A S I L O L U G A N D A
T O K P I S I N O L A S S
H O N E S R U L E I
Y U P I K M Y A N M A R A

The solution to June’s Cryptolinguistic Puzzle is provided here, with additional explanations given below.

Despite the high degree of difficulty, all of the following puzzlemeisters completed the puzzle and will be receiving prizes:

Vincent Fish • David Avellan-Hultman • Vitória Rodrigues Souza

Across: 1. NO + R + MAN + CON + QUEST; 13. Lat. for the same (backwards in MEDI(a)); 14. O + OF; 15. (Sax)ON TO(ponym); 16. backwards in NO SNIVEL(ing); 18. (lexicogra)PHY LA(nguage); 20. (pseud)O SU(bject); 21. I(T)T (internet acronym for in this thread); 22. THOMAS + ON; 23. O.T. + A + R+ Y; 25. POR (Spanish for for/by) + K; 26. EVEN(t); 28. First letters of Andrew Radford’s Corpus; 30. anagram of in code on dit; 35. KANA (backwards) (anak, Balinese, Cebuano, Ilocano, Malay, et al. for child); 36. (dum)BER LIN(guist); 37. DU (Ger. informal you) + FF; 39. C.(U)E. (Church of England); 40. WOM(an) (backwards); 41. I(C)I (Roman numerals); 42. V + OR (Germ. for before/ago); 43. anagram of ESL (elevated trains); 44. Anagram of caste (Ital. for basket; Slovak, Czech, Serb-Cr. et al. for road); 46. anagram of near the; 49. PA + DR. (I) NO; 50. pun for raze; 51. PRE- (backwards, initialism for Event-Related Potential); 53. AM (form of to be) + EX (abbr. for American Stock Exchange); 55. PRAA(T) backwards; 57. anagram of Hale; 58. AIR (backwards) (Port. 1st person sg. pres. subj. of rir, to laugh); 59. pun (“sigh low”); 60. L + U.G. + AND + A; 62. T + OK + PI + ’S + IN; 64. O + LA + S (Sp. for waves); 65. ON + E+ S; 66. RU(H)LE(N); 67. pun (“you pick”); 68. anagram of Mary + man.

Down: 1. (eli)CIT O LIN(guist) (backwards); 2. OD(E)S; 3. REV(U)O (over backwards); 4. Lat. for 2001, A Space Odyssey; 5. anagram of antic sort; 6. CO(OT)Y; 7. O + F + N (Welsh for fear, Icel. for stove/oven); 8. Initials: Question Of Public Health; 9. anagram of Fodor pun eh; 10. anagram of money with T inserted; 11. (natu)RAL OS(thoff) (backwards); 12. anagram of see whack Parisian; 17. N.(I)A. (Esperanto for our, Irish for nephew); 19. (Athab)ASKAN CE(ntral); 24. T(rudgil)L D(ressle)R (acronym for too long; didn’t read); 26. E + N + D; 27. ’VE (U) ’VE; 29. R(A)UL(e) (Ital., Port., Romanian, Span. et al. cognates of Ralph); 31. O.B. + O.E.; 32. anagram of apes knew; 33. (Swah)ILI AD(jective); 34. anagram of slim AI in it; 38. FR. + AU.; 45. T.A. + x (multiplication); 40. MC + CAR + THY; 47. NOR(S→N)E (backwards); 48. HOP(i); 51. (T)EEN (Dut. for one); 52. (Gaz)DAR (backwards); 54. M(I)O (mantra om backwards); 56. pun (“to loom”); 57. RESAL(e) backwards; 59. (noun)S IN K(orean); 60. L(OR)N. ; 61. (L)(IN)GALA; 63. P(E→O)I (staple food of Hawaii, It. for later, then).

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SpecGram Vol CLXXXV, No 1 Contents