Relaunched Journal—Municipal Journal of Language Devolution SpecGram Vol CLXXX, No 4 Contents

Cryptolinguistic Puzzle 0110

Mary Shapiro
Truman State University

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Across

1. Word on the Street author, prostitute, previously game show host. About time, right?

6. Indigenous Australian language badly (badly!) around one Republican?

11. Web address has underlying representation? 50 of ’em!

12. Dad holds me, pious in Esperanto, also in Swahili.

13. Italian comforts a U.S. soldier, briefly.

14. No nouns, as a language without velar opening.

15. A time noun initially creates structure used briefly to define formal languages.

16. Palatal has ISO language code coming and going.

17. The GOP’s crap (crap!) shows images of speech.

19. Great Welsh requires wide-open mouth or no vowel.

22. Chomskyan Grammar hides contiguous stretch of items from a sequence.

23. Disoriented French determiner new to German.

24. Me, I followed a verb conjugation I loved in Portuguese!

25. Diana, with 500 off this suffix, creating pluralia tantum.

26. Fifty (Indo-European) gets F in Middle English, willingly.

27. Steven Pinker concealing phenomenon like bat an eye, in short.

30. Give an old-fashioned, heavy blow to Chomsky’s school in the Southeast.

32. Brahmin dictionary covers Sanskrit’s family.

34. Noise came back around ’51, omitting a sound or a syllable.

36. Nez (“nose”) Perce hides retro French delicacy.

37. Find snake made of carbon, but no nounweird!

40. Multiples of fives, English vowels may be this.

43. Right inside one article, repeated, like most Farsi speakers.

45. Deemed not appropriate for kids in gym class, or before?

46. Norwegian uncle has no number, returns Albanian money.

49. Verb (intransitive): annoy with manly vigor.

50. Large universal grammar comes back in behind, like some verbs (and some bowels).

52. Attachment abbreviation (pre-Internet) in French.

53. Sort like Klima’s initial triplet, but vice versa.

55. In a state? All mixed up, but you were correct in Portuguese!

58. No, not a Dutch exclamation (noun).

59. You all spoil French time in weird gaze.

60. Mountain in Spanish to be (maybe) native.

61. Gear missing article in ISO-code alternate for deu.

63. Heim, Hojier collaborate to cover up Internet disclaimer.

65. Universal grammar makes brief comeback in (dang!) dawn of Old English.

66. South Sudanese language shows naked French at emergency room.

67. Sideways vote against a negative polarity determiner.

68. Unlike a creole, crazy: come on, get in.

69. Linguist in Zaire initially found nickname for actress Taylor.


Down

1. Chomsky’s plan, oddly, is optimal in grammar, but gets A-? (2 words)

2. Titles of esteem, or crazy chinos for one?

3. China is sure full of Slavic language heading west.

4. Trask and Carnap heartlessly lie in wait to make surprise attack.

5. Two letters, one might say, for the prince of pragmatics and clefting.

6. Put what where? That’s insane, Rita! I’d invest!

7. Language spoken by Chagnon’s “fierce people” has crazy many (a thousand? two?) eggs.

8. Give gullible Canadian a B (a rare find in SLA studies) (2 words)

9. Platonic love found in a gap (English)

10. Hail aunt in unusual (but most conservative?) IE language.

12. Patricia, not here in France, is fatherly, says Esperantist!

18. Linguist Doc Givon has animated special effects, if only briefly.

20. French friend comes before noun to become former dictator of Uganda.

21. Marijuana? Sounds like some of us would ....

28. People ditched Spanish cheer, but gained enthusiasm (and squeaked in Swedish!).

29. Felix came back without special effects to French island.

31. With no H20, archer (in inchoate form) to take to jail.

33. Liz, in musical key, follows crazy core, developing into a language.

35. Charlie Chan apologizes for tardiness in unrelated language.

38. Japanese devils in Estonian? Without Spanish, they are!

39. Bar-Hillel’s country is not god of UFO religion.

41. Before wh- word loses wh-.

42. No, it (endless agent), backwards is NOT, e.g.!

44. Encircled gerundive suffix in red.

47. British grandmother: Noun? Indefinite article?

48. USC literacy expert (emeritus) is impulsive in knowledge.

51. Distributed morphology hides Colorado River speaker (e.g.) outdoors in Norway or Sweden.

54. Turkic language sees crazy Greek return with a question instead of long vowel.

56. Reproductive particle in Spanish or English?

57. Ace warped, also in Old English.

62. Sounds like any Millennial has Icelandic forehead inside.

64. French molting, like mute out of time.


Like other cryptic crosswords, the clues in this puzzle are not straightforward. Unlike most, however, this one focuses mainly on languages and linguistics. For instance, the clue for Zapotec might be “Oto-Manguean variety alters pez coat” (anagram of pez coat), or “Indigenous Mexican language to destroy overtime prior to European Commission” (ZAP + O.T. + E.C.), or “a nice top, a zany blouse conceals retro Oaxacan language” (niCE TOP, A Zany), or many other combinations of puns, anagrams, or typographic quirks. Punctuation in clues is often misleading. Each clue contains both a definition (of sorts) and a more cryptic part, but these may come in any order.

If you can complete (or make a good effort on) the crossword and send your solutions to the editors of SpecGram by February 15th, 2018, you could win some SpecGram merch. The correct solution and winners, if any, will be announced in the next issue of Speculative Grammarian.



O P T U G L N H Y M R
T H R P O G Y N U L M
L O M G H U P Y T R N
N R L T P H U O M Y G
Y G U H R N M T L O P
R U O Y N P L M G T H
P T Y O U M G R H N L
G M H N Y R T L O P U
U L G M T Y R P N H O
M Y N R L O H G P U T
H N P L M T O U R G Y

The solution to January’s Deluxe Diagonal Latin Square puzzle is provided here. Each of the puzzlemeisters below will receive some moderately desirable SpecGram merch:

Herman MillerLucia MoscolaMoritz Rathgeber

In addition, the following puzzlers have achieved the everlasting glory that comes with an honorable mention:

Andrew LamontDaniel SwansonVincent FishVirginia Bouchard


Relaunched JournalMunicipal Journal of Language Devolution
SpecGram Vol CLXXX, No 4 Contents