Directions in Writing (Solution)

As suggested by the format, this is a criss-cross or fill-in crossword, ters) are written out separately rather than in blocks as is normally done where you are given a blank grid and words to fill it in with. A few features (this would be impossible to use in a word grid), and the Syllabics char- are unconventional however. The puzzle says to fill in words only horizon- acters are counted based on how many characters they are in Unicode tally (despite the appearance of vertical words in the grid), though the (digraphs and diacritics not counted separately). specified lengths (which match the spaces in the grid) don’t correspond Then the task is just to fill in the grid with these names. Some of to the lengths of the given words. the intersecting letters look slightly different in different orientations, de- The trick is that the grid must be rotated to accommodate all the pending on your font, but this is only a matter of scaling and the similarity words, and intersecting cells actually contain different letters that look reflects rotational symmetry inherent to the writing systems, so it is not the same when rotated. While this is not practical to do using the Latin just a coincidence that they happen to look similar when rotated. The grid alphabet and is largely dependent on case and font choice, there are is uniquely solvable, with the technical exception of Ŏrang (ㅇㅓㄹㅏㅇ), writing systems which make systematic use of rotational symmetry (with which can be filled in in two possible directions; but since it’s rotationally phonetic correspondences!). Two of them are Hangul and Canadian Abo- symmetric, this doesn’t matter! riginal Syllabics, which are showcased in this puzzle. Though realizing this fact is not necessary for solving, the grid is roughly divided into four regions associated with the four geographic re- Looking up some of these names reveals that they are the com- gions. The top left is Nunavut, the bottom left is Québec, the top right is mon English names for municipal-level places in four regions: Nunavut, North Korea, and the bottom right is South Korea, reflecting the relative Québec, North Korea, and South Korea. These include cities, towns, vil- geographical position of the regions (as seen with the Prime Meridian at lages, hamlets, counties, and districts. The English names are usually the center). transcriptions of a native name in Korean (North Korea and South Korea, When the grid is filled out, the highlighted squares, in the original which have slightly different transcription systems1), Inuktitut (Nunavut

orientation, contain the following rotated characters: and Québec), or Cree (Québec), though several of the names in Canada

ᑐ ㅡ ㅣ ㅌ are not standard transcriptions and many of the places in Nunavut have ㅂ ᑐ . ᑦ entirely different names in English. ᒥ ㄴ ᐱ ㄹ ᒣ ㅐ The native names, when written in their common non-Latin-based writing systems (Hangul for Korean and Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics for This is supposed to resemble Latin characters spelling out CALL IN Inuktitut and Cree), match the specified lengths, if the Hangul jamo (let- AZIMUTH. The answer is AZIMUTH.

1North Korea uses some form of McCune–Reischauer Romanization, though there is some uncertainty over the exact variant, depending on which one refers to, so in the interest of simplicity, the puzzle text omits apostrophes and diacritics, while the names in the solution use standard McCune– Reischauer. South Korea uses Revised Romanization, which lacks diacritics. Nunavut Québec North Korea South Korea Repulse Bay ᓇᐅᔮᑦ Chisasibi ᒋᓴᓯᐱ Ŭiju ㅇㅢㅈㅜ Mapo ㅁㅏㅍㅗ Igloolik ᐃᒡᓗᓕᒃ Nemaska ᓀᒥᔅᑳ Ch’ŏnma ㅊㅓㄴㅁㅏ Suji ㅅㅜㅈㅣ Iqaluit ᐃᖃᓗᐃᑦ Eastmain ᐄᔅᒣᐃᓐ Ch’ŏnnae ㅊㅓㄴㄴㅐ Yeosu ㅇㅕㅅㅜ Arctic Bay ᐃᒃᐱᐊᕐᔪᒃ Inukjuak ᐃᓄᒃᔪᐊᒃ Namp’o ㄴㅏㅁㅍㅗ Boseong ㅂㅗㅅㅓㅇ Grise Fiord ᐊᐅᔪᐃᑦᑐᖅ Puvirnituq ᐳᕕᕐᓂᑐᖅ Ŏrang ㅇㅓㄹㅏㅇ Dalseo ㄷㅏㄹㅅㅓ Pond Inlet ᒥᑦᑎᒪᑕᓕᒃ Kuujjuarapik ᑰᔾᔪᐊᕌᐱᒃ Puryŏng ㅂㅜㄹㅕㅇ Jongno ㅈㅗㅇㄹㅗ Resolute ᖃᐅᓱᐃᑦᑐᖅ Whapmagoostui ᐙᐸᒣᑯᔥᑐᐃ Ŭnp’a ㅇㅡㄴㅍㅏ Songpa ㅅㅗㅇㅍㅏ Whale Cove ᑎᑭᕋᕐᔪᐊᖅ Kangiqsualujjuaq ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᔾᔪᐊᖅ Anak ㅇㅏㄴㅇㅏㄱ Ulju ㅇㅜㄹㅈㅜ Qikiqtarjuaq ᕿᑭᖅᑕᕐᔪᐊᖅ Ŭnch’ŏn ㅇㅡㄴㅊㅓㄴ Yuseong ㅇㅠㅅㅓㅇ Pot’onggang ㅂㅗㅌㅗㅇㄱㅏㅇ Jeongseon ㅈㅓㅇㅅㅓㄴ Samjiyŏn ㅅㅏㅁㅈㅣㅇㅕㄴ Seogwipo ㅅㅓㄱㅟㅍㅗ Kimjŏngsuk ㄱㅣㅁㅈㅓㅇㅅㅜㄱ Tongyeong ㅌㅗㅇㅇㅕㅇ Seodaemun ㅅㅓㄷㅐㅁㅜㄴ ᒃ ㅏ ㅐ ㅊ

ᖅ ᓕ ㅍ ㄴ

ᑭ ᑎ ᖅ ᕐ ᐊ ᔪ ᕋ ㅓ ᐃ ᒃ ᑕ ᑐ ㄴ ㄴ ᖃ ㄴ ᑦ ᒪ ᔪ ㄱ ㅁ ㅈ ㅅ ㅜ ㄱ ㅓ ㅣㅡ ㅓ ㅇㅇ ㅅ ㅁ ᓇ ᓗ

ᕐ

ᐃ

ᑎ

ㅇ ㅊ

ᕿ ᑭ ᖅ ᑕ ᕐ ᔪ ᐊ ᖅ ㅕ

ᖅ ᑦ ᑐ ᐃ ᔪ ᐅ ᐊ ㅏ ㅇ ㅇ ㅇ ㅇ ㅏ ㅏ ㄱ ㅌ ㅂ ㅗ ᐅ ㅗ ᐃ ᑦ ᓱ ᐊ ㄹ ㅡ ㅓ ㅁ ᔮ ᑦ ᒥ ᐱ ᐅ ᓗ ᓕ ㄴ ㅁ ㅍ ㅗ ᐃ ᒡ ᒃ ㅏㅜ ᐙ ㄹ ㅈ ㄴ ᑦ ᒃ ㅂ ᖃ ㅊ ㅣ ㅏ ᐸ

ᑰ ᔾ ᔪ ᐊᐃ ᕌ ᐱ ᒃ

ㅏ ㅏ ㅢ ㅇ ㅇ ㅇ ㅇ ㅓ ㅇ ㅈ ㄱ ㄴ ᒣ ㅜ

ㅗ

ᑳ ᒋ ᔅ ᐱ ᓯ ᓴ ᒥ ㄴ ㅕ ᓀ ᐳ ᑯ ㅍ ㄴ ㅅ ᕕ

ᔥ ㅈ ㅗ ㄹ ㅗ ㅏ ㅇ ㅏ

ㅣ ㅓ ㅈ ㅅ ᑐ ㅜ ᕐ

ㅁ ㅍ

ᖏ ᖅ ᔾ ᖅ ᐊ ᔪ ᐊ ᓱ ᑲ ㄱ ㅌ ᓗ ᓂ ᐃ ᐃ ㅇ ㅗ ㅟ ᓄ ᑐ ㄷ ㄹ ㅅ ㅏㅜ ㅓㅗ ㅍ ㅇ ᖅ ᒃ

ㅈ ㅅ

ㅓ ㅓ ㅗ ㅇ ㅇ ㅈ ㅅ ᔪ ㄴ

ㄹ

ㅓ ㅇ ㅇ ㅕ ㅅ ㅂ ᐊ ㅗ

ᐄ ᔅ ᒣ ᐃ ᓐ ㅜ

ㅓ ㅇ ㅕ ㅇ ㅇ ㅅ ᒃ ㅠ ㅇ ㅅ

. ㅅ ㅓㅜ ㄷ ㅐ ㅁ ㅜ ㄴ