Not Just Scrabble

The Indy Word Puzzle

BY JESSICA STITES

I just want to say right now that I have nothing against semantics. I think it's terrific that people see a STOP sign and STOP. I'm not disputing that arbitrary signs are the sine qua non of humanity and all that-at least not here-and I'm not advocating a return to some sort of caveman charade culture where we go around onomatopoeically impersonating goats or whatever. It's just that, for some of us, semantics are a bit beside the point. Much as we try to convince ourselves that words are immaterial, transparent conduits of Meaning, we still get a bit stuck in the field of signifiers, scampering around looking for patterns like a bunch of deranged squirrels. We see a stop sign and think, "STOP, SPOT, POST, TOPS, POTS, " and with a flash of triumph, "OPTS!" And then we take a moment to be grateful to S, that sibilant slut, for clustering with just about any consonant. "TSETSE," we murmur. "TSETSE."

So, to those of us who can't stop peering at the dictionary like it's a magic eye puzzle, I dedicate this puzzle. It will contain some of the patterns that have popped out at me over years of dictionary-squinting, stop-sign scrambling, scrabble-playing, and all manner of other undignified wordplay. Send your answers to notjustscrabble@gmail.com and the first to get the answer will be immortalized in the next week's Indy.

#1: Icup

Dee, Kay, Elle, and Bee are all women's names that share their pronunciation with a letter of the alphabet (D, K, L, and B), Name 10 women's names that can be composed by pronouncing two or three letters in a row.

Caveats:

1) Initials don't count.

2) No "off" pronunciations: "LFN" is not "elephant." And watch out for the temptation to pronounce A "uh"!

3) Standard American English pronunciations of letters is, unfortunately, the rule. Even if your best friend is named Gammajota, in this game her name would sound like "Gamma-Joe-tah."

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