An Ambigram Word Square
The intersection of recreational linguistics and recreational mathematics.
Word Ways volume 2, number 2 featured this calligraphic creation. It’s a traditional magic square, with every across and down entry totaling to 179. What sets this one apart from some other examples?
Well, turn it upside down:
Once again everything adds up to 179. The structure of the old Word Ways sometimes makes attribution difficult: like many Word Ways artifacts, it appeared as an unrelated side feature to a longer main article. I’m not sure if it was the creation of J.A. Lindon, who wrote that main article, or editor Dmitri Borgmann. In any case, it was a clever bit of calligraphy from the days when such works were often done by hand.
Tomorrow: From elsewhere in the pages of that issue, a few words and phrases that make a mockery of the rule you learned in English class.