Ponder!
This time, two puzzles for you. Work on these with your friends. If you have seen another person whom you don’t know, but would like to get to know, you can make friends with them using these puzzles. Invite them to join you in solving them. It might well lead you to a good long-term friendship.
Geographia — Word-finder
This puzzle has terms associated with ‘natural disasters.’ Of course, there is no such thing as a ‘natural disaster’, only human-caused disasters — namely, us mismanaging our environment.
Find examples of recent news stories where these words have figured prominently, and causing loss of life (both human and non-human), loss of material (buildings, equipment, etc.), and livelihoods. Find out how lives have been broken and how difficult it is going to be to rebuild them. Finally, reflect on the human causes of these disasters.
Here is a printable PDF version of the puzzle.
The words may go vertically or diagonally. There are no blank spaces between words. Try to find them.
- ClimateChange
- CYCLONE
- DROUGHT
- EARTHQUAKE
- ERUPTION
- FLOOD
- ForestFire
- HURRICANE
- TYPHOON
- VOLCANO
Let’s get physical!
I have titled this crossword puzzle Let’s get physical! It’s solution requires you to think about physical geography. The clues may not be very easy for some of you, though others might find it very simple! I suggest team work.
Here is a printable PDF of the puzzle.
Here are the clues to the crossword puzzle.
Across
1. Mariana Trench: about –10,994 m MSL (5)
4. These start out very big and get smaller as you go towards the poles. (9)
9. River mentioned in the national anthem. Balarāma, Krishna’s brother, is said to have made it change its course. (6)
10. The variation in this causes health problems for IT workers in Bengaluru (9)
Down
1. This ought to be 180˚ longitude, but isn’t. (8)
2. Where longitudes converge (4)
3. Bengaluru: about +900 m MSL; Chennai: about +6 m MSL (8)
5. The number of islands along the river Kāvéri. Each has a Ranganātha temple. (5)
6. A ____ in the Bay of Bengal causes a lot of rainfall in Chennai and Bengaluru, for example. (10)
7. Another name by which the Western Ghats are known. (8)
8. One of the mountain ranges mentioned in our national anthem. (7)
A version of this article appeared in the Deccan Herald Student Edition, October 2017
Solution to the crossword puzzle is here (downloadable PDF).
Featured image, photo credit: TIGS.
