Arts & History
MediumAncient Egypt Crossword
Category: Arts & HistoryDifficulty: Hard14 × 14
Thursday, September 17
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Enter one letter per square. Answers run Across or Down. Omit spaces and accents; any special spelling convention is stated in the clue. This is a freeform themed grid, so some letters are not crossed.
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About This Theme
This grid travels through ancient Egyptian writing, beliefs and material culture. You will meet terms that appear on museum labels alongside the names of a river and a well-known monument form. The clues ask for conventional English spellings, so let the crossings guide you through longer entries. Some objects served symbolic purposes as well as practical ones. Read the description of that purpose carefully: it may give you a stronger foothold than trying to remember what the object looks like.
Clues
Across
- 1Plant-based writing material used in ancient Egypt (7)
- 4Egyptian sign of life shaped like a loop-topped cross (4)
- 5Egyptian deity associated with embalming and a jackal-like head (6)
- 7Adjective for jars used to hold organs in Egyptian burial practice (7)
- 9Oval enclosure around an Egyptian royal name (9)
- 11Picturelike signs of an ancient Egyptian writing system (11)
Down
- 1Conventional English title for an ancient Egyptian ruler (7)
- 2Monument form associated with Giza's royal tombs (7)
- 3Mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head in its Egyptian form (6)
- 6Beetle represented in many Egyptian amulets (6)
- 8Body preserved through embalming or other processes (5)
- 10River central to ancient Egyptian agriculture (4)
Answers and Explanations
After Your Solve
CARTOUCHE and HIEROGLYPHS are related to writing, but they are not competing names for the same thing. A cartouche surrounds a royal name; hieroglyphs are signs in the script. PAPYRUS adds the material on which writing could appear. The religious objects work similarly: ANKH is a symbol and ANUBIS is a deity. Keeping object, material, sign and figure separate makes both the puzzle and a museum visit easier to follow. None of the clues requires you to treat a symbolic belief as a literal claim about the world.
- 1 acrossPAPYRUS
Papyrus was made from the plant of the same name.
- 4 acrossANKH
The ankh has a loop above its crossbar.
- 5 acrossANUBIS
The clue distinguishes Anubis from other deities.
- 7 acrossCANOPIC
Canopic describes a particular type of funerary jar.
- 9 acrossCARTOUCHE
A cartouche identifies a name in a particular context.
- 11 acrossHIEROGLYPHS
Hieroglyphs functioned as writing, not merely decoration.
- 1 downPHARAOH
Pharaoh is a ruler's title.
- 2 downPYRAMID
The clue asks for the form rather than a ruler's name.
- 3 downSPHINX
The Egyptian form differs from some other traditions.
- 6 downSCARAB
Scarab imagery had symbolic significance.
- 8 downMUMMY
Mummy names the preserved body.
- 10 downNILE
The Nile shaped settlement and farming.
Further Reading
- Theme referencebritishmuseum.org
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