After viewing PBS's FULL CIRCLE series which followed the adventures of writer/comedian/raconteur MICHAEL PALIN  as he traveled full circle for over 20,000 miles around the entire Pacific Rim from Alaska and back again, I decided to write a column devoted to the Rim.   I pointed out at the end of that column that the Rim contains enough "frequently used crossword words" for any number of columns.  Therefore I didn't cover Palin's entire trip around the Rim from Alaska back to Alaska again, but pared it down to include only Japan, China, Korea and Vietnam.  Even then I ended up with enough "often-used words" to comfortably fill two columns.

To prove that geographical locations alone might easily provide enough categories for any number of columns, I'm going to write this column using some great links to Alaskan sites which I found while doing research for the Pacific Rim Countries column.

Following my usual pattern of linking to biographical information from high-lighted names, I've come a bit of a cropper trying to decide if the Palin biographies are fact or fiction.  You can click on his high-lighted name above for what seems might be a "factual" account. To give you some idea of the multitude of fictional accounts of his life and times, click HERE to discover what his Python pal John Cleese has to say about him.

ATKA... These are the two most popular Aleutian islands according to the crossword composers. You can get an idea of their exact locations by clicking on the map, and then you can learn more about them by clicking on their high-lighted names just above.  Usually "Aleutian island" or "one of the Aleutians" will suffice as the clue, but a NYTimes puzzle decided to expand to "Alaska wildlife rescue site" as its description for attu.

NOME...  This Alaskan city proves to be almost as popular as Norway's Oslo with the cluemeisters. Clued as everything from "far north city" to "Alaskan gold rush town",  it appears again and again in nearly everyone's puzzle at one time or another.  Nome's home page on the web is extensive and comprehensive and a visit there is so entertaining it might even save you the cost of a flight or a cruise.  Just click on the high-lighted name to take you there.
 
 

UMIAK... Here's a word that has often shown up in crosswords as an "eskimo boat" or sometimes as an "eskimo skin boat", especially back in Maleska days at the New York Times.  In the Full Circle television series we saw the eskimos of the island of Diomede row Palin to the Alaskan mainland in what I assumed to be an umiak.  It might also be pointed out that the above clues fit equally along with umiak for both kayak and ikyak, but clue writers can differentiate by labeling the kayak a "small eskimo boat" and the umiak a "large eskimo boat".  Click on the high-lighted word UMIAK at the beginning of this paragraph to take you to the Canadian Museum of Civilization's excellent site on the subject.  A mouseclick on the picture will bring up the "skinboats" commercial website with their extensive pictures and information.
 

KODIAK...   It might be clued as "Alaskan island", but most often it is referred to as "large, brown Alaskan bear" or even "world's largest bear".  Since it might often weigh as much as 1500 pounds, there probably aren't too many bears around the world which would care to challenge it for the title.
 
 

Copyright 1999 C. Schnebel, Revised 2002, 2005
All rights reserved

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