NACLO 2026 - Problem AThe Horse Before The Cart

The piece of calendar tells us that Friday is "freida", Saturday is "satra", and Sunday is "sonde", so "munde", "tudewroko", "fodewroko", and "dridewroko" can only be chosen from "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", and "Thursday". "munde" = "Monday" can be decided based on sound, but the other three don't end with "da". However, note the "tu-", "dri-", "fo-" prefixes are mentioned in the calendar: they mean 2, 3, and 4 respectively.

1. munde = Monday
2. sonde = Sunday
3. tudewroko = Tuesday
4. fodewroko = Thursday
5. dridewroko = Wednesday

A2 is slightly more typical semantic matching type of problem, although half of it is still guessing based on pronunciation.

6 "amerkankondre" is obviously I "the USA"; it's probably "American country".
13 "osowroko" is obviously D "housework".
14 "pikin kaw" contains "kaw", which the problem tells us means "cow", so it's A "calf".
We have two words ending with "-wagi", which just looks like "wagon". So 9 "babywagi" is "baby wagon", which is H "stroller", while 8 "asiwagi" is B "horse cart".
This tells us that "asi" means "horse", so 7 "asipen" = C "horse pen".
Finally: 11 "liba" is E "river", 12 "libakanti" is F "riverside", 10 "fokanti" is G "square" (literally "four sides").

A3 is yet another ramp up.

We know that "wroko" is "work", so 30 "wrokoman" = P "employee".
22 "gadobuku" sounds like "God book", so it's L "Bible". Then 23 "gadokondre" = "God county" = S "heaven"; 29 "wortubuku" = "word book" = N "dictionary".
15 "baiman" = "buy man" = M "customer"; 25 "manpikin" = "man small" = V "son".
27 "pikintongo" = "small tongue" = W "uvula"; 20 "fayatongo" = "fire tongue" = R "flame"; 18 "bakratongo" must therefore be the remaining "tongue": O "Dutch language".
Because "bakra" has something to do with "Dutch", 16 "bakra" = Y "white person". So it seems "bakra" is "white", so 17 "bakrakawfrei" = "white cow fly" = X "white gadfly".
Because "faya" is "fire", 19 "fayadosu" = T "lighter".
Because "frei" is "fly", 21 "freigron" = "fly ground" = J "airstrip".
Because "gron" is "ground", 24 "gronman" = "ground man" = Q "farmer".
The remaining two: 26 "onifrei" and 28 "pokudosu" must be K "bee" and U "radio" respectively, because the former contains "fly". So "onifrei" = "honey fly".

After all the previous analyses, we have all the information at hand for A4 and A5.

bakra-kondre = "white country" = "Netherlands"
faya = "fire"
gado = "God"
pikin = "small"
wroko = "work"

A5:

field = "gron" (the only one that's similar enough to "ground")
honey = "oni"
music = "poku" (compare "pokudosu" and "fayadosu"; if the latter has to do with "fire" then the former has to do with "music")
Suriname = "sranankondre" ("Sranan country"; we know that the language is called "Sranan Tongo", and compare "bakrakondre" and "bakratongo")
word = "wortu"