Monthly Archives: March 2018

Jumble Answers for 03/31/2018

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CORUC = OCCUR

SUYFS = FUSSY

SLONES = LESSON

MUMENI = IMMUNE

CARTOON ANSWER:

THE TRACTOR-TRAILER DRIVER DID OK FOR HIMSELF AND WAS – – –

CCUFSSLESSIMUE = SEMI-SUCCESSFUL

Good morning Jumble players, and happy Saturday! David and Jeff usually keep the challenge to a minimum with the Saturday version of the game but that wasn’t the case today. The puzzle featured a couple of great anagrams and an enormous 14-letter surprise answer that I’m sure left a few of you scratching your heads.

Starting from the top, OCCUR was well laid out and turned out to be my runner-up pick for the most difficult anagram of the day. By placing a “C” on both ends of the Jumble kept me from seeing the word a little longer than if they were closer together. FUSSY wasn’t demanding in the least. By placing the Y at the end of the word brought the rest quickly into view. Now SLONES was a fantastic Jumble and my pick for the most difficult of the bunch. I know we’ve seen it recently but it’s one of those words that always tricks me. The way that I solved this one was by noticing the placement of the S’s. As with OCCUR, the consonants were on either side of the layout which led me to join them up bringing the answer into view. Lastly we had IMMUNE which only took a quick glance to decipher.

Today’s cartoon brings us to a truck stop where we see a couple of men having a conversation. The man on the left sure fits the look of a trucker with his rolled up shirt sleeves, long hair in a ponytail, and pork chop sideburns. Did you notice the circled “J”on the front of his trucker hat? The J stands for Jumble and it’s a fun detail that Jeff places on his characters clothing from time to time. The man on the right has a cleaner look with a neatly trimmed mustache and a thinner overall figure. He also has something on his hat but it was just too small for me to make out. His ginormous “Joe To Go” coffee container was a nice touch but he had another detail that you may have overlooked. Take a peek at his waistline and you’ll see that Jeff added a chain that goes from his belt loop to his wallet. Subtle and sneaky!

All of this extra detail had my head spinning, and we haven’t even discussed the trucks yet! For the sake of brevity I’ll just point out the details rather than talk about each one. There were flames on the engine compartment, dice on the rear view mirror, and spikes on the wheels. My favorite detail of the cartoon was the sign in the top left corner. It say’s “Eat Food, Get Gas” which is a bit crude but a fact of life.

As previously mentioned, the solution would be 14-letters long with a hyphen thrown in for added fun. It took a lot of staring at this one to find a place to start which was the frustrating part. After a minute or two of thinking about random trucker words, I opted to focus on the abundance of C’s and S’s instead. With them being so close to the U, it brought SUCCESS to mind. I noticed the FUL next which would extend the word making it fit neatly into the 10-letter position. SEMI was quickly deciphered making for a challenging yet satisfying finish. Have a super Saturday, and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Jumble Answers for 03/30/2018

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ORTGU – GROUT

UDEFG – FUDGE

MILNEB – NIMBLE

CRAFEA – CARAFE

CARTOON ANSWER: TEACHING RUDE STUDENTS TO SAY “THANK YOU” IN FRENCH CLASS MADE HER – – –

ROFGEIMBCRE = BEG FOR “MERCI”

Good Morning, Everyone!         🇫🇷 FRENCH….ROAST? 🇫🇷

🎶Whoa, ah, MERCI, MERCI me…Oh things ain’t what they used to be, no no…🎶….(Yes, I did just use this on Wednesday…If only I knew…)

🇫🇷 Teaching French to children can prove to be quite tough
Especially if  kids are feeling they have had enough…
With distraction and misbehaving making children rude
It’s easy for a teacher to lose patience and to brood…
These kids can be quite NIMBLE, though with learning they don’t budge…
They start to fool around…you’ve lost them..Now what? Say “Oh FUDGE“?
She’s trying to get through to them but seems to be left out
The kids are just ignoring her…it’s like she’s mixing GROUT
The air is thick with noisiness, how much more can she take?
Perhaps that CARAFE she should grab and take a coffee break?
A simple please and thank you, she’d just like them to see…
But it looks like she’ll be forced to just BEG FOR “MERCI”! 🇫🇷

NIMBLE was easy to move past, and FUDGE went down just as well. One might get STUCK on GROUT, and CARAFE? A farce? We’ve reached the end of our week, and today’s anagrams are some of David’s best. On to our cartoon…Back in the classroom today, we see three students misbehaving and giving a harried teacher a run for her FRANCS! She’s trying to teach some basic FRENCH phrases to an unreceptive group. Trying to get them to say “Thank you” which is MERCI in French, she’s getting nothing from them but rudeness. One student, mimicking a scene from Monty Python and The Holy Grail, (while wearing a T-Shirt depicting the Rabbit of Caerbannog the Killer Rabbit), seems to be the ringleader. He’s getting the attention the teacher should be...SACRE BLEU! Obviously frustrated, we see her pleading with the students to settle down…she’s BEGGING them…Our question asks…Trying to teach “Thank You” in French to these rude students made her…BEG FOR “MERCI“! Now here we have play on words! Can it get any more clever than this? But, the real question is…Have we seen anything like this before? A foreign word, albeit a familiar one used in the Jumble? I’m not sure…If anyone knows, please write in and let us know, ok? MERCI! Ok, eye candy. We’ve already covered the T-Shirt. Evil little rabbit surrounded by skulls. Definitely not at the HEAD of my list…Neither HARE nor there…And we see a marker for WRITING on the board…but it’s not RIGHT either. That leaves the teachers pendant, which is rather indistinct. So I guess today the solution will be going with what we don’t see. Monty Python is very well-known in France and the Holy Grail is the most well-known Monty Python movie. These movies are regularly studied in French schools during English lessons. I guess this is Jeff’s way of telling us he’s a fan… A British comedy group, a French word in our puzzle…Is anyone else begging for MERCI today? So, There you have it Folks, Done! Have a great day, Everyone. And THANK YOU for stopping by…🇫🇷 🙋🏻

 

Jumble Answers for 03/29/2018

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HNARC = RANCH

DARTY = TARDY

UQEAPO = OPAQUE

OVENKI = INVOKE

 

CARTOON ANSWER:

WHEN THE LITTLE BOY ARRIVED AT THE GATES OF THE AMUSEMENT PARK, HE WAS – – –

RNCTDAENE = ENTRANCED

 

 

Good morning, Jumble fans, and happy Thursday! I couldn’t be more excited as today is the Opening Day of the MLB regular season. After 152 LONG days of waiting, “America’s Pastime” is finally back and the season will last (if there is a game #7 of the World Series) until Halloween night. Ok, enough about baseball because it’s the Jumble that you came here to read about, and what a fun puzzle we had today. I’m here to break it down for you and touch all the bases!

Leading off today’s game was RANCH. It was instantly visible as was the next word which was TARDY. Starting out with an instant double was a great way to begin the game, but my enthusiastic spirit started to wane when I arrived at OPAQUE. It’s unique blend of uncommon letters momentarily blurred my vision until I used my tried and true solving technique which is to try the anagram backwards. The OPA brought the word instantly to mind bringing me to the final, and in my opinion, most challenging clue word of the day. David was definitely throwing us some heat by starting the anagram with OVEN but it wasn’t enough to make me reach for it. I decided to once again start from the back where I was met with an I and the N close by which brought INVOKE to mind. With all of the clue words out of the way, I was waved into home and could begin my favorite part which of course is the cartoon!

There sure were a lot of moose greeting me upon first glance. In New Hampshire we jokingly refer to a group of moose as “meese” which is funny until you meet up with a group of them standing in the roadway as your zipping down the Kancamagus Highway at 40 mph. I counted 5 in the cartoon and knew exactly what the setting was for today’s panel — WALLEY WORLD!

Is that Clark Griswold with his young son Rusty from the 1983 comedy classic “National Lampoon’s Vacation“? It sure looks like them and the dialogue confirmed my suspicion. As they get ready to enter the park, the wide-eyed youngster is mesmerized by the giant moose head staring at him from atop the gate and his mouth is wide open as he prepares to head in. Although Jeff didn’t give us a baseball themed puzzle for today, I was more than thrilled to see this one in it’s place. My favorite detail had to be the shadowy figure in the background holding a moose balloon. Superb job, Jeff!!!

The final solution was 9-letters long and I had no clue as to what the answer would be. Writing out the clue letters, I started my solve from the back for the third time today. EN allowed me to see ENTRANCE with a D left over. Plopping it on the end was all that was needed to finish this one off and I was done. Have a terrific Thursday, and I’ll see you tomorrow. Now let’s play ball!!! ⚾️⚾️⚾️

Jumble Answers for 03/28/2018

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POMET = TEMPO

KAWET = TWEAK

MOLANS = SALMON

KELPIC = PICKLE

CARTOON ANSWER:

WHEN TELESCOPES WERE INVENTED, PEOPLE WERE EXCITED TO – – –

TEOEAKSAOKLE = TAKE A LOOK-SEE

Good morning, Jumble friends! It’s Wednesday, so that puts us smack-dab in the middle of the weekday Jumble puzzles where they tend to become more difficult. The 6-letter anagrams were the most difficult part of yesterday’s puzzle with SPRAIN barely edging out TANGLE as the most searched for solution. Today is a different story and here’s what I observed.

I was off to a quick start as TEMPO was almost spelled correctly in reverse. I tend to always begin my solves from the back and work forward so this time I just lucked out. Up next was TWEAK and it turned out to be my pick for the most difficult anagram of the day. The EA combination just didn’t look right at first. No other words came to mind so I decided to roll the dice and write it down. The last two words of SALMON and PICKLE were both instantly visible which is surprising because the 6-letter anagrams were such a challenge yesterday. With all of the clue words complete it was time to move along to everyone’s favorite part, the cartoon!

At first glance it was obvious that we were looking at a period piece with all of the characters being dressed in renaissance-style clothing. Five characters can be seen standing in an open field and they’re all huddled around a single telescope. It’s the object of everyone’s desire as they all anxiously await their chance to take a peek at the heavens which, at the time, must have been the ultimate sight to see. The man on the far right appears to be the orchestrator of the event and he looks perturbed as the crowd is growing restless. His hands have action lines around them indicating that he wants them to calm down and perhaps back up a bit as to not crowd the gentlemen that is peering into the scientific wonder.

The shading was perfect on this piece proving that Jeff really knows his stuff! The castle and its four flags in the distance were draped in darkness as the moon illuminates our cast of budding astronomers. There are a few clouds in the sky but the timing couldn’t be better as the moon is full and the weather appears to be just right for the celestial show. My favorite detail of this panel has to be the small design on the optical tube of the telescope. It’s not overly ornate and seems to fit just nicely with the time period that we’re observing.

The letter layout for the final solution was 12-letters in length and wonderfully cryptic. “A” was my choice for the one letter word with LOOK coming instantly after that. The “AK” coupled together closely to the first “T” allowed me to find TAKE leaving SEE for the finish. The overall length of the layout was intimidating at first but dissecting it into smaller pieces made it no trouble at all. Have a wonderful Wednesday, and I’ll see you tomorrow where we’ll hopefully have an MLB Opening Day inspired cartoon!

Jumble Answers for 03/27/2018

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SIYFH = FISHY

EARPO = OPERA

LNEATG = TANGLE

PARSNI = SPRAIN

 

CARTOON ANSWER:

THE TIPS OF THE DARTS WERE DULL, SO THROWING THEM AT THE DARTBOARD WAS – – –

ISOPETLSN = POINTLESS

Good morning everyone and happy Tuesday! Yesterday’s clue words and surprise answer were a breeze to complete with SNEEZE being the most searched for solution. Today’s cartoon features some familiar faces, so let’s zip through those clue words so we can get to the fun stuff.

There was nothing stinky about FISHY with its solution coming quickly. OPERA slowed my tempo down just enough to make it require a couple of extra glances. David attempted to throw us off track by starting the anagram with “EAR” but having seen this word used so frequently it’s not becoming the showstopper that it once was. Up next was TANGLE which is one of those words that you either see right away or it takes you a bit to work through. I happened to start solving it with the “T” which made the answer appear almost instantly. And then there was SPRAIN. This word took me the longest to decipher and is my pick for the most difficult anagram of the day. I almost settled on ASPRIN before remembering at the last moment that it would have needed another “I”. A few self-jumbles was all it took for the answer to come into view, and just like that I was off to the cartoon.

So what’s the correct term to call a place that you meet for an adult beverage? For me it’s a bar but saloon, pub or even watering hole are all perfectly acceptable substitutes. Today’s panel features cartoonist cohorts Bill King and Jeff Knurek in their favorite hangout playing a game of darts. Jeff chose to wear his lucky POI shirt for his night out on the town with Bill going with a Cubs jersey for his attire. As Jeff throws a dart at the board, we see the action lines indicating that it hit the bullseye but it didn’t stick for some reason. Clearly frustrated, Jeff exclaims that this is the second time that it’s happened. Bill interjects with some smack talk and tells his buddy that he should “just give up”.

There were a lot of great details in this piece that really added to the drawing. In the background is the scoreboard with “Bill” written on the left and “Jeff” on the right. The darts were pretty cool too with their flights being perfectly drawn. Probably the most obscure but my favorite was Bill’s pinky finger being extended as he holds his quaff!

The surprise answer was a 9-letter solution that turned out to be a blind solve. Writing out the clue letters to check myself, I discovered that the layout was wonderfully cryptic. The two S’s on the opposite sides of the anagram were perfectly placed to keep the answer well hidden.

That’s all I have today so it’s POINTLESS to keep yammering on. Have a terrific Tuesday and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Jumble Answers for 03/25/2018

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DULHED – HUDDLE

HERTTE – TETHER

IDRAWN – INWARD

NAYMIL –MAINLY

SAYILE – EASILY

GAMEAD – DAMAGE

CARTOON ANSWER:

WHEN ASKED WHEN SHE THOUGHT THE DRESS WOULD BE FINISHED, SHE – – 

HDEHEWDMANEADM – HEMMED AND HAWED

Good Morning, Everyone       👰🏻  BRIDE…AND PREJUDICE? 👰🏻

🎶Down the aisle I’ll walk with you…Just to hear the words I do. All of my life I want to be good and sweet till eternity…I do thee WED this day! with this ring we go our way….For better or worse I take thee WED by your hand I will be led…🎶

✂️📍 I recently heard a story that was MAINLY sad but true,
Of how EASILY thoughts kept INWARD sometimes will just ensue…
A fire broke out in a house, ’twas empty for a while,
But next door stood the home of what was called “Its Done With Style”
The seamstress there was talented and dresses filled the rooms
And bridal parties HUDDLEd there to look and then to swoon.
The woman TETHERed to the net, was able to produce
The latest bridal fashions for prospective bride’s peruse.
But the aftermath of fire causes DAMAGE oft we find…
These dresses in production reeked of smoke filled air behind
The bride and all party now are worried beyond doubt
Together with the seamstress as to will the smell come out…
And despite the grief it’s costing they’re all praying to the Lord
‘Cause time is of the essence…and there’ll be no HEMMED AND HAWED 📍✂️

Today’s words were handled EASILY, maybe just getting a little tied up at TETHER. I think it’s because there was this threat of threat in my head…But having quickly SEWN up the solution, I’ll just go on and explain. We find ourselves in a DRESSMAKERS shop, where an obviously harried SEAMSTRESS is working on a Gown. There’s a BRIDE standing by a dress rack, asking whether or not her dress will be ready. We read that the wedding is in one week! One week! But, where is her dress?  The one splayed across the sewing machine is purple! And the one hanging foreFRONT, that the Bride may be POINTING to is pink. Am I being SEW old-FASHIONed in thinking that the dress would be white? Hmm. It SEAMS we may be way OVER OUR HEADS here! I mean I’m not looking to NEEDLE the poor seamSTRESS, BUTTON a closer look…you can see that she’s way behind…and SEW on and SEW forth! She answers the worried Bride with a series of halting phrases…Could this be her PATTERN? Doesn’t she realize we reap what we SEW? Personally, Folks, I’m on PINS and NEEDLES here…Will this poor Bride end up getting STUCK? Will the seamstress make aMENDS? Is there even a SHRED of evidence in what this seamstress is saying? Do I SEAM BIASed? So many questions that need to be adDRESSED, right?…Hmm. Nothing? REELy? C’mon Folks! I’m using some of my best MATERIAL here! Oh well…I would like to end up SINGing hER praises…Anyway, our question asks…What did the seamstress do when asked if she’d be FINISHed? She…HEMMED AND HAWED! Well I’ll BEAD DARNed! Good one, David! You’ve got me in STITCHES here! Ok, eye candy…We have the Brides T-Shirt that reads “BRIDE”…we have the name of the shop EMBOSSed on the door..”STITCH IN TIME“…we have a tiny bow in the Bride’s hair…All nice TOUCHES, but they’re just not CUTTING it…I think I’ll go with that first DRESS shown on the rack…Talk about a little TULLE much! It’s just SLEEVEing me laughing! So, There you have it Folks, Done! Have a great day, Everyone! And since it’s a Sunday I’ll leave you with this…”Give us this day, our daily THREAD“…No? aHEM…Ok, I’ll just CHALK it up and say…SEW long! 📍✂️ 🙋🏻

Jumble Answers for 03/24/2018

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NUYNS = SUNNY

URRMO = RUMOR

BMMEEL = EMBLEM

LUSODH = SHOULD

 

CARTOON ANSWER:

HULA-HOOP SALES WERE REPORTED IN – – –

UNNRORMBESUD = ROUND NUMBERS

Happy Saturday, Jumble friends! Yesterday’s puzzle was a real brain buster and the perfect ending to our weekday jumbling duties. Today we find ourselves back on easy street with clue words that were quick to be solved but left us with a surprise answer that made it anything but a waist of time.

Starting the clue words off with SUNNY put me in a good mood but it wasn’t the challenge that I was hooping for. RUMOR was instantly visible and has been on a short hiatus from the lineup with it’s last appearance on 5/3/17. Next up was EMBLEM and it’s my pick for the most difficult anagram of the day. We saw it less than two weeks ago so it was fresh in my mind but I’m sure the double M’s and E’s left a few of you scratching your head. SHOULD took just a glance to decipher and I was ready to move on to the cartoon and see what all the hoopla was about.

Today’s panel brings us to a conference room where a gentleman wearing a bow tie and trouser suspenders is giving a presentation. He reports to his colleagues that hula-hoop sales have been solid which leaves everyone in the room with a huge smile on their face. I couldn’t help but notice that the man seated on the far left is sticking out his tongue which is an awkward response to such wonderful news. The numbers on the chart show that sales are higher in the west and south. It’s probably because their climate is warmer and they’re able to go outside while the folks in the north and east are experiencing the tail end of winter and are stuck sitting around the house.

Having absorbed as much as I could from the cartoon, I felt it was time to give the surprise answer a spin. The letter layout was wonderfully cryptic proving that David is a master of his craft. The two N’s that were placed next to one another caught my attention and I decided to give one of them a whirl. Looking for a vowel next, the U was right up front and that’s when NUMBERS instantly came to mind. Crossing the letters out, ROUND was a quick solve giving us the final solution of ROUND NUMBERS.

I’m sure some of our readers will remember the hula-hoop craze that was at its peak in the late 1950’s. If you have a fond memory of this funky fad, be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think. Have a sensational Saturday and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Jumble Answer for 03/23/2018

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MPIRC – CRIMP

SOMEO – MOOSE

RRAATT – TARTAR

SULBEH –  BUSHEL

CARTOON ANSWER:

IN THE EARLY DAYS OF GOLF, THE FLAGS WERE MADE OUT OF- –  –

CRIMOETAARUSEL = “COURSE” MATERIAL

Good Morning, Everyone!         🏌PAR FOR THE “COARSE”? 🏌

🎶You’re a grand old FLAG…you’re a high flying FLAG…and forever in peace may you wave…🎶

🏌 When Golf began in Scotland, a rumor was a twirl
That Golf was just for men alone, they didn’t allow girls…
They’d CRIMP the style of a man, was just a lot of guff.
A woman wouldn’t matter if a man would hit a duff…
So Golf became a pastime, with TARTAR skirts of plaid
Oh, wait I made an error there..tartan is what they had…
They played out by the seashore, we see sheep roaming loose
Imagine if on the third hole they’d run into a MOOSE?
I wonder if a BUSHEL used to carry balls and tees…
I wonder if they had to pay for things like the greens fees…
The bottom line, the cartoons cute, as you can surely tell
And canvas worked just fine becoming “COURSE”MATERIAL! 🏌

Friday. If it stands to RULE that our words get PROGRESSively harder as the week goes by, what do we think about today’s? We’ve seen them all before, but there may be a tic or two here. TARTAR? Two R’s, two A’s, two T’s? Did it cause you to grit your teeth? BUSHEL? Did it make you blue? I don’t think CRIMP bent us out of shape, and as for MOOSE..it just horned right in….Good words, better anagrams…SWINGING over to our cartoon…We just had a Golf themed puzzle, last week, on the 17th, PUTT this one is takes a different SLANT. Here, we see a man and a woman, playing an early game of golf, in what appears to be Scotland. I say this because, The modern game of golf is generally considered to be a Scottish invention. I found this quote…”Stick and ball games have been around for many centuries, but golf as we know it today, played over 18 holes, clearly originated in Scotland.” Enough said. Today, on a golf course, flags are made mostly of nylon. But as we can see, years ago they used canvas. Torn and tattered as it may have been, it stood up to those sea breezes. But, the material was COARSE. Our question today is asking us what the flags were made of. We SEA the solution to our puzzle has the first word in quotes. You know that means.. Fun with a pun…and the pun is intended! We’re on a Golf “Course“..The flags were made of…”COURSE” MATERIAL! Pull the stick is right! Good one, David…Suits this puzzle to a TEE! Ok, eye candy. We have the grazing lamb..not BAAAd, but no…We have those old PREPPY PLAIDGolf Hats…but they’re old hat…We have the fringed waist flaps with the crossed clubs and the golf balls logo, but they’re not DRIVING me wild.. We have the stick, that the woman needs to be pulled so that the game can begin….PUTT it’s not what I WOOD choose either…I’m just going to go with Jeff’s signature signature SINKing ship out on the water…it’s just PAR for the COURSE! So, There you have it Folks, Done! Have a great day, Everyone. And may the COURSE be with you…🏌🙋🏻

Jumble Answers for 03/22/2018

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SATTY = TASTY

VOLNE = NOVEL

RIHFTT = THRIFT

WKEYEL = WEEKLY

 

CARTOON ANSWER:

THE TENNIS PLAYER HADN’T LOST A SINGLE GAME TO HER OPPONENT AND WAS – – –

ASTNOLITWEL = ALL SET TO WIN

Good Thursday morning, fellow Jumblers! TASTY appears to be a new clue word, or we just haven’t seen it in a really long time. Either way it was instantly visible and no trouble at all. NOVEL was last used on 8/5/17 where the anagram was identical to the one we see today. THRIFT came quickly with the two T’s neatly placed next to each other leaving WEEKLY to take a few extra glances before it came into view. David did an excellent job of placing the Y before the L to keep us from quickly finding the -LY ending that is most common with adverbs making it my pick for the most difficult anagram of the day.

Looking at today’s panel made me let out a slight groan knowing that a tennis themed panel was going to be a challenge for me to talk about. Being more of an optimist, I put my feelings about tennis aside and decided to focus on what I enjoyed in today’s piece instead. Two tennis players are the main characters that we see today with the player in the background getting ready to serve the ball to her opponent. The scoreboard in the background identifies the players as KING and KENT with Billie Jean King being the obvious tennis star that Jeff has drawn. Not knowing how tennis is scored, I relied upon the dialogue of the man and woman sitting in the stands to clue me in that the game is just about over and King was going to reign supreme.

The letter layout for the final solution was very cryptic with no obvious words jumping out at me. Using the dialogue and sentence allowed WIN to come to mind as it was stated that the player hadn’t lost a single game. After crossing WIN out, TO was together and I decided to go with it as the 2-letter word. With only 6-letters remaining, ALL was clearly visible leaving SET for the finish. I’ll leave it here for today as my tennis-challenged brain has had more than enough of a workout to get me this far!!! Have a terrific Thursday, and I’ll see you tomorrow! 🎾

Jumble Answers for 03/21/2018

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CWAYK = WACKY

DEALG = GLADE

NURYHG = HUNGRY

WDERHS = SHREWD

 

CARTOON ANSWER:

TO GET HIS TOOLS WHERE THEY NEEDED TO BE, THE AUTO MECHANIC HAD TO – – –

WCGLEHUNSRE = LUG WRENCHES

Good Wednesday morning, Jumble friends! Regular players of the Jumble won’t find any problems with today’s clue words as they were all old favorites. If you found yourself stuck, it was most likely GLADE or SHREWD that required a second look. Overall, SHREWD would be my pick for the most difficult anagram of the day. We last saw it on 2/25 where the cartoon and surprise answer were very similar to today’s game. Either David is creating similar puzzles by pure coincidence or he’s having some serious car trouble!

Looking at the cartoon, the setting appears to be an auto repair shop but the plethora of tires in the background leads me to believe that this is actually a tire replacement shop. Kudos to Jeff for changing the setting ever so slightly to set it apart from that 2/25 puzzle! Looking at our characters, we see two employees that are polar opposites of one another. The man in the back seems like he’s the type of guy that wants to work smarter and not harder. With his safety glasses on, he informs his co-worker that he has found his toolbox. In a rush to get the job done, the other man decides to carry the lug wrenches all at once. I’m not sure why he thinks he needs so may different wrenches as lug nuts are pretty universal and are usually only different on after market tires!

After reading the dialogue and sentence and seeing all those LUG WRENCHES in the cartoon, the answer was a blind solve. I wrote out the clue letters just to check myself and the layout was wonderfully cryptic and hid the answer extremely well. Have a wonderful Wednesday and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Jumble Answers for 03/20/2018

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KAARP = PARKA

KLFEU = FLUKE

CLORSL = SCROLL

TAPDUE = UPDATE

 

CARTOON ANSWER:

THE BIRD THAT ACCIDENTALLY FLEW INSIDE THE HOUSE – – –

PAAFESCLUDA = CAUSED A FLAP

Good Tuesday morning, Jumble fanatics, and happy first day of spring! At 12:15 pm Eastern time, the sun will be directly in line with the equator giving us the vernal equinox where both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres will have the same amount of daylight. To our friends in the Southern Hemisphere, happy first day of autumn!

Excellent clue word choices today with PARKA and SCROLL being the two that gave me the most trouble. SCROLL took the longest to figure out so it’s my pick for the most difficult anagram of the day. The U’s in FLUKE and UPDATE were a big help and allowed the words to instantly come into view.

The setting for today’s cartoon is in a living room where a chaotic situation is taking place. There’s a bird loose in the house and he definitely doesn’t appear to be leaving anytime soon. From our bird’s-eye view perspective we see four different characters with each one having a different facial expression and body language. Mom appears to be in shock with one hand behind her head and the other one near her mouth. Junior appears to be in awe with a huge one-toothed smile and an extended arm reaching out to his new “friend”. Dad is clearly angry at the feathered intruder for not only interrupting his coffee time but also violating his personal space. As dad swats at the bird, which has a look of confusion on its face, we get a glimpse of the best detail in today’s panel that is on dad’s rolled up newspaper. There’s a tiny Jumble puzzle on the paper as well as a Family Circus comic! You’d probably miss it if you didn’t look hard enough so I’ve included an enlarged photo of it below.

The final solve will no doubt be the reason that most people will arrive at this website today. The letter layout was wonderfully cryptic and didn’t give anything away. The only help we get with this puzzle was the one letter A in the solution. I struggled quite a bit with this one and had to do quite a few self-jumbles before FLAP came into view. CAUSED wasn’t difficult to figure out once the other two words were solved. This puzzle was definitely on the more challenging side and it definitely left me feeling like a birdbrain! Have a terrific Tuesday and I’ll see you tomorrow!

 

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Jumble Answers for 03/19/2018

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TOMEP = TEMPO

OLYRG = GLORY

SINOIV = VISION

ROAPND = PARDON

 

CARTOON ANSWER:

THE HIGH JUMPER WAS SUCCESSFUL IN PRACTICE, BUT HIS COACH WORRIED HE WAS – – –

TEOGRVIIDON = OVERDOING IT

Happy Monday, Jumble friends! I hope your St. Patrick’s Day weekened was as restful and relaxing as it was for me. Looking back at last week’s puzzles, we had some really challenging anagrams with the most searched for being FEWLAF, CATEU, and STULEA. Today gives us a fresh start to the week, so let’s see what David and Jeff have to offer.

Right from the start, TEMPO required an extra an glance and I don’t remember it being used recently so it was an excellent anagram choice to get my brain in gear. The next two words were both immediately visible with GLORY being in alphabetical order when solved. PARDON took the longest for me to decipher and is my choice for the most difficult anagram of the day. We last saw it on 10/17/17 where it was jumbled as PNDORA and it troubled me just as much then as it did today. With all of the clue words complete it was time for the cartoon.

The setting for Jeff’s panel was immediately recognizable as a training field where an athlete can be seen coming to rest on a landing mat after his jump. The bar is clearly still on the stand and the jump appears to be successful. Reading the dialogue, the athlete inquires as to what his coach thought of the jump with the surprise response being “I think you should stop and save your energy for the meet”. The coach (who looks shockingly similar to Mike the painter from Friday’s Jumble) can be seen making a slow down motion with his right hand expressing his opinion that the athlete shouldn’t over exert himself.

There were a few excellent details that Jeff added to his piece that really made the cartoon pop. The chain and pendant that the athlete was wearing around his neck can be seen still in the air as he makes his landing. The shading under the athlete’s back and action lines in an arc also added to the realism that the athlete had just landed. My favorite details though were the athletes training in the background with one person sprinting and another person doing a pole vault. Although they were difficult to make out, they helped tie together some of the events in a track and field event.

The layout for the final solve was expertly crafted by David and didn’t give anything away. This cryptic layout had me baffled so I decided to tackle the two letter word first. There were so many 2-word combinations available that it didn’t help so I just started self-jumbling all of the letters. On my 6th attempt I had OV together leading me to find OVER. The -ING ending came next with OVERDOING quickly coming into view. IT was all that was left to bring this moderately challenging puzzle to completion.

Did anyone else notice that the cartoon sentence was in bold face print this morning? Maybe it was just my newspaper but it really stood out and is a huge change from what I’m accustomed too. Maybe Jeff and/or David will clue us in if this is a change that they’ve decided to make. Have a marvelous Monday and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Jumble Answers for 03/18/2018

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TFOINY – NOTIFY

VTRIED – DIVERT

GEWLAG – WAGGLE

RRHEAD – HARDER

DONORI – INDOOR

MOLARN – NORMAL

CARTOON ANSWER: THERE WAS NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THE

BOULEVARD’S NEW MEDIAN. IT WAS JUST – – – 

TFDERALEHDIDOOM = MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD

Good Morning, Everyone!       🚧  DO YOU HAVE THIS IN A MEDIAN?  🚧

🎶 Then throw me…Smack dab in the MIDDLE…Oh, I want to be smack dab in the MIDDLE…Ahhhhh, now boys you can see why I want to be smack dab in the MIDDLE now…So I can rock and roll to satisfy my soul🎶

🚧 Soon as looking at the puzzle, the answer came to me
So obvious the median the clue to what would be…
I didn’t wiggle WAGGLE, attention not DIVERT
Maybe it would be HARDER if I didn’t see the dirt.
The brick and sod seem NORMAL, cause right now I’m in the midst
Of renovating property and sod is on the list
I feel there’s always something new I find to NOTIFY
The person that I’ve hired for the job…this poor nice guy
I’ve changed my mind so many times his patience I am sure
Must wear thin, as I’m now blending the outside with INDOOR…
I think I’ve finally gotten it, I’ve designed my abode
And rest assured no one will say it’s MIDDLE OF THE ROAD! 🚧

I don’t think any of today’s words are deal BREAKers, but if I had to SPLIT them up, I guess I’d choose NOTIFY and DIVERT as the HARDER words. I could be wrong, you may have chosen others…You know, the GRASS is always GREENer, etc. All in all, great anagrams for a Sunday. Ok, our cartoon…Today, Jeff’s DRIVEN us to the BOULEVARD of BROKEN SEAMS, as a MEDIAN is being installed. Nothing earth SHATTERing, just your run of the mill MEDIAN. The dialogue tells us that the male architect, BRICK, is ruminating over the lack of money for some landscaping. The female architect, Rhoda, who goes by the nickname ROADIE, we see was happy enough to draw the LINE at SOD. So, it won’t TURN OUT to be a work of art, but it’ll do its PART. Anyway, our question asks..What the MEDIAN was..It was just..MIDDLEOF THE ROAD! And that’s the LONG and SHORT of it, Folks! Good one, David! ROCK SOLID. Ok, the eye candy…Hmm..not much here to PAVE the way…A few buildings, some TRAFFIC CONES, a WHEELBARROW of sod, some TRAFFIC lights, the workman, laying the sod….I think I’ll just overRIDE the candy today…yea, I’ll PASS. So, There you gave it Folks, Done! Have a great day, Everyone. And take nothing for GRANITE…🚧🙋🏻

  

Jumble Answers for 03/17/2018

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GROOF = FORGO

EELXI = EXILE

HUGONE = ENOUGH

STULEA = SALUTE

 

CARTOON ANSWER:

THE EXTRA CHARGE FOR THE SIDE SALAD AT THE GOLF COURSE’S RESTAURANT WAS A – – –

FREEENGSE = GREENS FEE

 

🍀🍀🍀 Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, and I’ll see you tomorrow!!! 🍀🍀🍀

 

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