UDLEE = ELUDE
HENSE = SHEEN
VEEMRO = REMOVE
FIROPT = PROFIT
CARTOON ANSWER:
THE 2 WAS MUCH MORE EASYGOING THAN THE 3 BECAUSE THE 2 WAS – – –
EDEEENEMVPRT = EVEN-TEMPERED
Good Monday morning, everyone! All of the clue words that we see today are old favorites. SHEEN looked new to me once it was solved but a search revealed that it was last used on 10/08/15. PROFIT ended up being the oldest of the bunch with its last appearance on 10/02/14. We did see it used in a surprise answer of “TIDY PROFIT” on 6/27/16 so perhaps David only uses it on even-numbered years. Although all of our clue words well jumbled, they were all instantly visible so I’ll forgo choosing one as the most difficult anagram of the day. If you have a pick, be sure to let us know in the comments section down below.
Today’s cartoon was a break from the norm with the main characters being numbers instead of people. The banner overhead says “SUDOKU CHAMPIONSHIPS” and we see the numbers 1, 3, and 2 on the sidelines waiting to be played. The dialogue informs us that number 3 is anxious to get on the grid as he verbalizes his frustration with the pace at which the game is being played. Number 2 has a nonchalant attitude about the situation and states that “it will all work out.”
There were a couple of details in this piece that happened to catch my attention. We see the number 4 already on the board and its eyes are looking forward instead of back towards the commotion on the sideline. The second detail was more complex and left me a bit confused. If you look at the number 2, you’ll see that there is another number partially drawn to its right. Since Sudoku uses the numbers 1 through 9, I was unable to figure out what this other crooked number was. My best guess is that it’s part of the number 6 but the curve didn’t seem right. If you have a guess, be sure to let us know!
Like the clue words, the final solution was no trouble at all. The letter layout had five E’s which definitely caught my attention. The EN coupled together brought EVEN into view which left TEMPERED to be sussed out with minimal effort.
I’ve added a poll down below (👇) to see how many of you play the Sudoku. It’s a fun game but I prefer the other word puzzles like the crossword and word search. Have a marvelous Monday, and I’ll see you tomorrow!
Jumble Answers 
Good Morning, Mike…I think the curve may just be part of the DIVIDEing line…but I wouldn’t disCOUNT your thought! 🔢🙋🏻
Good morning, Angela, and thank you. I hope your week is off to a great start. 🙂
YW! And I wish you the same…🔢🙋🏻
To make a PROFIT, keep a SHEEN on his reputation, and REMOVE the furniture, the mover did his best to ELUDE radar traps.
You nailed it, Earl! Well done. 🙂🙂🙂
🎶 ONE, TWO, THREE, Oh, that’s how elementary it’s gonna be…C’mon, let’s fall in love, it’s easy…(It’s so easy)…Like takin’ candy from a Baby…ONE and ONE are TWO, (ONE and ONE are TWO)…I know you love me and oh,oh, how I love you (how I love you). Don’t try to fight it ’cause it’s easy (it’s so easy)…Like takin’ candy from a Baby…🎶 “1-2-3″ – Len Barry 1965
1️⃣ 2️⃣ 3️⃣ A 1’s who colored Burgundy, with gloves that parody self,
He’s standing next to Yellow 3…are they upon a shelf?
The number 2, a beautiful Blue, now he’s the featured one…
No, not that 1…I mean the 2…Oh…what have I begun??
Now don’t let this ELUDE you, REMOVE the thoughts of doubt..
I’ll start again explaining what this puzzles all about.
Sudoku is a gridded game where numbers 1 to 9,
Are placed aside each other along a straightened line.
You work it horizontal, and vertical as well,
Until you’ve filled in 9 squares where the numbers all will dwell.
These numbers have a nice SHEEN, they’re polished all aflame,
They’re part of what appears to be a Championship Game.
Perhaps there’s PROFIT to be made, since 3 is quite intense?
Whereas our 2 seems laid back, not concerned with dollars and cents,
And there’s a 4 seen smiling, upon the grid he’s entered…
The puzzles theme? That Even Numbers all are EVEN-TEMPERED! 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣
With 3 being my favorite number, I’m a little miffed (miffed)? at being depicted so grumpy, but I’ll just disCOUNT it for now. I’m sure if a poll were taken, Jeff would easily be out NUMBERED, because 3 is just 2 sweet a NUMBER! Since we’ve seen all today’s words be4, (with PROFIT being the oldest, at 2 months shy of 4 years old, and ELUDE the most recent, last seen at an EVEN 100 days ago), I had no PROBLEM, and zipped through them…1-2-3! And our answer was a TOTAL WINNER! EVEN-TEMPERED! Easy, breezy..1nce again! Good 1, David! We can always COUNT on you!
Eye candy? That little HALF smile on number 4, is a real GRINNER, but Number 3 shaking his clenched fist? I give Jeff a 10! I laughed so hard, I almost hyperventil8ed! EVEN though I h8 seeing 3 depicted so ODDly! Anyway, if you think about it, all the EVEN Numbers think the rest of us are ODD…It simply ADDS up that way! I just don’t bother giving it much thNAUGHT! So, There you have it, Folks! SUM! Have a gr8 day, Every1! And I’ll leave you with a laugh…A while ago in a club, a guy came up to me and said…”Excuse me, I’m writing a phone book…Can I have your NUMBER”? LOL! I must say, I had to give him an A 4 effort! It didn’t AMOUNT to anything…But I thNAUGHT it was a 1derful line! 🔢🙋🏻
We were crossing each other when I posted Angela and I hadn’t seen anyone before me. Being old school and pecking at the letters takes me a lot longer to get things done. Another good song choice and terrific poems and puns. You did get a laugh out of me with that last real good line. First time I heard that one. I guess I’m a little like you. I’d rather be odd then even. Makes life more interesting. Oh,I checked this out a second time before sending unlike the first one.
ROTFL! Oh.. I’m sure you did! 😉Never fear, Dear Brooklyneer…I always got your back. 😘I’m pecking slow myself this morning..Just that kind of a day..,Pouring rain, dark and gloomy…TOTALly unlike you with your Sunshiny Self! You know I’m always happy to give you a laugh…You in turn do the same for me…Thanks sooo much for the Shout Outs..it was a fun run! The pick-up line? First time I had heard it too, and I’ve heard a few beauties😳 over the years! SMH! I did let him know it was a valiant effort! I still wonder if it worked on anyone! 😂😂 And here’s 🍷 to the the ODD of us out there! I wouldn’t have it any other way! …PS: I’ll send you my bill.😉….as soon as I crunch the NUMBERS! Have a good one, Brooklyn! Stay dry! 🔢🙋🏻
Good morning. Thanks Mike for all your input. I’m thinking it’s number 4 as shown on bottom left. meaning it should be next one up. Enjoyed today’s jumble. Overall for me, I would put the puzzle in the not to soft, not to hard, but “just right” category. My choice for hardest word would be Profit. It took an extra two minutes before that light bulb went on. When I got to the cartoon, that was my real challenge. I totally went blank for over fifteen minutes. That’s when I put the paper aside and finished my breakfast. My second attempt proved successful. Clever answer, even if I do say so myself. Until tomorrow stay well.
I applaud your efforts this morning, Paul! Way to stick with it for the finish!
The curve of the 4 that is on the board is different than the one we see. Angela thought it might be part of the dividing line but the color version of the puzzle shows the sideline being brown and the mystery number as green. Quite a conundrum for a Monday! Enjoy your day. 🙂
Mike..Excellent catch! 👏🏻👏🏻 I went through the COLOR commentary in my poem, and completely overlooked the Green! 😉 I’ll reSHADE my thinking then, and go with either 7 or 9, in LIGHT of the stem-like shape..The remaining numbers, all being curved, just wouldn’t ADD up! 🔢🙋🏻
I like your thinking Mike but then Angie’s 9 would be out because of it curving up. It would only leave the 6 or 4. But then it comes back to why couldn’t the artist just put that there without thinking of a number. To get us talking about what he might have thought.
I beg your pardon, Brooklyn! My 9’s don’t curve up! Granted some peoples’ might…but it’s all a matter of preference…I like to keep my numbers straight…like my Scotch! Well then, I’m still keeping with my 7…Anyway..With the SEVEN? Take away his S? He’s EVEN! 😂🙋🏻
Jeff sure knows how to get us talking about his amazing cartoons! I know we’re all rushed in the morning but there’s so much goodness that folks are missing by not taking a few extra seconds to soak it all up.
Cute puzzle this morning and enjoyed your analysis, Mike, as always. Angela, you summed it all up so cleverly as you do every morning. Happy Monday everyone!!
Good Morning, Betty. Missed you the past few days. You know I’m always praying for/worrying about all of you out there in California. I hope all is well with you and yours. Thank you…and a Kudo for you! 👏🏻 ! Clever choice of word on your part also! Happy Monday…Stay well! Ciao! 🔢🙋🏻
Excuse me Angela but look at your 9 in your last type. It curves up like a u. I hope your not having scotch this early in the morning. Lol.
ROTFL!!! Well excuse me again, Paul! What’re you writing a phone book too? 😂😂 This isn’t “my” 9 you see here…It’s Apple’s! Trust me, I think I should know my NINES…and there’s no curves! As for the Scotch? It’s still last nights’ resiDO…you know…When you Do-Do-Do??!! 😉🍹🙋🏻
Here, Brooklyn…You’re at a disadvantage…Take a closer look…There’s nothing “rounded” here. A slight curve maybe, but then the line becomes elongated….Laugh’ll be on us, when we find out it’s just an ink blotch! 😂🙋🏻
Click to access 5b712cb735c42.pdf.pdf
Thank you, Betty. Have a wonderful start to your week! 🙂🙂🙂
Getting the answer was a real challenge for me. I thought the first word would be ever and I worked a long time with it.
Good morning, Caroline. I now see how it could cause some trouble if you used the R in the first word. I really enjoy when everyone takes the time to fill us in on how they solved it because there’s so many different ways to attack it. 😊
Hi all – The only thing that took an extra look today was SHEEN. The other words and the answer just came to me. And this must be a first – the colors you’re describing actually match those in the SF Chronicle (except for the scoreboard and the floor.)
Angela, let’s up the ante of songs (The first is appropriate for the first day of school in Oakland):
🎵”A B C, It’s easy as, 1 2 3
As simple as, do re mi, A B C, 1 2 3”🎵
🎵”One and One and One is three
Got to be good lookin’ ‘cause he’s so hard to see”🎵
Have a great day, everyone!
Mike, since we’re on the subject of numbers, there was one that really opened my eyes this morning: Forty nine and a half! The number of games by which the Orioles trail the Red Sox in the AL East. Don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.
Tonight the A’s, who are 8-2 in their last 10 games and just won their road series against the Angels host the red hot Mariners coming off a 4 game sweep at Texas, both chasing the 2nd wildcard and the AL West crown. It’s still very early, but this should be a lot of fun!
At least the O’s won their season opener, lol! 😂
The Sox are on pace for 114 wins. Fingers crossed that they surpass the ‘01 Mariners which was 116. I’ve watched the Red Sox for many years, Steve, and I’ve never seen a team that’s this impressive. 🤞🏻
Maybe the O’s misunderstood when someone told them their franchise should aspire to reach the historical achievements of the Forty-Niners? 😂
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
I think there were more Red Sox fans at the ballpark than O’s fans! It’s always nice to hear “Lets go Red Sox, Lets go!” at an away game. 😉
🎶Uno, dos..one, two, tres, quatro …🎶 🔢🙋🏻
Sticking to my promise and not mentioning any Wooly animals! 😂🙋🏻♂️
HI, all! I did not labor over today’s puzzle but it was not a quick & easy Monday solve for me, and I definitely had more trouble than you did, Mike. I had to self-jumble the word REMOVE twice. To solve the cartoon answer, I had to, for the first time in quite a while, drag out my scrabble letters and swirl them until the word EVEN popped out. I am usually good at math stuff so had to chide myself for not thinking about 2 being an even number.
Busy day of paperwork ahead. Hope all of you enjoy your day!
Good afternoon, Lelia. It’s become quite obvious that today’s puzzle wasn’t as easy as I made it sound. I’m glad you were able to figure it out with the help of your scrabble tiles and finish it off.
We’ve been cooking a bit this morning and made mini-meatballs for tonight’s dinner along with baking brownies for dessert. We used a packaged brownie mix and I noticed the directions indicate that you can use either 1 or 2 eggs. Maybe I never noticed before but I always thought it was just one. How many eggs do you use? Just curious! 🤔
Enjoy your day! 🙂
Hi, Mike! Great to hear from you!! Your dinner sounds yummy! I use only one egg in my brownies because that’s the texture I prefer. Using 2 or 3 eggs gives them a cake-like texture. I like them the gooier the better. I also use olive oil in them. One day while preparing to make brownies for a get-together, I noticed that I was out of vegetable oil & had to use olive oil. That night there were 3 pans of brownies on the table and to my delight, my whole pan was eaten before any of the others were eaten. I attributed it to the olive oil making them moist & gooey.
I enjoy them gooey as well!!! I used 1 egg this time so I’m sure they came out delicious. I even underbaked them by a couple of minutes to make sure they’re gooey. 😊
I’ve never heard of the OO trick so I’ll definitely give it a go next time. My mother-in-law mentioned to me that I should substitute milk for the water so I’ll try both substitutions next time. I’m glad that you had a few minutes to respond while filling out your paperwork. Say hi to Jerry for me!
Mike, you might want to try substituting the milk for water next time, then try just the OO trick next, and last a combination of the two in case the combination doesn’t please you. Just thinkin’.
You’re on top of things! One substitution at a time. 😉
Hi, Angela! Late answer to your yesterday’s question. Arizona is very dry ten to eleven months of the year with what we call “a dry heat.” We have high humidity only during our monsoon season, which is usually most of August. This year our monsoons began the middle of July & are still going. Even our highest humidity days are not as high as yours, but they are hard on us because we are not used to them.
Hi Lelia…Tks. I was curious, so I Googled it last night…So many changes in the weather patterns all over the country…🙋🏻
Haven’t piped in for awhile. Pretty easy puzzle today.
A’s and Mariners are making things interesting. Hope the M’s bring their momentum gained in Houston to bear tonight in Oakland!
Glad to have you back, John! I was wondering where you’ve been….
Yup, that’s one of the games on my watch list tonight! The 10:05 start time will mean that I’ll only get to watch a few innings though. Looking forward to it!
On July 6, 1895, Le Siècle’s rival, La France, refined the puzzle so that it was almost a modern Sudoku. It simplified the 9×9 magic square puzzle so that each row, column, and broken diagonals contained only the numbers 1–9, but did not mark the subsquares. Although they are unmarked, each 3×3 subsquare does indeed comprise the numbers 1–9 and the additional constraint on the broken diagonals leads to only one solution.
These weekly puzzles were a feature of French newspapers such as L’Echo de Paris for about a decade, but disappeared about the time of World War I.
Modern Sudoku
The modern Sudoku was most likely designed anonymously by Howard Garns, a 74-year-old retired architect and freelance puzzle constructor from Connersville, Indiana, and first published in 1979 by Dell Magazines as Number Place (the earliest known examples of modern Sudoku). Garns’s name was always present on the list of contributors in issues of Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word Games that included Number Place, and was always absent from issues that did not. He died in 1989 before getting a chance to see his creation as a worldwide phenomenon. Whether or not Garns was familiar with any of the French newspapers listed above is unclear.
Very informative, Clay! Thanks for filling us in. 😎👍