TNNIH = NINTH
XILPE = PIXEL
REACOS = COARSE
ROOSUP = POROUS
CARTOON ANSWER:
AS KIDS OF CAUTIOUS PARENTS, THEY COULD ONLY WATCH TV IF THEY WENT THROUGH THE – – –
NNHPELCAREEPORS = PROPER CHANNELS
Happy Thursday, Jumble friends! After solving the first Jumble in today’s game, it brought to mind that it’s also Opening day of baseball! That fact, for me, truly means that spring has officially sprung. No more snow to shovel, the days will soon be warmer, the grass will become green again, and everything seems to have new life. It’s a time of renewed hope after a bleak, cold winter, and baseball is finally back on tv! The similarities continued with PIXEL being what LCD tv screens are made of, the COARSE feeling of the grain on some bats, and the POROUS nature of baseball infields. So even though our cartoon wasn’t baseball themed, David knocked it out of the park with his word choices!
NINTH was the only anagram that has been used in the past, on 3/11/16 to be exact, while our remaining three words are all throwbacks to various dates in 2018. PIXEL was the most recently used of the quartet, and on Christmas of all days! POROUS was the only word to cause me to hesitate for quite some time, so it’s my pick for the most difficult anagram of the day.
Our cartoon brings us into a living room where we see four Jumble characters. The two moms in the background are chatting and drinking some warm beverages while their children stare wide-eyed at a television. We can tell that Jeff intended his panel to be in the not too distant past by the fact that the television is a flat screen model. The child on the left has had enough of the program that’s currently playing and asks his mom to switch the channel (or most likely pull up a dvr recording) of Sesame Street. He forgot to say please, though, but we’ll forgive the little guy!
After reading the words Sesame Street, it conjured up memories of how my brothers and I would sit and watch that particular show. I wasn’t much of a fan of the puppets and their storyline, but I thoroughly enjoyed the little snippets of material that played in-between. Is Sesame Street even on PBS any more? The last time I saw it on the tube it was playing on HBO for whatever reason.
There were a few extra details within today’s cartoon that made it pop. The juice boxes that the children are holding have flexible straws and a picture of a smiling apple serving as the logo. The remote control that the mom on the left is holding has only seven buttons which seems to indicate that it’s most likely operated by voice control. Absent was the “I ❤️ Jumble” logo on their coffee mugs with Jeff deciding to draw nondescript ones instead. My favorite detail was the action lines around the tv which made the cartoon feel warm and lifelike.
The final solve was an anagram consisting of 14-letters. There wasn’t anything obvious within the layout that I could see which left me to find hints to the answer via the visual clues, cartoon sentence, and dialogue. The child was asking his mom to change the CHANNEL, and the double N’s at the beginning of the anagram brought that word to mind. Crossing out the letters left PROPER which came into view shortly thereafter for the finish. All in all the difficulty level for today’s puzzle was on par for a Thursday and it provided the mental challenge my brain has been craving since the start of the week. Have a Terrific Thursday, and play ball!!! ⚾️
P.S. If you’d like to see what an “I ❤️ Jumble” coffee mug looks like, you can click HERE! I’ve purchased quite a few of them and they’re absolutely fantastic!
Jumble Answers 
Good Morning, Mike. I have a little bit of a different outlook than yours with today’s puzzle. But I agree with you on the coffee mugs..No J? Hmm…And: Happy Opening Day! Let the games begin! ⚾️🙋🏻
Have a great day, Angela! 🙂👋🏻⚾️
Sorry…Better late..juggling all day! Thank you..same to you! Kind of regretting now that I turned that ticket down…it’s warm here…especially in the sun…and they’re saying it’s not bad there…But I’m sure they’re in the Clubhouse too…Oh well, there’ll be more games to come….⚾️🙋🏻
Good Morning, Chuck…Here’s what I came up with…The poem is dedicated to Mike, Steve and I…We go wayyyy back with the First Pitch! .⚾️⚾️⚾️🙋🏻
The bottom of the NINTH and all eyes focus on home plate,
The defense had been POROUS so far up until the 8th…
Like looking at a PIXEL, the ball’s a dot you see
Coming at the batter, it’s not COARSE…it’s flying free…
The PROPER CHANNELS all in place, you hope that he’ll connect,
A swing, it’s good and you watch as the homer he projects…
Exasperated, that after the NINTH rug sample they chose, made of a too POROUS material and looking like a row of PIXEL images, felt way too COARSE, they decided to go through the PROPER CHANNELS and requested to see the line of imports instead…
I found today’s answer was an instant solve. Going through the PROPER CHANNELS, a very common phrase, was handed to us on a silver…DISH, just by reading the question. The cartoon and words, which turned out to be all RERUNs, were just an added bonus. But I found something a little odd with today’s dialogue…After the child asks to see Sesame Street, why does the Mother answer in the manner she does? If she’s CONTROLling the REMOTE, does he have any other choice BUT to ask? Does her reply “sound” like sarcasm? And being very aTUNED to Jeff’s drawings…With her straight jutting eyebrows and her elongated (not rounded) eye shape, doesn’t she appear to be a little less “receptive” ie “friendly” than her coffee mate? Something here just seems PROGRAMMED wrong. Am I the only one who’s VIEWING it this way? 📺🙋🏻
After trying for the NINTH time to wipe the PIXEL dots off the TV screen with a COARSE, but POROUS rag, the housewife gave it up as a bad job. Kind of a tough one, Angela.
Good Morning, Chuck. Yes, odd words to meld. But I applaud 👏🏻👏🏻 your PIXEL dots on the TV screen…a very creative slant! Kudos! 📺🙋🏻
Hi all – Had to pause at both the third and fourth words. POROUS appeared after three or four tries, but COARSE took longer. I just happened to try the “OA” together and it showed up. The answer was obvious.
Thanks for the poem, Angela. That gave me a big smile. Only in the last few years have I learned from listening to ballplayer interviews that if the ball looks like a dot coming at you, it’s a slider. It wouldn’t make any difference to me – I could never hit *anything*.
“He clicked on the website ad picture not knowing that the NINTH PIXEL was actually a link to malware, causing his security to become POROUS and him to utter some COARSE language.”
Mike, I hope you’ve been in spring training yourself, preparing for a string of LATE West Coast games to open the season!
Have a great (Opening) day, everyone!
I’m looking forward to our late-night tête-à-têtes, Steve!
How coincidental is it that you mentioned a coffee mug to me yesterday and we see one in today’s cartoon? I think it was subliminal messaging for you to go back and purchase it! 🙂⚾️👋🏻
You’re very welcome, Steve! It gave me a big smile to write it and do the dedication! The Lous offered me a ticket to the Stadium, and I waffled. Only 50°?.that’s rough…but more so because my Nephew called me out on it… Lecturing me how coukd I justify going to a Yankee game right out of the gate without seeing a Mets one first. (He gave me a pair for him and I for my B’day). …You know how it is…Family! 😂⚾️ And I can’t hurt my Boy like that…he’s my ❤️. So…no Bronx for me today…
I’m so glad you picked up on my “dot”👏🏻👏🏻. I told Lou you would…I learned about it a long time ago, when my Father first taught us how to hit…Altho I never came closer to perfecting connecting with the slider…And as far as you hitting? G..It’s just like riding a bike…or whistling! 😉😉 LOL!!!…Don’t underestimate yourself…You get up there, it all comes back to you…Kudos on your sentence..👏🏻👏🏻 Well played! I let the COARSE language SLIDE…(pun intended)! ..in favor of its’ alternate meaning..I like words that can be interpreted more than one way…Here’s to the Openers everywhere! 🍻🍻 Make it a good one, G! ⚾️🙋🏻
I’m sure it would come back to me, but what would come back is (to repeat myself), I could *never* hit *anything*! 😂🙋🏻♂️
Oh…LOL! You mean it wasn’t just the slider that got past you? You whiffed it all? You couldn’t hit, or you just didn’t bother trying? ?..( But the whistling, Steve…)! 😉😂 I’m still swinging a bat when we get a pick up game going. My only problem now is the cost of the maincure! 😂😂😂💅🏻 Well… Here’s to enjoying the game vicariously then! 🍻⚾️🙋🏻
Porous and coarse took me the longest as well but the cartoon answer was easy. Happy Opening Day to all the baseball fans out there.
Thank you Betty! ⚾️🙋🏻
Hi Everyone –
I couldn’t see COARSE until I got the answer and backed in.
I don’t think opening day for the minor league team here is until next week.
Couldn’t get to Seattle this year for Opening Day (technically, Home Opener). Odd start time due to national audience on ESPN, too! Here’s to the Boys of Summer! GO ZAGS, too!
John…Is that you? 🤔🙋🏻
I’ll assume it’s John. Mariners 2-0 already, and this reminded me that I had saved this note about Ichiro for Angela, John and Mike:
TOKYO — This was no stoic Ted Williams-style farewell.
Williams, the Boston Red Sox legend, famously resisted tipping his cap to the Fenway Park fans even after hitting a home run in his final at-bat. As the writer John Updike later explained: Gods don’t answer letters.
Ichiro went the opposite route. He hit “reply all.”
The Japanese star not only had his moment in the sun, he had it in the land of the rising sun.
Ichiro broke into the majors when the Mariners beat the A’s, 5-4, on April 2, 2001.
Ichiro said goodbye to the majors when the Mariners beat the A’s, 5-4, on March 21, 2019.
Assuming can be sooo dangerous! 😂 But you did mention this to me the other day, remember? It’s obviously touched you deeply…And we both know…oh so well…That there’ll ALWAYS be crying in Baseball…Altho it’s the bottom of the 8th…and the Mets haven’t caused me to shed a single tear yet today…YET! ..Lets be honest here…I’m still a realist! ⚾️😉🙋🏻
What’d’ya know, G? A Johnson’s Baby Shampoo finish for the Mets ⚾️ Opener! 😉🙋🏻
“No more tears” in Mets baseball for one day at least! 😂 🙋🏻♂️
LOL! 👏🏻👏🏻 TOUCHE’! Exactly! 😉🙋🏻
It is I!
👏🏻👏🏻. We haven’t seen you for a while. Welcome back! ⚾️🙋🏻
Thanks for this, Steve.
I hope you like your new closer, Angela! He had 57 saves last year! Hope Cano keeps his nose clean for you, too!
Hi John. I have to say, I was surprised acquiring both of them. Cano had turned me off with the substance abuse. I seem to have no tolerance for it…But let’s hope it’s over and done with. And he’s saying he feels like he’s 25. Yea, I do too most mornings…but it usually doesn’t last much past noon time! 😉 But he came through young and healthy this afternoon with that Homer..and he looked good with the glove too, so I guess his staying power’s better than mine! 😂😂 Impressive…I guess it remains to be seen. And yes….As for Diaz, 57 saves is close to mind boggling…And right out of the gate, he got one under his belt for us already…So, yes, I like my new closer! 😉 Here’s to a good Season for us all…🍻⚾️🙋🏻
John…I corrected my repeating Cano’s name above, where I meant to say Diaz. So many distractions…The Mets fans are texting an tweeting as if we’ve never had an Opening Day win before! We get so excited! ROTFL! 😂😂🙋🏻
Oh John John, was that a dig at Cano with keeping his nose clean or was that just a Freudian slip. This is America,we forgive and forget and then forgive and forget again and again. I kept waiting for the bomb to drop after he left the game. Thought for sure it would start off the way it was for him 99% of the time last year.