MIGER = GRIME
CAHWK = WHACK
CCDIAA = CICADA
MTROPP = PROMPT
CARTOON ANSWER:
WHEN PENN & TELLER STEPPED ONTO THE STAGE, THEY WERE READY TO – – –
GRIEWHKCIAROMT = WORK THEIR MAGIC
Happy Tuesday, Jumble players! I’m going to start my post off a bit differently this morning, so please bear with me.
Let’s be truthful for a minute. The first thing that we all notice when we look at the Jumble puzzle is the cartoon. It’s always eye-catching and well drawn, and that was particularly true with today’s panel. The two characters that we see on stage were caricatures of the world famous magician/entertainer duo known as Penn & Teller. The funny thing is, I’m quite the magician myself.
Penn & Teller usually employ props and sleight of hand techniques to entertain the crowd. Since my blog is text based, I only have words to get the job done. I’d like to perform a simple trick for you this morning, and I’m almost certain that you’ll be amazed. It involves mental telepathy — but don’t be alarmed. It doesn’t hurt one bit!
Look at today’s Jumble puzzle and put your finger on the anagram that you had the most difficult time with. Even if you solved all of them without any trouble, I’m sure one of them took a fraction of a second longer to come into view. Now, slowly slide your finger to the last letter of the anagram. There’s an A at the end, right? Excellent, I’ve just read your mind and you all picked CICADA as the hardest anagram! I told you I’d blow your mind! 😂
All joking aside, CICADA, as well as PROMPT, were both brand new anagrams making their debut into gameplay for the first time, but it was the former that had me going crazy. Living so close to Maine, ACADIA (as in Acadia National Park) was all that I could see. Doubling the C’s, and then the A’s got me nowhere, so I broke down and did some self-jumbles in the margin of my paper. I’m not going to lie, it took quite a bit of effort to solve, and it’s definitely going on my personal list of most difficult words.
Since we had two new words, that means the other two were old friends. Both of the anagrams that we see today were used in 2018, and the words they solve into were also used in that year. WHACK is the oldest with a date of 2/19/18 and GRIME was the freshest with a date of 12/5/18.
Sliding over to the cartoon, we see the aforementioned duo of Penn & Teller. Jumble artist, Jeff Knurek, and his wife, Kathy, make an appearance as well. The one line of dialogue that Jeff exclaims lets us all know that he’s obviously a fan of these gentleman and he’s seen this particular trick before. The caricatures of both Penn & Teller were well drawn, and the intricacies of their facial features were captured perfectly.
The final solve was an anagram that was 14-letters in length. It was the same amount of letters as yesterday’s final anagram, but it would solve into three words instead of four. David did a superb job in separating the G & M of MAGIC at either side of the layout, but it wasn’t enough to fool me. With MAGIC crossed out, WORK came quickly into view leaving THEIR for the finish. If it wasn’t for CICADA, this puzzle would have been a breeze. Best wishes for a terrific Tuesday, and I’ll see you all right back here tomorrow.
P.S. If you enjoyed today’s commentary, please be sure to sign up for the daily email. The link is on the front page of the blog, and the answers will be transported to your inbox every morning — as if by magic!
Cicada was a bit tricky. The others were easy.
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I agree, Janie! 🙂
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Good Morning, Mike. Good Morning, Everyone. Good Morning, Paul and Chuck…Here’s my Sleight of Hand…♦️♣️♥️♠️🙋🏻
° Seeing the GRIME the numerous CICADA bugs left on the trees and the patio pavers below, he decided to be PROMPT in dealing with the clean up, and hoped the new stain removers he bought would WORK THEIR MAGIC and WHACK it all out…
° The drone of a CICADA can make one have a fit,
Like clockwork they are PROMPT and loud and they make my teeth grit…
In summertime you hear them sing…your nerves could almost crack…
There’s nothing more that I would love then giving them a WHACK.
The GRIME of city summers are sometimes not as tragic…
As being in the country as Cicadas WORK THEIR MAGIC!
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Happy Tuesday, Angela! 👋🏻
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Same to you WHOdini! And I laughed at the TRICKS UP YOUR SLEEVE! 🙄♥️🙋🏻
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No tour dates for me just yet. I’m sure Vegas will be calling to offer a residency by the end of the day, though! 😂
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Uh..I think I’ll play psychic here…Mike, I SEERiously think you’re WAND ERRing on this one! You’re a hit here, but I’m not so sure you’ll be that highly SAWED after…But let us know if you get a DEAL! (JJ)! 😂❤️🙋🏻
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Without a PROMPT from anyone, my kid brother decided to WHACK the CICADA with his shoe, even though the result would be a messy GRIME on the window ledge. Good morning, Angela. I hope this image doesn’t nauseate you!
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LOL! Good Morning, Chuck! Not to worry! Any dead bug is a friend of mine! Kudos! 👏🏻👏🏻 And loving your use of Prompt. Have a great day, Chuck! ♣️♦️🙋🏻
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Good morning. I can’t remember when the last time I saw a Cicada or even heard one so as one would guess I had to look that word up. But I’ll be ready the next time the boys slip that word in. Since I was disappointed on that failure I caved in on the cartoon answer as well. Nice use of the words Angela. Until tomorrow stay well
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Good Morning, Brooklyn! Really? No cicadas? Come out here…they’ll drive you to drink! Noisy little buggers….Thanks for the Shout Out,…..And I guess it just wasn’t in the CARDS today, huh? 😉 No biggie..We all get TRICKed every now and then! Hoping you have a great day, Brooklyn! ♥️♠️🙋🏻
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…There’s an insanely freaky Magician on TV right now. He’s totally mind boggling! I’m so glad I paused and listened to my friend telling me that I “had to see this”…And speaking of seeing…I have to admit that when Teller first appeared on “The Big Bang Theory” as Amy’s father? I was like…”Oh wow, Magic! He can talk”! …https://tinyurl.com/y4cgv38v 😂😂 https://tinyurl.com/yxb3tx6o….And he continued to for the rest of the show’s run…Just one more thing that made that show so great…♠️♦️🙋🏻
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Cicada really bugged me this morning. I keep seeing acidic. Got the other words without problems and the cartoon answer as well which enabled me to back into cicada. Happy Tuesday everyone.
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HI, everyone. Been back from vacation for a week and trying to get back to doing the puzzle. Today was easy except for the word cicada. The answer was easy once cicada came to me. Enjoy hearing everyones remarks as usual. Till the next time. Marie from Brooklyn.
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Attention Anagramers! Cicada is an ordinary word! (if you’re in insecticides waiting for the next plague). I’m with Betty, solved the puzzle, missed the word.
Jamu
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…And it’s an ordinary assaulting annoyance on the ear drums here on Staten Island, NY! 😉 Which may be why I recognized the word immediately. We had the 17-year-old-sex-crazed buggers in droves back in the 2013 plague. The noise level resembled that of a motorcycle…And they dangled from the bushes and clung to everything. I spent many a day that summer indoors. The humanity! 😂 Good morning, Jamu…Thanks for the memory! 😂😂 Hope you’re enjoying your day! 🐜🐜🐜🙋🏻
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I remember the 17 yr cicadas as well.Cicada had me momentarily stumped as well,but having solver the overall puzzle ,I was able to work backwards to cicada.
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…Terrible, right? And they’ll be back! Hi Prof..hope you’re having a good day. ♦️♠️🙋🏻
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Hi all – I got the words and figured MAGIC must be in the answer. Wrote down the letters and saw WORK, but was “Mystified” to see that THEIR wasn’t THERE. Went back and discovered that I had used the IC-at-the-end trick to find ACIDIC instead CICADA.
I must beg to differ with you though, Mike. The first thing I look at is the words, and only then do I look at the cartoon. Also, Penn was a lot heavier the last time I saw him. I had to laugh at your getting stuck on ACADIA; The Band’s “Acadian Driftwood” is a particular favorite song of mine.:
🎵”Try to raise a family; end up the enemy
Over what went down on the Plains of Abraham”🎵
https://tinyurl.com/AcadiaBandsong
Off topic, when I went to the Chicago Tribune website to see the puzzle, I learned something I hadn’t known; that the Jeopardy contestant who has won so much money is a native of Naperville, and his grandmother used to go there to babysit him. I’m sure our Chuck can relate!
Have a great day, everyone!
“The trail of GRIME led directly to the CICADA and enabled a PROMPT WHACK”.
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