GAWRE = WAGER

CINWE = WINCE

VTANIE = NATIVE

PLLETE = PELLET

CARTOON ANSWER:

THE STAGE PERFORMERS OFTEN HAD PROBLEMS – – –

AGRINCNTIET = INTERACTING

Happy Tuesday, Jumble players! Today’s puzzle featured four clue words that have been used before, but all of the anagrams were new. The only one that wasn’t immediately visible to me was NATIVE so it’s my pick for the most challenging anagram of the day. It was also the oldest clue word of the quartet and was last in gameplay on 11/20/16 where it was scrambled as VATENI. PELLET was the most recent repeat, followed by WINCE and then WAGER.

Our cartoon brings us to a stage where we encounter three Jumble characters. The scene was a familiar one and was instantly recognizable as being from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. What first caught my eye was the amount of dialogue presented to us which totaled 33 words! Rarely do we get that much information in a panel so I figured that it would play a key part in the final solve.

Romeo can be seen with his back to the balcony as he recites his formulaic sonnet. I can almost hear him saying each word slowly in a flat and monotone voice which ultimately catches the ire of the director. He can be seen yelling at Romeo through his paper megaphone while his dialogue tips us off that the two actors have recently broken up.

Jeff did an outstanding job of framing his cartoon by giving us three different levels of perspective. First we see Juliet high above the stage on a balcony, followed by Romeo at eye-level, and then finally the director on the floor. The characters were proportional to their respective positions within the frame which added to the visual impact. As far as extra detail, there wasn’t a whole lot that jumped out at me. The two actors are dressed in period costumes while the director can be seen wearing a beret and single knotted scarf. The window next to the balcony was my favorite detail for today with its vines adding some extra flair.

The final solve was an anagram consisting of 11-letters and would solve into one word. I thought that the anagram itself was extremely cryptic and gave nothing away. The cartoon sentence said “stage performers” which led me to find ACTING first. INTER was found in the remaining letters for the finish. Today’s game was definitely more challenging than yesterday’s gimme and I hope you found it as entertaining as I did. Have a terrific Tuesday, and I’ll see you right back here tomorrow!