DONPU = POUND

HYYLS = SHYLY

CLIPEO = POLICE

REBYEZ = BREEZY

CARTOON ANSWER:

THE HELICOPTER PILOT WHO BECAME A CHEF WAS A – – –

POHPCRE = CHOPPER

Good Monday morning everyone! Looking back at last weeks puzzles, we saw some very interesting clue word anagrams. EERRTV, FRUGIE, WRTTEE, and GLUEDD were my favorites. My pick for the best cartoon of the week was definitely the STATE OF THE ART drawing. The cartoon featured the state of Alaska and had very intricate relief style details that really made the panel pop. With Jeff and David qiving us quite a brain workout over the course of the week, I’m hopeful that the trend of top notch puzzles will continue!

David told us in his interview that Monday puzzles were easier on purpose so I started the solve with that mindset. POUND, SHYLY and POLICE were all instantly visible. BREEZY required a few glances before I was able to figure it out so it’s my choice for the most difficult word to decipher.

Looking at the cartoon, I immediately felt a feeling of déjà vu. Last Monday’s panel started off with a cooking theme featuring a woman preparing an omelet in her kitchen. Today’s image shows a cooking theme as well, but these professional chefs appear hard at work with each of them doing a different task. Working left to right, we see one chef masterfully handling two skillets on a cooktop. It’s unclear as to what he’s cooking, but the action lines indicate that he’s moving the pans back and forth over a high flame. The woman in the middle is busy whisking something in a bowl as she has a conversation with our third chef who is going to town with some serious cleaver action. If you have a guess as to what ingredient he’s preparing, please let me know in the comments section. My guess would be that it’s beef tartare.

Reading the dialogue and sentence, it was obvious that the 7-letter surprise answer would have something to do with flying. The two P’s brought CHOPPER to mind making it an instant solve. With the puzzle complete, I headed back to the cartoon to check for ay detail that I may have missed. Sure enough there was one detail I overlooked which was the middle chef’s footwear. If you look closely under the prep table and between the bowls, you’ll see she’s rocking some crocs! Have a marvelous Monday and I’ll see you tomorrow!