ELCTF = CLEFT

PRNUS = SPURN

GLEYCR = CLERGY

IWIGRN = WIRING

CARTOON ANSWER:

THE SMALL MEETING OF THE SHAPES WAS CALLED BY THE – – –

CLERNCERIIN = INNER CIRCLE

Happy Tuesday, Jumble fans! It’s an exciting morning because we have two brand new clue words in the lineup!!! CLEFT and WIRING make their debut into gameplay and they were both jumbled spectacularly. The -ING ending in WIRING made the solution easy to figure out which made me choose CLERGY as the most difficult anagram of the day. We last saw it on 2/29/16 where it was jumbled as GLERCY. With all of the clue words out of the way, it was time to head on over to the cartoon.

The first thing that I noticed about today’s panel was that our normal cast of characters had been replaced by a bunch of random shapes. Moving in a clockwise fashion we see an octagon, square, star, triangle and a rectangle all making an outer ring with a circle standing in the middle. The circle was drawn with a sinister look on its face that Jeff captured perfectly. Its right hand is giving a thumbs up gesture while its left hand has its index finger pointing straight up. The cartoon sentence didn’t provide any additional information as to what the meeting was about, but the dialogue informs us that these shapes are the only ones that can be trusted.

There wasn’t much detail to be seen in this cartoon which was fine because the unique faces on the shapes made it interesting enough. A couple of things did stand out though, with one in particular that left me with a huge smile. The first detail wasn’t so much a detail as it was a layout design choice by the artist. Jeff chose to add a dark and curved banner above the cartoon where he positioned the dialogue of the circle. This effect left the panel in a shape which blended perfectly with the other shapes that we already see. Next up were the circles that made up the floor. We see a tiny portion of a large outer circle that decreases in size until it leads to a bullseye in the middle. This leads me to my favorite detail of the day. Did you notice that the triangle and star were both holding a steaming cup of coffee? Well, when you combine a STAR with a cup o’ joe, what do you get? STARBUCKS, of course!!! Well done, Jeff!

The letter layout for the final solution clocked in at an impressive 10-letters in length. Although it was cryptic, the leading nature of the cartoon sentence coupled with all of the visual clues allowed me to see the answer instantly. The two new clue words made for a dandy of a puzzle, but it still left me craving something a bit more challenging. Have a terrific Tuesday, and I’ll see you tomorrow!