NGUTS = STUNG

VLAHE = HALVE

BRMEAK = EMBARK

GUMSPY = GYPSUM

CARTOON ANSWER:

WHEN B.B. KING PASSED AWAY IN 2015, HIS FANS – – –

STNHLEEBAGSU = SANG THE BLUES

Happy Thursday, Jumble friends! Mr. Hoyt stepped up the game with his clue word choices this morning. STUNG and HALVE were both on the easier side and didn’t take any effort to figure out. I did pause for a short period of time on EMBARK after first trying to make a couple of words with the consonants. GYPSUM by far was the most challenging of the quartet, taking several self-jumbles to figure out. It appears to be a new word after a quick search showed that it hasn’t appeared in a Jumble puzzle over the past few years. After seeing the anagram consisting of two correctly spelled words (GUM & SPY) all I could think of was GUMSHOE which means detective.

Jeff has really taken us on an emotional roller coaster with his drawings this week. Tuesday’s cartoon was about a couple separating and Wednesday’s was a romantic Valentine’s encounter. Today we find ourselves in Memphis with a small group of characters gathered outside of B.B. Kings Blues Club remembering and honoring the life of “The King of the Blues”.

Not being into music all that much, I did a quick search of the dialogue that the man with the guitar was saying and found out that it was the title of one of Mr. King’s greatest hits entitled “The Thrill is Gone“. The last bit of dialogue between the man and the woman didn’t give any hints to the surprise answer and was meant as a somber reminder that even though he’s passed away, his music will always live on for his fans to enjoy.

There were two superb details in this panel that are barely visible in the newspaper version. They are both located on the sides of the man playing the guitar and I’ve included them down below so you can enjoy them in their larger size.

The final solve wasn’t overly difficult and was surprisingly much easier for me to figure out than GYPSUM was. The letter layout was wonderfully cryptic and didn’t give anything away, but the cartoon gave me all the information that I needed. BLUES was my first guess leaving THE and SANG for a quick finish.

Have a terrific Thursday, and I’ll see you tomorrow!