Elephas maximus indicus, in Chitwan National Park, Nepal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Visual Description: The old Duck Soup gag!
UDEEL = ELUDE, REMHY = RHYME, FENTIC = INFECT, PLURBA = BURLAP — Giving us: ELERHINTRAP
Clue/Question: Whether or not the zoo’s new pachyderm was from Africa or Asia was – – –
Elephant_4217 (Photo credit: gmacfadyen)
Answer: “IRRELEPHANT“
(Reminiscent of the courtroom scene in Duck Soup, when Chicolini says: “Now I ask you one. What is it has a trunk, but no key, weighs 2000 pounds and lives in a circus?” Lawyer: “That’s irrelevant!” Chicolini: “Relephant!” “Hey, that’s the answer. There’s a whole lot of relephants in a circus.” Classic bit, from a classic comedy.
English: Fig. 1: Asian Elephant. Fig. 2: African Elephant Deutsch: Fig. 1: Asiatischer Elefant. Fig. 2: Afrikanischer Elefant (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
No new clue words today, but I thought the clue word jumbling was great. The jumblings of “elude” and “burlap” look new to me. Some New Yorkers use the word “elude” when they should be using “allude”. The same ones will use “report” for “rapport”. They try to argue that it’s a regional pronunciation issue, but that’s poppycock! The words have totally different meanings, and they are pronounced differently. The answer letter layout was also jumbled pretty well. I would have switched “burlap” and “infect”, to make it a little tougher, but that’s just me. I liked the way the cartoon hid the elephant’s ears. That’s one of the big giveaways in telling an African elephant from an Asian elephant. But, the younger guy’s question does have some merit. Most zoos have Asian elephants. They have the smaller ears, are a little smaller than their African counterparts, and can be domesticated. The African elephants are wilder, and need much more space than the Asian ones. A fun cartoon and a fun pun. Good Friday fare! Be well and do good, friends.) — YUR
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