A high jump being performed by Yelena Slesarenko at Stavanger Games 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Visual Description: The Fosbury Flop. (Not to be confused with the Hillary Flip Flop!)
RAYIN = RAINY, BILIA = ALIBI, CATEPU = TEACUP, GLERCY = CLERGY — Giving us: RAALEPEY
Clue/Question: Regardless of when the Olympics were held, for the high jumper it was – – –
English: Inscription on the grave of Gregory XIII, St. Peter’s Basilica, gregorian calendar Deutsch: Tafel vom Grab Gregor XIII, Petersdom, Gregorianischer Kalender Lëtzebuergesch: Gregorianesche Kalenner, Petersdom, Roum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Answer: LEAP YEAR
(Happy Leap Day, everybody! Yeah, right. Just a day to make up for the fact that the world isn’t as orderly as we’d like it to be. It actually takes the earth 365.2422 days to completely get around the sun. The .2422 comes out to around 5 hours, 49 minutes, and like 14 seconds, so it’s not a perfect 1/4 of a day. But, it was decided that they would add an additional day – the 29th – to February, every four years, to – more or less – get caught up. But now, because of this little correction, we go from – calendar-wise – being short by a 1/4 of a day for three years, to now being roughly 11 minutes over when we add the extra day in a Leap Year. 11 minutes doesn’t seem like much, but over the course of 400 years – a Leap Cycle – it adds up to 3 additional days! So now, to make up for that they decided there’d be no February 29th on century years that cannot be divided by 400 years. Which means that there was no Leap Year in 1700, 1800 or 1900, but 2000 was a Leap Year. If, somehow, you’re around in 2100 you’ll see what I’m talkin’ about. Oh, and the “they” that I mentioned earlier was Pope Gregory XIII and his boys, back in 1582. Geo-centrism was a thing of the past, and the “new” helio-centrism made it necessary for bigwigs and scientists to re-examine our world . . . and our calendar system.
But, heliocentrism pales in comparison to new clue words joining the World Famous RALIS95 Clue Word Database! And, yes! Today we have another new clue word, in “alibi”. We also have three new jumbles today, with “rayin” definitely having been used before. The answer letter layout was another fine jumble. The answer was a bit of a no-brainer though. The cartoon did a good job of getting the point across. Be well and do good, friends.) — YUR
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