Cryptoquote Spoiler – 01/26/17

“A surplus of effort could overcome a deficit of confidence.”   —   Sonia Sotomayor

(I’m glad she said “could”.  It depends on how deep that deficit is, I guess.  Confidence trumps just about everything.  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

Jumble Spoiler – 01/26/17

Visual Description:  Jeff’s inside fishing joke.

LRUBT  =  BLURT,  KALYE  =  LEAKY,  BEMMEL  =  EMBLEM,  DARWIN  =  INWARD   —   Giving us:  BTLAEBEIAD

Clue/Question:  When it came to whether worms or lures attract more fish, it was – – – 

Answer:  “DE–BAIT–ABLE“

(That is one stinky pun!  That smells like Chinatown!  There were no new clue words today, and only one of the jumbles, “lrubt”, was new.  We’ve seen “kalye”, “bemmel” and “darwin” before.  The answer letter layout was superb.  It was the leading nature of the clue/question, combined with the quotation marks and hyphens, that made getting the answer fairly easy.  The cartoon is great, but I don’t know who is who.  The fish, watching the argument from the water, is very clever.  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR