Visual Description: Valley so low.
OSSANE = SEASON, UNHAME = HUMANE, LYASAW = ALWAYS, DILERV = DRIVEL, FOTTIU = OUTFIT, GEBINN = BENIGN — Giving us: SSOUNEWSDIEOTTBNG
Clue/Question: The hotel at the bottom of the Grand Canyon was done, and the owners were ready to – – –
Pre-Answer: Four Words (3-letters) (4-letters) (2-letters) (8-letters)
Answer: GET DOWN TO BUSINESS
(A nicely challenging Jumble! And, one of those literal/figurative puns. All of the clue words are well established on the world famous ralis95 clue word database. All of today’s jumbles appear to be new. I thought that “lyasaw”, “dilerv”, and “gebinn” were the best of the bunch. I always struggle with words like “drivel”, because of the EL versus LE thing. Fortunately, you can pen it in as LL until it becomes readily apparent.
The answer letter layout was a very impressive seventeen letter jumble. It did a wonderful job of concealing the answer. The answer was not obvious to me, but the Ss did lead me to the long word of BUSINESS. And then, all the pieces fell into place.
Great cartoon of the Grand Canyon! I’m guessing that the sign, mentioning the bottom of the canyon, and the arrow, was a bit of a bonus clue. The hotel, at the bottom, reminds me of a Monopoly hotel! Great fun, huh folks? Be well and do good, friends.) — YUR
Images courtesy of Google
At the bottom of the Grand Canyon, there is one and only one “hotel,” Phantom Ranch, built in 1922, and really more of an historic dormitory or hut than a modern hotel. But it’s open to paying guests, with bunk beds and meal service. And let’s hope it stays the only hotel down there. I don’t want to see a Trump Hotel or Hampton Inn open up, so the place starts looking like the Vegas Strip.
In the summer, the bottom of the Grand Canyon is routinely around 120 degrees in the daytime, and there’s no AC at Phantom. But it gets booked up weeks or months in advance.
Grand Canyon National Park is one of the most spectacular places on earth, definitely worth a special trip, and if you can, try to descend at least partway down, because it looks very different in the canyon than from the rim, which is all most visitors see. Hint: it’s a “backwards mountain” where the initial hike (down) is much easier than the reverse (up), so you have to be careful not to go farther down than you can climb back up. And wear boots and pack bottleS of water. Sandals and no or little water, seen all too often there = unsafe. Hiking from rim to Phantom to rim again in one day is also considered unsafe in the summer.
I had the gall to whine about Wednesday’s typewriter answer, so thanks to David and Jeff for all the other great puzzles this week and month, including today’s, and thanks too to Unc for all the thought-provoking commentary.
Thanks for all the cool info, David! I think I’ll pass at staying at the Phantom Ranch. I’m not that much into sauna treatments. — YUR
David, that was super interesting info, thanks! Like UR, I’m going to have to take a pass on the Phantom Hotel, even tho it would be such a unique experience…I hate to play the Princess card, but no AC in the sweltering summer means a no-go from me! But kudos to those hearty souls that can handle it!