Cryptoquote Spoiler – 06/11/18

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing; it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”   —   Voltaire

(Voltaire was The Man!  Way ahead of his time, with an unbelievable set of cojones!  He knew how to rock the boat, and had a lot to do with modern democracy.  Plus, his name alone is awesome!

Unfortunately, appreciation is sorely lacking these days.  Just yesterday, I tried to give assistance to a pair of cars that appeared to be lost.  After turning around – because they had presumably passed the street they were looking for – and then creeping for a quarter of a mile, while traffic was building behind them, they pulled off onto a side street.  I followed them, and when they stopped I asked if they needed help with an address, or finding a street.  The trailing car said they were just following the lead car, so I then pulled up to the lead car, and asked the same questions, still with a smile on my face.  Instead of apologizing for holding up traffic, or thanking me for offering my assistance, the woman coldly said:  “I know where I’m going.”  “I’m showing a house.”  Still smiling, I said:  “You know where you’re going, huh?”  “Okay!” and drove off.  I had not honked my horn at them, or flashed my lights, or expressed anything but helpfulness, but that’s how she chose to handle the situation.  I feel sorry for her.  Too many in today’s society don’t know the value of appreciation.  So sad.  Her bad behavior is not going to stop me though!  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

Image courtesy of Google

Jumble Spoiler – 06/11/18

Visual Description:  Ancient Greek butcher shop.

CUOST  =  SCOUT,  LOEHL  =  HELLO,  TNYERD  =  TRENDY,  RATMUI  =  ATRIUM   —   Giving us:  CUTEORENATM

Clue/Question:  The ancient deli used the abacus at its – – –

Answer:  MEAT COUNTER

(Ya gotta count up all those purchases!  A fun Monday pun!  Good clue words, although none of them were new.  All of their jumbles are coming up as new though.  The first three came to me instantly.  But, “ratmui” gave me fits.  Because I’m generally lazy, I just backed into it.  If I can’t get it in my head, I usually can’t be bothered writing out all the possibilities.  Fortunately, knowing that I needed an M and A, and another T, in the answer letter layout, made getting “atrium” much easier.

The answer letter layout was a wonderful jumble too.  Not obvious, and kinda cute!  The combination of the clue/question, the great cartoon, and the word abacus, screamed COUNTER at me.  And, MEAT was kind of a given.

Fun cartoon.  It looks like a high end shop, with the marble display case and counter.  The short pillars were a nice touch, as were the flies flying around the hanging ham hock.  I guess the bag next to the abacus must’ve been his cash register.  Since there wasn’t refrigeration back then, I guess most of that meat had to be cured.  Smoked, or salted, probably.  Very good Jumble.  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

Images courtesy of Google