New Year’s Eve Cryptoquote Spoiler – 2018

“Then sing, young hearts . . . with never a thought of sorrow; the old goes out, but the glad young year comes merrily in tomorrow.”   —   Emily Miller

(From her “New Year Song” poem.  It is one of the few poems that I am fairly familiar with.  It is a great New Year poem!   Be well and do good, friends.  A better and more peaceful new year for all of us.)   —   YUR

Image courtesy of Google

New Year’s Eve Jumble Spoiler – 12/31/18

Visual Description:  Awaiting the dropping of the ball.

AAGUV  =  GUAVA,  CIJEU  =  JUICE,  GTEUBD  =  BUDGET,  CESNHT  =  STENCH   —   Giving us:  UAAJCEBDTSTNH

Clue/Question:  Whether or not gloves or mittens are better was the – – –

Answer:  SUBJECT AT HAND

(A very nice, fairly challenging Jumble, to end the old year, 2018!  A year of ups and downs, triumphs and failures, laughter and sorrow, and a lot of the same ol’ same ol’ for most of us.  Sometimes we all wonder if it could possibly get any worse, with all this crazy divisiveness and anger, and it always seems to do so.  But we concentrate the happier moments.  We have to, to maintain our collective sanity.

All of today’s clue words were familiar old friends.  I could tell that right away, even without checking the ralis95 clue word database, because I saw them all instantly.  Surprisingly, all the jumbles came up as new.  An unusually long, 13-letter jumble for the answer letter layout, today.  It was also nicely cryptic.  I scratched my head for a minute or two before coming realizing that the middle word pretty much had to be AT.  That led me to AT HAND, and then I saw the SUBJECT.  Looking now, I see that the middle word could have been BE, but I’m glad I didn’t at the time.

I was going to assume that this was New Year’s Eve in Times Square, but the building in the background of the cartoon made me wonder if it could possibly be Chicago.  That’s where the boys work from.  This year it’s going to be around 50 degrees Fahrenheit in NYC, and likely rainy.  I think in Chicago it will be in the mid 30s, and maybe rainy there too.  Hope that means good luck!  Be well and do good, friends.  A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to all of us!)   —   YUR

PS.  A free plug for NBC!   —   YUR

Images courtesy of Google