New Year’s Eve Cryptoquote Spoiler – 12/31/19

“Make a resolution to stay safe this New Year’s Eve; don’t drink and drive.”   —   Your Puzzle Friends

(Very appropriate advice!  If you’re not used to drinking this is a bad night to start.  Plus, you might be okay and in control, but there are plenty of others out there who might be out of control.  Tonight is THE night to practice defensive driving.  Be careful, folks.  Make sure you have a Happy New Year!  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

Image courtesy of Google

Jumble Spoiler – 12/31/19

Visual Description:  22 years ago???

VYRAG  =  GRAVY,  PIWRE  =  WIPER,  FEXRIP  =  PREFIX,  NABREN  =  BANNER   —   Giving us:  GRYWEREIANN

Clue/Question:  When he proposed to her on December 31, they were able to – – –

Answer:  RING IN THE NEW YEAR

(A wonderfully stinky pun . . . that I got right away today!  No misdirection for me this time!  No doubt the answer slots, separated by IN THE, also made this a simpler solve, for me.  I was a little confused by the cartoon, because I first thought that was the MGM Grand lion, and this might be Las Vegas, and not New York.  But, because of the way the couple are dressed, and the steam coming out of her mouth, NYC made much more sense.

I really thought that we might have a new clue word, in “prefix”, because I don’t remember seeing it before.  But, not only is it not new, we’ve seen it with this exact jumble before!  The other three clue words are also old, yet their jumbles are coming up as new.  The answer letter layout was Hoyt’s well-constructed eleven letter jumble, but for the reasons stated above I got the answer right away.

A sweet, nostalgic cartoon from our buddy, Jeff.  After ruling out the MGM Grand lion, my mind went to “The Lion King” musical, which opened on Broadway a little over 22 years ago.  Did this proposal, to the lovely Kathy, take place 22 years ago?  21 years ago?  I’m trying to go by Sydney’s general age, now that she’s in college.  Anyways, a great New Year’s Eve Jumble.  I hope that everyone has a Happy, Healthy, Safe and Prosperous New Year!  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

Images courtesy of Google