Cryptoquote Spoiler – 02/10/20

“When all candles be out, all cats be grey.”   —   John Heywood

(I have to admit that I don’t believe I have ever heard this quote before!  As a result, I thought the last word was prey!  And, I thought:  What a stupid quote!  Cats are predators, and especially at night, so why would they be prey when the candles go out???  It wasn’t until I Googled the first part of the quote that I saw my error.  But, now I get it.  Apparently, Ben Franklin shortened the phrase to All cats are grey in the dark, explaining why to take an older woman to bed!  Today the #MeToo movement would be all over his ass for saying that.  Maybe they’ll start tearing down Ben’s statues, like they have with some Confederate General/soldier statues.  Trying to insert today’s moralities/ethics/sensitivities to earlier ages is a fool’s errand, folks.  At least as far as tearing things down goes.  Oh, yeah.  We welcome John Heywood to the Cryptoquote Club today!  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

Image courtesy of Google

Jumble Spoiler – 02/10/20

Visual Description:  Pep talk at the plant.

YLLYS  =  SLYLY,  ETKAW  =  TWEAK,  MYLESL  =  SMELLY,  BPHIOS  =  BISHOP   —   Giving us:  SLEAMEBS

Clue/Question:  When Henry Ford wanted to talk to his workers, he’d have them – – –

Answer:  ASSEMBLE

(A marvelous groaner of a pun!  Ford may not have – technically – invented the “assembly line”, but on December 1, 1913 he introduced the first moving assembly line for his Model-T-Ford.  It reduced the time of production of a car from 12 hours to 2 and 1/2 hours!  Revisionists want to downplay his legacy, to satisfy their agendas, but his accomplishments are his accomplishments.  Let’s all move on!

All of today’s clue words are familiar old friends, even though it took me quite a while to recognize the first one.  All of the jumbles came up as new, and I almost thought there was an error with “yllys”.  It was even difficult for me to back into it, after solving the final answer!  But, when I finally got it I felt sylly . . . I mean silly!  The answer letter layout was a great eight letter jumble, but because of the great cartoon I was able to get the answer from the latter six letters alone.

The cartoon is a wonderful period piece drawing.  The cars on the assembly line, the old-timey looking factory workers, and a great likeness of a middle aged Henry Ford.  This made for a fun Monday Jumble solve.  Oh, yeah.  It was Ransom E. Olds who “invented” and patented the first assembly line, in 1901.  I’m not exactly sure how Olds’ assembly line worked, but Ford used a conveyor system to move the growing car parts from one assembly station to another, to another, until completion.  To my way of thinking, that is what really constitutes an assembly line!  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

Images courtesy of Google