Cryptoquote Solved – 02/16/23

“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”   —   Victor Hugo

(Sounds more like something Victor Borge would have said!  And I bet Victor Borge probably used the quote at some point in time.  Hey!  Why not?  It’s a great quote!  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

Image courtesy of Google

Jumble Solved – 02/16/23

Visual Description:  Drill baby drill?

CEFTA  =  FACET,  NREAA  =  ARENA,  DYYAEH  =  HEYDAY,  SCAAUB  =  ABACUS   —   Giving us:  AETRENHEDBU

Clue/Question:  There’s ice below the surface at some locations on Mars that may one day – – –

Answer:  BE UNEARTHED

(An ironically stinky pun!  You can’t possibly unearth something when you’re on Mars.  You cannot unearth anything when you’re not on the planet Earth!  All you can do is excavate, or quarry.  Ya dig?  We call our soil and our dirt, and silt and clay “earth”, so soil, dirt, clay and silt on Mars could be called “mars” I suppose.  I wonder if they will start using the word unmarsed some day?  If we colonize the planet, in the future, it wouldn’t seem appropriate to use the word unearth, now would it!

All of today’s clue words have been used before.  I knew immediately, but I always consult the ralis95 clue word database.  Two of the jumbles are coming up as new, for me.  But we’ve definitely seen both “cefta” and “scaaub” in previous Jumbles.  None of them stumped me any.  The answer letter layout was an exemplary eleven letter jumble.  I thought it was ethereally cryptic.  Because of the way the clue/question played out I knew the first word had to be BE.  And I kind of saw UNEARTHED right away regardless.

Wonderful Mars mission cartoon.  When I first opened the paper, for a second or two, I thought we might have a guest artist.  But upon actually looking at it I recognized that Knurek style.  It looks like a scene right out of “The Martian”, starring Matt Damon.  That was a very entertaining movie, and it had a tremendous cast.  For me, the biggest surprise was Kristen Wiig playing a non-comedic role.  Great Jumble.  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

PS.  On this day in 1857 Frederick Douglass was elected President of Freeman Bank and Trust.  And in 1904, the actor James Baskett was born.  He was the first Black man to win an Academy Award, for his portrayal of Uncle Remus, in the Disney film “Song of the South”.  In 1958 Tracy Morrow, aka Ice T, was born.  In 1965 LeVar Burton was born.  And in 1970 “Smokin'” Joe Frazier knocked out Jimmy Ellis to become the world heavyweight boxing champion.  Celebrate Black History, folks!   —   YUR

Images courtesy of Google