Jumble Solved – 06/21/22

Visual Description:  Frontier farmers.

ROPFO  =  PROOF,  PGYUP  =  GUPPY,  CRAGIL  =  GARLIC,  BEMUNR  =  NUMBER   —   Giving us:  PROPPGICNU

Clue/Question:  As the U.S. Midwest was being settled in the early 1800’s, farms began – – –

Answer:  CROPPING UP

(A wonderful stinky pun!  Probably not the most original Jumble pun of all time, but I can’t say I recall seeing this one before.  The Midwest was known as America’s breadbasket, because the ground was so arable and fertile.  The farmers could easily grow corn and wheat and soybeans.  But farming is far from an easy life.  They had to get up at the proverbial crack of dawn, and pretty much work until sundown.  And, they weren’t riding around on fancy tractors, or anything.  They had to walk behind a horse, or a mule, who was pulling the plow.  And, the farmer had to keep the animal, and the plow, going straight, so it was even tougher than pushing a power lawn mower.  All the harvesting was done manually then also.  And, they had to deal with the fickleness of the weather.  Sometimes too much rain, and sometimes drought.  And, those pesky twisters . . . and gophers . . . and locusts, etc., etc..  Even with modern farm equipment it’s a long difficult day, and most Americans are not into that level of labor anymore.

None of today’s clue words cropped up as new.  They were all harvested long ago.  Three of the jumbles appear to be fresh sprouts, but we’ve all seen the “ropfo” in the pudding.  The answer letter layout was a tepid ten letter jumble.  The P’s and the U made for a very quick solve.

Fine cartoon of the neighboring farmers.  The one is just picking the ears of corn off the stalks, while the other’s harvesting is done, and he’s taking his crops to market.  The “sod-busters” were a big part of what made America successful!  Fun Jumble.  Be well and do good, friends.)   —   YUR

Images courtesy of Google