All hints are in the comments!

Monday, April 20, 2020

April 20, 2020

|| || dunce, knack, podium, factor, up and around.
Image from the Internet, colored by OwenKL.

The opening poem contains all the words (or variations of them) from today's Jumble.
Comments are welcomed!
Do not explicitly reveal any of the actual answer words until after closing time, but embedding them surreptitiously in comment sentences is encouraged.

12 comments:

OwenKL said...

A dunce with a knack to go bankrupt
Got a podium to really foul things up!
Then factor in
The bigot's kin
And the whole darn system goes kerfluck!

And now that I've got the bias partisanship out of my system, let us proceed to a more rational bit of prosy.

OwenKL said...

Little Bobby was a dunce --
That's what they would have called him once.
But today they say his knack
Is learning on a different track!

A teacher at a podium
He views with opprobrium
There must be a hands-on factor
So he can be an active actor!

He may be up on the spectrum
Some may say, an elect one!
On the other hand, the way he grunts
He may be just an all-around dunce.

OwenKL said...

Oops, just noticed the limerick left out half the final solution. Never mind, that's what the second poem is for anyway. I think my original last line was something like "everything around was flucked."

Ol' Man Keith said...

FLN: Wilbur ~ He probably doesn't fit the LOTR demographic, but my university's mascot would love to come to a Hobbit's rescue.
What to do with a horde of spiders?
At Irvine, we boast of-- Wait! wait for it...
(Drum roll, please!)
"Peter the Anteater"!
And no, he doesn't eat ONLY ants.
~ OMK

Ol' Man Keith said...

Owen ~ I enjoyed your limerick--and all your verses this morning.
But are you really sure you got all the bias out of your system in that first post?
Unless I misread you (a possibility w/ that curious 2nd stanza), "Little Bobby" is an alias to keep the target of the latter poem from being too obvious.
Bravo, sir, for your Nast-like political critique!

Here's my daily hint, definitely non-political:
Until I brought our Chihuahua-mix home, I wasn't sure the county canine pen was the right place to find a pet pup. Can a pound dog adjust to life with a new family?
Years later, I am pleased to say the answer is unequivocally Yes!
~ OMK

Sandyanon said...

Owen,I like your bias partisanship. I wish my feelings could be expressed in some more elegant way than just repeating "You a--hole! You a--hole!"

Actually the first two stanzas of your second poem don't seem terribly political to me, because they remind me of a relative who was diagnosed early with ADHD, who hated school, and who fortunately found other outlets for his undeniable akills, but whose said skills unfortunately led him to political views that I abhor. He's been a good lesson for me in continuing to love someone you can't agree with.

The jumble itself was fairly simple, with a solution that made me chuckle.

Wilbur Charles said...

Yes, there were a dozen dwarfs and Bilbo. Where was Thorin?
He'd been over looked and asleep and the wood elves bore him
Back to their caves to the east where upon a podium
Ruled their King. Now these elves, not evil, had an odium
Against dwarves, an old feud about silver and gold
But Thorin and his folk were not a factor, truth be told
"And if the truth of why you came to this forest goes unsaid
You'll not be up and around and eating only water and bread".
But Thorin too was a King though lacking a realm at the time
And he had the dwarvish knack of putting on the dunce cap like a mime.

Wilbur Charles said...

That third word gave me a little trouble as those J's with multiple vowels are wont to do. Of course the solution was readily visible much like the principal character.

In the Hobbit, the King, whose name is Thranduil, tells Thorin he can rot in his dungeon "For a hundred years". As if that would bother a Dwarf.

WC

Misty said...

Delightful poems, Owen and Wilbur, and loved the way the Jumble words and solution appeared in your verses. Many thanks for that morning gift. I had trouble with the third Jumble word, though I got the solution without it. But nice to find it in your poems. Never heard of a sick Circle but glad the little Shape is feeling better. And liked you gloss, Ol'Man Keith, and your comments, Sandyanon.

Have a good day, everybody

Wilbur Charles said...

No spiders today to give you nightmares Misty. But... They'll be back. Tomorrow I think.

WC

Ol' Man Keith said...

OK, Wilbur~ Looking forward to being creeped out.
But don't forget Peter.
(He's hungry! Zot! Zot!!)
~ OMK

Wilbur Charles said...

Yep, that's right OMK. The Cal-Irvine teams are the "Anteaters". Do I have the right University?

Re. Political bias and infighting. It has divided families. One is assumed to be totally anti or totally pro. Then there is a thing called Republicanism, a word never spoken much less defined but probably accounts for 75% of the "Bobby" voters. It's effectively about money and status and a feeling of having "earned" the two.

Which if course brings us back to Bobby

WC