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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:
Various and sundry goings in at Torquilstone
The big plans of the Norman gang had lately gone awry
Kidnap the lovely Rowena who'd be De Bracy s quarry
The rich Jew Isaac was the icing on the cake
And Sir Brian's whimsy was Rebecca the Jew's headache.
But the not so placid Jewess forced him to swallow his pride
The shadowy beauty, the flame of her eyes he could not abide.
And now the Normans were embroiled by the dragon at the gate
The opposition was the pirate Locksley and his Saxon mates.
Elsewhere the berobed Cedric was beseeched by the beldam
Ulrica. "I was once a dressy princess and now I'm damned"
[Cedric responded]
"You've betrayed your Saxon honor bowing to Norman stags"
[Ulrica retorted]
"I'll have revenge. Advance the siege when I raise the red flag".
WC
He could sit by the fire and watch as window icing returned.
How strange after a day spent in the broiling sun
to find his equanimity undisturbed
as the heat was opposed by cold. What placid fun,
now that the pig gland's injections were done!
His former fear was unprovoked by the shadows.
The whimsical dragon that lately caused him dread
had not returned. No more did he find the throes
of terror stalking him while confined in bed.
That dressy pirate ball was only hallowed inside his head!
~ OMK
Methinks there's a medicinal message embedded in your tale. Definitely a read twice tale.
Going on meds is potentially hazardous. I was given asthma medication in my teens but never took it but cholesterol lipids seemed to affect my recall ability.
Hope nobody in here has those symptoms. And on another note .. How's that insomnia going Misty? As you can see my sleep patterns have gone wacky. That 237 am was 437 am EDT.
Cedric reminds me of those IRA rebels: Gaelic honor was everything, traitors were eternally damned with no remission for the sin of dealing with the enemy. Poor Ulrica; what was that poor girl to do. What she did was sow discord among the Normans.
When I buy the Sunday paper I'll see if I can get Cedric out the gate and get the battle started.
WC
Oops, what am I saying; I solved online. And then at nine o'clock I solved last Sunday's Evan Birnholz Wa-Post.
It was all about embedded Billboard #1 songs of which I knew virtually none.
I always vow to "just take a peek" and the next thing I know it's done.
I did recognize "El Paso by Marty Robbins
WC
Well, guess I'll comment about the jumbles.
The j4 was pretty easy and the solution obvious. I appreciated the way the pun involved two appropriate meanings, not always true lately.
The j6 gave me a little trouble with clue 6, but reorganizing the letters helped. I had to work out the solution the hard way, by putting in the small middle word and the -ed ending of the first word. Then the rest did fall into place. Very metaphorical phrase, with no real literal application to the situation, but it did make a lot of sense.
Poetry is rife today, and I must admire your ingenuity, both of you.
And Wilbur, your story really brings the characters to life.
"To Poetic Heroes"
Wilbur, you don't need a pirate
To make your tales gyrate,
Your figures are dressy,
Always sharp, never messy.
Never dull, never flimsy,
Full of thrills, fear, and whimsy.
And Keith, what a stately
Tale you tell lately,
With a chap, who has let go
His past in a shadow.
So I too lift my flagon
To your hero's lost dragon.
Whoo! Wilbur! Wow.
As we used to say, "Now, you're cookin' with gas!"
I love your dialogue. I suppose it's the old actor in me, but dialogue gets my juices flowing, and there is always an extra dimension to characters when they reveal themselves in their choice of words.
"I was once a dressy princess" deserves a prize in itself.
And Misty ~ Your piling up of phrases is becoming a signature brand for you, a kind of cumulative music.
One, two, then counterpoint, and a triad pay-off in "thrills, fear & whimsey"!
Another thing we used to say:
"She's firin' on all cylinders!"
~ OMK
No medical message was intended, Wilbur (except briefly, at the line about the injection), but I am not surprised if one crept in.
Along with many old geezers, I take regular pain-killers.
(I prefer them to a third failed spinal operation.)
I do my best to keep the addiction odds low. This means I only take morphine maybe once a week--instead of daily as prescribed.
But I was on it last night & in a swirling fog as I jotted the poem.
Make of it what you will.
~ OMK
I too have to laud the metrically talented Misty. As befits an English emeritus she's come to the fore.
Good thing I got "Ivie"* poesized early from Owen's posting the J's. I see him on FB occasionally as I guess Keith does**.
WC
*Ivie is my attack conure. When we picked him up I was beginning Ivanhoe and nicknamed him that. Betsy calls him "Turkey" because of the tweets she makes. Yes, it's a her not a him.
** How many days left, OMK? 93?
WC
Thank you for the kind praise, Ol'Man Keith--much appreciated.
91 plus 20 hours...
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