All hints are in the comments!

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Oct. 3, 2018

|| hasty, begun, influx, trivia, "bitter" half.

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Read the comments, and reply to them if you are so moved!

17 comments:

OwenKL said...

At the tavern, the night had hardly yet begun,
But hopefuls were drifting in by twos and ones.
Tonight was the weekly Trivia Challenge Bowl,
People came, it seemed, to wager their soul!

There was an influx of college kids, know-it-alls,
And adults with a lifetime of treading learning's halls.
Tonight there even was a stranger in a trench-coat
Her hat seemed to be pulled down to her throat!

No cell phones allowed, but primitive black slates,
And chalk a wet napkin could be used to erase.
Slates hastily held aloft before the beep and light
Would get the night's token, if their answer was right.

Only Miss Trenchcoated won a token every round.
Her wide range of random facts was simply profound.
As she walked to the mike to claim her well-won prize
Someone grabbed her hat, revealing her disguise.

Her hairless green skin, large black eyes, and antennae
Marked her as an E.T., but was she a friend or an enemy?
She turned to the crowd, cheeks blushing chartreuse,
"At last my photo memory has gotten some use!"

"It took me two centuries to fly here to Earth.
In that time I've seen every show, from television's birth!
I won fair and square, please try not to be bitter!
I'm really not half as much, such an alien critter!"

A hush held the crowd, then someone started clapping.
Then everyone applauded this stranger's unwrapping!
She then got her prize, her most precious keepsake --
A daily desk calendar, with photos of prime beefcake!

Sandyanon said...

From the Jumble, I never would have expected a poem about an ET winning a bar contest. But Owen's fertile brain surprises me all the time. This extensive narrative took more than one surprise turn.

The jumble itself gave me a few problems. Those words with lots of vowels often get me down as did word 4 in this case. And trying to solve without that clue didn't work, either. Re-arranging and re-arranging letters finally got me the clue and then, after a little head-scratching, also the solution. What a relief!

Ol' Man Keith said...

Hope they didn't have kids.

Misty said...

Well, once again I'm stuck on the Jumble. Got all four words, including #3 thanks to Owen's poem. But can't get the reveal and need your help. Some suggestions or clues, please?

Sandyanon said...

I don't believe she thought of her ex as a sweetheart.

OwenKL said...

The penultimate verse contains the answer. It's a pun on what he might have called her while they were happily married.

Wilbur Charles said...

Darn*, I had a riddle for the riddle. To Grok the riddle here's a link:

Clicking this link will reveal the riddle

Twice as much of a certain VETCH
Is four too many. Ketch?**
By arranging the above in reverse
Yields the words:For _____ or ______

* Darn I lost the original .
** Ketch as in CLICK as in AHA as in OH I GET IT

WC

Wilbur Charles said...

I had no trouble with the words but lots with the riddle .

Owen, or anyone (OMK?). Expliquez my previous if Misty doesn't "ketch" on

Any old xword vet will be familiar with that word . I had to double check and thus lost my original post

WC

Sandyanon said...

Wilbur, my apologies, but I don't understand either of your two posts, especially the first one.

OwenKL said...

Well, if you check Wilbur's link, you'll find it identifies a certain type of vetch, and 2 x 1/4 gives the measure in the riddle answer. But I don't understand the rest either, a not uncommon situation with WC's posts. Ketch? I don't think it's Stacy, but a type of sloop or a dialectic "catch"? His quatrain does rhyme if the mystery phrase is one heard in wedding vows.

OwenKL said...

Pursuant to my comment in the CC blog, I'm changing the lines in my record to:
Her hairless green skin, large black eyes, and antennae
Marked her as an E.T., as stunning as an anemone!

Sandyanon said...

It's a rhyme with matching "n" sounds instead of an "m", but I kind of like the question in your first choice; it seems situationally aporopriate.

Sandyanon said...

I just cannot seem to post without one typo. Rats!!

Misty said...

Well, it turns out I had a wrong answer for Jumble item #3, but even after I fixed it, I still couldn't get the reveal. Finally went to a Jumble site that gives the answer. I guess the reason I didn't get it is because I still miss my sweet husband so much that this Jumble just didn't work with my current spirit. And Wilbur, I'm trying, but still haven't gotten--wait! I got it! For better or for worse?

Sandyanon said...

BTW, thanks for the info. I did get the kind of vetch, but although I get the significance of 2 x 1/4 to the solution, I still don't understand how "twice as much is four too many" means that. Ah well, I don't have to understand, do I? I often get lost in Wilbur's posts; we"re just not on the same wave length, I think.

And BTW again, do you mean Stacy Keach? I assume that's it.

Thanks for all your poems, Owen -- Corner and here. They add to my life.

OwenKL said...

Stacy Keach -- affirmative!
And your kind comments add more to my life, as well!

Wilbur Charles said...

I'm back . I'll post on Thursday that I came here to expliquez.
So...
If you clicked on the link you saw the "BITTER" Vetch. That was an old crossword clue.
Now the Math . 2=4*1/2 . ie. Four halves.

Ergo. Bitter Half . Additional clue was "Better" or worse.

I'm going to ask in CC land if the word VETCH conjures up "Bitter" .

WC