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Saturday, December 15, 2018

Dec. 15, 2018

|| || ditto, sniff, powder, sickle, inside scoop.

The opening poem contains all the words (or variations of them) from today's Jumble.
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10 comments:

Ol' Man Keith said...

Poor little kid. On tiptoes in his yellow sneaks, probably salivating as he follows the taunting hands of those talkative scoopers. Yet he's stuck--outside the action!
~ OMK

OwenKL said...

There's a product not to be sniffed at, except when it is.
Once it divided the aristocrats from the plebeian kids.
Tobacco was its progenitor, harvested by sickle,
Crushed, fermented, aged, for the nose to tickle!

An expensive magic powder, reviled and revered,
Used by queens and popes, proscribed by kings and peers.
Kept in special boxes, airtight when not in use,
Now sold only to adults, to preclude youth abuse.

A finger-scoop inside the nostril, right and ditto left,
To tyros it could bring a sneeze, a violent egest!
By now you realize, from what I've said about this stuff,
That the substance I'm discussing is -- tobacco SNUFF!

Lucina said...

The solve was instant so I worked my way backwards to unscramble. The top two were easy, the other two took some work. I was glad to see them in your poem, Owen. I've never tried tobacco products, either cigarettes or snuff. They have always seemed disgusting to me. I was relieved when my late DH quit smoking after our daughter was born. Ice cream I love but can no longer enjoy.

Lucina said...

From yesterday. Misty, thank you for the good wishes! Yes, my labs were all good! All the numbers were in good range. The only caution I received was to exercise more. Also, I am now part of a study and am wearing a small heart monitor. It's only for study purposes; I have no heart problems.

Sandyanon said...

Unscrambled the clue words mentally and saw the solution without even rearranging their letters. Sometimes you are just on a constructor's wave length, yes?

I love this cute, funny poem. And it makes me wonder, weirdly, if muff is the past tense of miff, or snooze the past tense of sneeze, and ideate other strange words as well. Egad!

OwenKL said...

I've never smoked either, so had to spend some time reading up on it before I could write this poem. Thank you, Wikipedia!

My mother was a chain smoker, my dad was a pipe smoker, and it was the clanging of all those chains and pipes that made me deaf today!

Misty said...

Tough morning, tough crossword puzzle, but I got the first three jumble words and the reveal solution popped right up! Then had to come to Owen's poem to get the fourth word, and also found O'Man Keith's sweet and funny commentary on the Jumble cartoon. So, my morning is brightening a little. And Lucina I'm so glad all your tests were fine and that you're in good shape for a great holiday season ahead.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Another classy job. A snuff "set-piece."
Owen, you remind me of my undergrad acting class in "period style," with a whole section devoted to "how to take snuff." We learned the nasal physiology, the different cuts, and how to do it as an elegant courtier or a rustic or a private soldier*.
~ OMK
____________
*PS. Of course, ladies did it differently than gents.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Thinking again about it after all these years, I note a curious similarity between drinking soup and taking snuff.
Spooning soup on one's own, alone at home, one might just ladle it directly from the bowl into the mouth. But good "company manners" require one to spoon the soup away in the bowl before raising it back up to the mouth.
Likewise, the peasant lifts his snuff directly from the pouch or lid to snort it up the nose. But the refined gentleman always turns his fingers around--the palm facing away (outward)--as he carefully takes his snuff.
~ OMK

Wilbur Charles said...

I glanced earlier but only had the fives . I was pressed for time so i tackled the CC .
I just came back and misspelled SICKEL. I thought it looked off. The key to the riddle was the second word .

Nice poem about another verboten habit .

Glad your news is good Lucina .

WC