| || agent, soupy, writer, engage, growing "panes".
Image from the Internet.
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:
It was a foggy day in the city,
Pea-soup kind of weather.
Agent A-9 felt some self-pity,
Out like a homeless beggar.
A man came along to stand by,
And they engaged in small talk.
"Zipper orchards grow fruit flies."
"A window fixer is a pane doc."
"Who is it who writes these signs?"
Agent 3-B asked in consternation.
"Well, whoever it is," replied A-9
"He's on my list for termination!"
I was nodding along to your neat rhythms, Owen, but then I found I wasn't quite sure of the connections between parts of the poem. I mean if A-9 was feeling low, why was he homeless--or "like" that particularity of beggarliness? His "self-pity" seemed to be lost after the 1st stanza, as did the soupy weather.
How the conversation with a stranger ran to bumper sticker slogans (cute ones) they refer to as "signs" was a bit puzzling as well.
I apologize if my response is overly dense. I may be just too old-fashioned & Aristotelean in my craving for an arc.
I did enjoy your tagging the "stranger" as "3-B," a reversal of the code used for good ol' "A-9." (Suggesting he's under cover, perhaps?)
You may be giving me some license in leaping to a less than logical proposal for a solution hint. I read recently that climate change is hurting the growth of some crops in northern latitudes. That got me to wondering what it would be like to make a census or take a survey directly of wheat & barley fields, polling grain, as it were.
~ OMK
He wasn't homeless, but he did have an assignment to meet someone he didn't know standing out in the cold. They would identify each other by giving the pass signs, nonsense sentences that wouldn't give them away if repeated to the wrong person.
Easy peasy jumble, with the clues unscrambling immediately. And the solution, with a really obvious second word, popped out almost as fast. I get the pun, and chuckled briefly.
I thought the poem was pretty clear, and also enjoyed the rhythm and meter, but as well the image of the two poor agents having to meet outside on such a nasty, foggy day.
FLN, Owen, Homer was your glider with the joyful (spritual) experience. My meandering was because of my experience (spiritual) of prescience. I think Sherlock showed up again in yesterday's xword. .
And ERLE today.
Another quick one today. Your explanation of the poem helped me.
WC
I'm still looking for that word that describes coincidences being virtually spiritual. A Best selling book by the name.
WC
Well, the puzzle was one gift, this morning--got the whole thing. And then, to my surprise, I also got all four jumble words and the solution! Thank you Jumble spirits, for this help this morning. (I couldn't get the Sudoku and not even the Kenken, which is usually so easy. Not my best day, but hey, with a crossword and a Jumble I will get through this.
Thank you, Owen; your explanation helps very much. I see it now.
I interpreted "signs" differently, visualizing literal posters or billboards rather than the call-signs agents may use. The slogans were little jokes (as I read them) so I missed the flavor of passwords/counter-signs.
~ OMK
Hmmm. Maybe, OMK, if it had been, "Who writes these lines?" it would have more immediately come to you?? Or not. Just speculating.
I dunno, Sandy. I hesitate to re-write Owen, as he is clearly the master.
I suppose it might have helped if the first "sign" had been posed as a question, similar to the old WWII vintage, "Who played 3rd base for the Dodgers in '42?" Followed by a coded answer. (I was partly distracted by the amusing "pane doc.")
Maybe your suggestion of "lines" would have pointed in the right direction--or maybe an even more explicit designation, like "script" or "passwords."
But Owen knows what he wants. He might well have considered such giveaways as dumbing it down.
~ OMK
____________
PS. Whoops! Polling grains. Plural.
Your hunt intrigues me, Wilbur.
Do you mean coincidences involving people (karmic encounters) or just any coincidences?
~ OMK
OMK, the first. There was a popular book ten years ago. The title was a synonym for "karmic coincidence".
Owen calls it prescience.
The xword world seems to be ride with it. I no more read, have a thought etc and it pops up in a clue or write-up.
WC
Ps. My post to CC mentioned something you'd be familiar with
IIRC I started out with "Who writes these codes", but couldn't find a good rhyme. "Lines" is a good suggestion. I'm a Mason, and we refer to passwords as recognition signs, so that came to mind first. I don't think either lines or signs would have avoided this confusion. If I could keep to the meter, "code lines" or "code signs" might work. I'm always open to suggestions. I went through a load of ideas for those pass-lines before I got to the ones I settled on, and still only sorta liked them.
Wilbur, how utterly dense of me not to recognize my very own Homer! Thank you!
I don't know about spiritual, but a word for paranormal experiences is Fortean, from the name of Charles H. Fort (1874–1932). Might try a thesaurus for epiphany or serendipity.
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