{"id":2889,"date":"2018-09-11T23:00:33","date_gmt":"2018-09-12T05:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=2889"},"modified":"2020-12-09T16:34:56","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T22:34:56","slug":"when-jumble-fumbles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/humor\/when-jumble-fumbles\/","title":{"rendered":"When Jumble<\/em> Fumbles"},"content":{"rendered":"

I may be a word nerd, but I don\u2019t go in for word games. I\u2019ve never been a Scrabble guy and crossword puzzles leave me cold.<\/p>\n

But I have a weakness for Jumble<\/em>, a game that since the 1950s has been a daily feature in newspapers from coast to coast. When I started playing it, I became so fixated that if I couldn\u2019t solve the puzzle, my day was ruined. I had to give it up for a few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat scrambled word game\u201d is how Jumble<\/em> concisely defines itself. The brief directions tell us to unscramble four \u201cordinary words\u201d of either five or six letters. It\u2019s the first step in deciphering that day\u2019s brainteaser. When you identify a word, you write it into an oblong area divided into five or six spaces for letters. Up to four of these spaces have been circled; the circled letters figure in the solution. A recent scrambled word was SCEXIE, with the second and fifth letter spaces circled. So figuring out the word is excise<\/em> gives you an x<\/em> and an s<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Next you take all the circled letters and unscramble them to solve the puzzle, with the \u201chelp\u201d of a jokey clue and cartoon. The answer, which Jumble<\/em> prints in its space the following day, is usually a corny play on words, but is sometimes fiendishly clever. A recent clue was \u201cWhat mom got from one hug.\u201d The circled letters were e<\/em>, g<\/em>, h<\/em>, n<\/em>, o <\/em>and u<\/em>, which spell not only one hug<\/em>, but also the puzzle\u2019s solution: enough<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Things I\u2019ve learned playing Jumble<\/em>: the last name of acerbic comedian Bill Maher is an anagram for harem<\/em>. Would Richard Starkey have changed his name if the Beatles\u2019 drummer had known \u201cRingo\u201d also spells groin<\/em>? Did Marlon Brando\u2019s parents realize that their son\u2019s first name is an anagram for normal<\/em>?<\/p>\n

The more you play, the more you realize the jumbled words are bound by very strict unspecified rules. You\u2019ll find no cities, states, or countries, no brands like Sears or Pepsi, no names like Susan or Dylan.<\/p>\n

Prefixes like re<\/em> are on a short leash: \u201cGRABE\u201d could not be \u201crebag.\u201d Although it\u2019s arguably a word, it\u2019s not an \u201cordinary\u201d word. You won\u2019t find it in the dictionary. The right answer is barge<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Adding an s<\/em> to a noun (e.g., \u201chands<\/em>\u201d) or to a verb (e.g., \u201chopes<\/em>\u201d) is cheating \u2014 but handed<\/em> or hoping<\/em> is OK.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll never forget a few years ago when, after hours of futility, I gave up on LEMISS. The next day, I was appalled to find that LEMISS was supposed to be \u201csmiles.\u201d What the \u2026? This was a serious lapse for Jumble<\/em>, and I was incensed that the writers never issued an apology.<\/p>\n

Words like steal<\/em> and there <\/em>can never qualify \u2014 they could just as easily be stale<\/em> and three<\/em>. To me, this is Jumble<\/em>\u2019s Cardinal Rule: The puzzle can\u2019t work unless each scramble spells out one word and only one word. The writers of Jumble<\/em> have an obligation never to break this commandment.<\/p>\n

But, alas, they did. Nov. 2, 2010, is a date that will live in Jumble<\/em> infamy. The jumbled word in question was HCEPA, with the second and fifth spaces circled. I immediately hit on cheap<\/em>. The next day, I was staggered when I checked the answer: peach<\/em>.<\/p>\n

They broke the Cardinal Rule!!<\/p>\n

This is an outrage. Somewhere in Jumbleville, heads must roll.<\/p>\n

\u2014Tom Stern<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I may be a word nerd, but I don\u2019t go in for word games. I\u2019ve never been a Scrabble guy and crossword puzzles leave me cold. But I have a weakness for Jumble, a game that since the 1950s has been a daily feature in newspapers from coast to coast. When I started playing it, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humor","category-spelling"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2889"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}