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Underwood’s puzzle perfectly timed with notable event
Dale Fitzgibbons
Dec. 24, 2023 6:00 am
On Dec. 13, numerous major news sources published reports online of a large group of protesters blocking six lanes of a downtown Los Angeles freeway on that day. The demonstrators, agitating for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, were — unsurprisingly — enraging frustrated motorists stopped in a line stretching for miles, with intense confrontations, even shoving matches taking place. Eventually police intervened and restored order, with some 75 people taken into custody.
At the time of writing this, I have yet to discern any coverage of this news event on the pages of The Gazette. But in an intriguing coincidence, the CryptoQuote puzzle on the back page that same day offered this:
"JIYWMOJFH DMCC UTX TU DMXV JFAXVMFZ UWELMNYN MX NEYHF'X KCEOQ XWJSSMO. — NJF WJXVYW"
When decrypted — (Spoiler alert!) the puzzle yields this "Rather" convincing truth:
"Americans will put up with anything that doesn't block traffic. — Dan Rather"
Well golly gee! Award points to puzzle author Tom Underwood for his seeming clairvoyance!
Dale Fitzgibbons
Cedar Rapids
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