He was in a phone booth, triple-dialing his "shrink", and as he started to light his cigarette, he noticed as sign that read, "No Smoking Aloud". And he wondered if it was spelled wrong or if he was going crazy.

Kind of hard to smoke aloud. :D

April 24, 2013 Word Jumble answers.
 

Clerk.
Vault.
Candid.
Lesson.

http://www.chron.com/entertainment/c.../comic/Jumble/

Voltaire's last visit to Paris

Voltaire and Ben Franklin met one another shortly before Voltaire died. Voltaire probably gave many a clerk a candid lesson in marking in their books when he had ordered his body placed in one vault and his heart in yet another.

(from below linked article)

http://www.thegreatdebate.org.uk/Voltaire.html

April 25, 2013 Jumble answers:

About.
Elude.
Allege.
Bodily.

http://www.chron.com/entertainment/c.../comic/Jumble/

Ben Franklin could not elude the alleged less than Platonic relationships he was rumored about Paris to be involved in with various high society ladies. Even great men cannot always ignore their less than noble bodily functions and Paris was about as far away in temperament from Puritan New England as you could get.

For checking the Word Jumble answers-- http://www.uclick.com/client/sea/tmj.../26/index.html

Friday, April 26, 2013 Jumble answers.
 

Jumble - Houston Chronicle

Prance.
Issue.
Medium.
Scarf.

http://www.uclick.com/client/sea/tmj.../27/index.html

Value Investing World: Ben Franklin - 3 Essays - The Ephemera; The Whistle; Franklin and the Gout

Ben Franklin would often prance around Parisian high society women with his wit shown in various essays he wrote for them. He found such issues of his works a very good medium for showing his affection for these women. They probably appreciated these gifts more than the latest scarf given by other admirers.

Word Jumble answers for April 27, 2013.
 

Docket.
Aback.
Steady.
Joist.

John Adams vs. Ben Franklin - YouTube

On the docket today for the Word Jumble answers is a rather choppy series of outtakes from HBO's series on John Adams which shows the clash of personalities, philosophy, and style of Franklin contrasted with that of John Adams. Adams is often taken aback by Franklin's very easy going manner; whereas Franklin often used Adams' puritanical steadfastness as a joist for his repartees.

Tom Wilkinson plays Ben Franklin and Paul Giamatti is John Adams.

Mike Argirion and Jeff Knurek Word Jumble answers for April 28, 2013.
 

Sunday Word Jumble answers:

Snappy.
Impact.
Probe.
Magic.

USS Bonhomme Richard
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bon...Richard_(1765)

A merchant ship named the Duc de Duras had been converted to a forty gun man of war. Ben Franklin managed to persuade the French to secure the ship for the command of John Paul Jones who promptly renamed it the Bon Homme Richard after Ben Franklin. The French corrected the grammar however not wanting to have that impact on the magic of their language. They set the Bonhomme Richard off to probe for prey along the Channel Islands. The ship presented a quite snappy sight. http://modelshipbuilder.com/page.php?37

Monday's Word Jumble. Answers tomorrow.
 

Jumble - Houston Chronicle

If you need to check today's Word Jumble answers, here's a timed game-- http://www.uclick.com/client/sea/tmj.../29/index.html

Monday's Word Jumble answers.
 

Jumble - Houston Chronicle

Slash.
Kitten.
Risky.
Shroud.

John Paul Jones and Naughty Susanna.
 

Ben Franklin and others in the French high society probably had a laugh at John Paul Jone's expense. This was about a story which should have been shrouded in secrecy and made Jones look more like a kitten than a lion. It involved some risky business he was supposedly involved in which also slashed at his reputation.

During the Mardi Gras celebrations a chamber maid dressed up as John Paul Jones and goosed the wife of Madame Chaumont's gardener. Chaumont was the landlord of the Passy estate Franklin and his friends were staying with while living outside of Paris. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passy There was a lot of miscommunication between Franklin and Jones about this incident and it did not help that the gardener's wife was up in arms about the attempted rape of her by John Paul Jones and had three of her sons threatening to kill Jones. The estate regulars were however quite amused by the whole farce as Franklin wrote the woman in question was "one of the grossest, coarsest, dirtiest and ugliest" woman "that one may find in a thousand." Madame Chaumont joked that John Paul Jone's sexual appetite must be prodigious-- "it gave a high idea of the strength of appetite and courage of the Americans."

April 30, 2013 Word Jumble answers.
 

Irony.
Prune.
Outage.
Drowsy.

http://www.chron.com/entertainment/c.../comic/Jumble/