Keep dough, give bread

Hoyt advocates for both the poor and Knurek's marriage

While there are many possible readings of today's piece, the psycho-social interpretation is by far the most prominent, and will therefore be our first area of analysis. 

Continuing the ongoing conversation that Knurek began with Hoyt in January 30th's piece, he returns here to the theme of his marital difficulties. In the comic he complains to Hoyt that his wife has now suggested they attend counseling¹, but he is very suspect of where this may lead, assuming it will be a stacked gamble that will be impossible for him to succeed at. 

Besides the risk of losing his family and the love of his life, Knurek is particularly concerned for his financial security. He has convinced himself that his well-meaning wife will be manipulated by the counselor to take all of his money for the sake of the children. Wanting what's best for them, he will be forced to agree, though as clearly shown on the face of the man in the comic², he will be none too happy about this seemingly inevitable arrangement.

Hoyt for his part thinks that Knurek is viewing the whole situation with far too much negativity and fatalism. Through his intentional and insistent use of positive terminology, he suggests that Knurek try to recast his view so that he see counseling as being "a good deal" spiritually and emotionally for them both and their family, instead of the cynical view that it will be only "a good (read: financial) deal" for his wife exclusively.

He begins by first suggesting to Knurek that the best way to deal with his fears is to "bring" them directly to either his wife or the counselor himself (or herself, as the case may be). He then suggests that Knurek try to view the counselor as a good-natured team "coach", rather than as a potentially unscrupulous dealer at a high-stakes poker tournament. Having been through this process before with his own wife, Hoyt promises Knurek that if he is willing to put in the "effort", he will in the end be well rewarded with more physical affection and emotional closeness with his wife.

It should be additionally noted that while Knurek has given Hoyt a space in his comic to comment, inside the parameters of the dealer's nametag, Hoyt has chosen here to very specifically make no comment at all. In making this intentional non-commentary, Hoyt is here hoping that Knurek will get his message that such negative scenarios as the one Knurek has imagined in this comic are not in the end worthy of consideration.

The distress of Knurek's personal problems can be seen here to be having a deleterious effect on the usually deep layers of meanings that he and Hoyt usually work together to weave into their puzzle work. Other than a banal restating of Knurek's hatred of the gambling industry, there is little else to be gleaned from this day's comic, nor does it leave Hoyt with much to work with in terms of potential layered meanings. We can here be thankful both of Hoyt's compassion and consummate professionalism that he didn't use this lack of cooperation on Knurek's end to resort to personal insult with his clues.

Instead, what we find today is Hoyt returning to the cleverness he was known to have honed in his previous works with his triple-entendre-form anagrams³. As with the blank nametag, he here rises above engaging in Knurek's self destruction at all by letting his anagrams stand on their own separate set of meaning, unrelated to the comic. His first entendre is a gentle self-referential plea to both his divine beliefs and to his readership to help with the difficulty that he has found himself in with Knurek. "Friend Accord Cleft Bough," he cautions. The friendly working relationship that he has forged over the years with Knurek is now reaching its stress point with today's self-absorbed comic. One can only assume if this is the level things have reached in the professional-to-print realm, that surely behind the scenes, Knurek's personal distress has been effecting Hoyt's daily work environment. Let us hope that his wise counsel will pull Knurek back from the professional brink, and allow the tree of their professional and personal relationship to weather the storm of recent events.

Hoyt's final entendre is, true to classic form, a strictly political commentary: "Bread Crutch Offend Logic," which of course is a direct reference to a local candidate's recent comments that the city should stop providing a "bread crutch" to the poor. Long an advocate for the poor as well as a great supporter of charitable causes, Hoyt could only have been offended by the candidate's utter stupidity in implying that bread to the poor is a social crutch that should be removed as a solution to the dire economic times the city is currently facing. He is here clearly urging any local readers to vote against the candidate.

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¹ Signified by the dealer in the comic.

² Representing Knurek himelf in metaphor, though not appearance.

³ "History of Hoyt", Chapter 2 p22, My Imaginary World, T.U. McDaniel 2011, Umville publishing, Inc.

Death, Love, & Toxins

Miami class warfare, marital strife, or Midwest toxic waste alert?

On the surface, today's piece is little more than a knowing if cynical wink to its Miami audience, one of the puzzle's major demographics, which concurrent with this puzzle has been named as America's "most miserable city"¹. While this reading is interesting in its own right it is, as in most works of Hoyt & Knurek, just one of the many layers of meaning embedded within the text. 

True to form for the auteurs, even this basic reading has its own depth. In Knurek's riveting satirical scenario, The zombies are quite clearly representing the upper echelon of Miami society²,  being the only citizens able to afford the option of living close to the water. Knurek shows them as they seem through the eyes of the miserable "99%": scarred, misshapen, unkempt, without souls, and obsessed with waterfront real estate. 

The scenario Knurek presents in the text makes a brilliant implied metaphorical connection to Ponce de Leon's mythical quest³. The aging elite have come looking for the fountain of youth, losing their souls in the process and creating misery for everyone around them. The true genius of the satire of course lies in the puzzle answer, which will fly over the heads of any readers without fortitude enough to complete it. The zombielike rich, searching for their fountain of youth, have in the end found nothing but the Dead Sea⁴.

On this level of textual analysis, Hoyt has, limited by the constraints of the puzzle structure, been left to make little more than a rudimentary restating of Knurek's basic premise. However, it should be noted that within the confines of the real-estate sign⁵ we can see Hoyt's optimistic and hopeful urging to any of the "zombies" who might be reading the puzzle and actually understanding its message, that all hope is not lost, should they remember that instead of pursuing material wealth and a pointless quest for artificial immortality, that the river of Jordan stands by at the ready to wash away sin if they choose instead to renew their spirit for true eternal life.

Moving into the psycho-social analysis of the puzzle, as it can be usually seen in context of a conversation from Knurek to Hoyt and/or vice-versa, we find another layer of meaning. In his comic, Knurek relates his recent feelings of marital stagnation, which have left both he and his wife feeling lifeless and without vigor. His wife has suggested to him that perhaps a vacation would help, but Knurek, feeling uneasy about this, thinks such a trip may be nothing more than a death knell for the marriage, which is his greatest fear.

Hoyt, in his friendship and wisdom, responds first of all by subtly suggesting to Knurek that perhaps he and his wife would find better solace returning to church again ("Jordan re-alty") , which they had been falling away from lately. Then in his insightful and simple textual way reminds Knurek to remember that much of this is just a process of getting older (signified by "baggy"ness), and a possible result of the pattern of "harsh" criticism which he had begun to notice in Knurek lately. He suggests that Knurek and his wife have a heart-to-heart, perhaps a good cry ("puddle"), and remember that after all, each of them is only human ("people").

Below these two equally valid interpretations lies the key message intended by the auteurs. A very specific and significant political message is being sent here, presented in a double-veiled form to slip past all but the most piercing critical editor. As can be seen clearly when viewed in a political context, both Hoyt and Knurek are directly criticizing the environmental irresponsibility of Jerry Ota Land, Inc.⁶, a local mining interest, for dumping millions of bags of toxic waste near the local reservoir, which the two discovered one day on an outing with their families, when their children ran to them telling them of a "funny puddle" they had found. The men are calling us all to political action with their rallying cry, "Dead sea, people!!!"

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¹ Kurt Badenhausen, "America's Most Miserable Cities," Forbes Magazine 2 Feb. 2011

² These elite were defined by a recent article in Forbes Magazine as households making upwards of $75,000 a year.

³ According to legend, Ponce de León was searching for the Fountain of Youth when he traveled to what is now Florida in 1513. Since then, the fountain has been frequently associated with Florida.

⁴ In this case of course not meaning the literal geographic Dead Sea, but a metaphorical sea of death, as in a place by the water where one spends ones days until expiry.

⁵ It is well established⁶ that Knurek occasionally allows Hoyt a forum for commentary inside confined circular or square spaces on his drawings, the circles and squares being a reference to the anagram format where Hoyt's comments normally appear.  
⁶ Subsidiary of My Imaginary World, LLC