As the lockout drags on, with not even a date for resuming negotiations in sight, we once again fill the baseball void with a challenge to your deciphering skills, with a quote from or about the White Sox or someone connected to the team, however tangentially.
First, though, the answer to last week’s cryptoquote, the New Year’s inspirational words of a man who knew what he was talking about:
If there is any justice in this world, to be a White Sox fan frees a man from any other form of penance. — Bill Veeck
Amen.
While Veeck’s words may have been accurate, they were not exactly pollyanna-ish, so let us this week look on the happy side of White Soxdom, with a quote from someone who has been known to wear a White Sox uniform, but may or may not be allowed to have any influence on the team:
D JLXR JREXDST PWR HEJJUEFN JEPR HRQEKOR MWRS BLK JREXR JEPR, PWEP YRESO
BLK MLS PWR TEYR ESA DP’O HRRS E JLP LI MDSO. – YDTKRJ QEDFL
For those new to cryptoquotes, they’re simple letter substitutions, same letter throughout the puzzle ... an H may be a G, an R an F, and so on. You solve the puzzle by looking for the most common letters — think Wheel of Fortune favorites and one-point Scabble tiles — as well as common words. The two one-letter words in this edition of Cryptosoxery should be a helpful start.
There’s absolutely nothing else going on in baseball, and the weather in Chicago is miserable and looks to stay that way for a while, so you might as well take some time and give it a shot.
The answer and a new Cryotosoxery next week.