Mitch4 sends this in: “Two and a half hypotheses: 1) The intended cartoon was indeed pulled by the editors, for being in one or another aspect beyond the limits of acceptable — political or personally impolite etc. [1.5 Exactly as reported, it was pulled for being “too humorous” — nah, very unlikely, but maybe this was literally what was stated to him though intended to convey #1.] 2) Nothing of the sort happened, and this is just a variation on “the cartoonist took a day off from drawing”.”
The joke is clear, if hackneyed by now, but what would the kids tip? A 20% trick?
This execution of the same joke is a bit clearer, since it’s the kid asking for money.
Not so much a CIDU as “way too much work”. Post individual clue solutions in the comments. FYI, complete solution is here.
This one tripped me up, because I assumed a Pumpkin Spice Latte only had the spices used in pumpkin pie. This used to be true: introduced in 2003, Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte contained only the spices, and no pumpkin. That made sense. Who thinks steak sauce has steak in it? or shrimp sauce has shrimp in it? Or awlspice has an awl in it? But, in response to complaints, in 2015 they reformulated to add some pumpkin puree. That was really unnecessary, because a bit of pumpkin puree adds little taste. But this does mean Blazek’s joke actually works.
Mouseover text: “I understand it’s hard to do more than 300 feet on these 90-second rush jobs, but with a smaller ramp I’m worried the gee forces will be too high for me to do any tricks.”