Anagram - ..."Roast Mules"

Palomar · 2003-11-24 22:14:13

*I'm not good at figuring out anagrams. This could go in the "Good books you've just read" thread, but because of the anagram I'm starting a new thread.

"Roast mules." It's supposed to be the anagram of a simple phrase which even little children use.

I doubt any of you gents here will ever pick up Ira Levin's _Son of Rosemary_ (the sequel to _Rosemary's Baby_). The anagram is found in this book. Throughout the story, Rosemary tries to figure out WHAT the anagram of "roast mules" is (via a Scrabble gameboard and pieces...like in the original story). Ira Levin really gets my curiosity wound up...I just now finished the book and he never tells the reader what the anagram is! As an "afternote" he tells the reader a friend had given him the anagram to figure out...and not to bother with postage expenses, asking him for the answer.

I tried this web address:

http://www.anagramgenius.com/

It couldn't give an answer.

::Warning -- spoiler::

That, coupled with the book itself (published in 1997, the 30th anniversary of the original story): Rosemary awakens from a coma in 1999. Her son (by Satan) -- Andy -- has become a charismatic 33-year-old who has forsaken his father's ways and is a Jesus-type figure. Rosemary regains strength and mobility quickly, adapts rather quickly to the passage of 27 years (although she's not thrilled with waking up as a 58-year-old)...okay, cut to the chase: There is a plot to bring on Armageddon with most everyone in the world (totally in love with Andy) lighting candles on New Year's 2000; candles supplied by his organization which contain nerve gas which will wipe out humankind. Joe, Rosemary's boyfriend in this novel, turns out to be none other than Old Scratch himself. The novel ends with him revealing his identity to her, promising her eternal life and luxury if she goes with him; they're in an elevator, he's morphing from Joe the human-looking-guy to Satan and suddenly she's wigging out and screaming in the arms of her husband Guy, in their bedroom circa 1965. And it was all just a bad dream (or was it? is this her youth regained, a different reality, thanks to Satan?)...she's 23 again, in the apartment with her fame-seeking actor husband before moving into the Bramford (and before falling into the clutches of the Satanic coven), etc., etc.

This was one of the wildest novels I've ever read; such compacted multiple twists in the plot right at the very end [a great pay-off, considering portions of the book tend to be a bit tedious, even banal]. And Levin won't give the answers to that anagram! Ay carrumba.

Any anagram solvers here? "Roast mules." Dang you, Ira Levin.

That's what I get for reading novels about devil babies.

--Cindy :laugh:

clark · 2003-11-24 22:45:06

seriously, that's funny. :laugh: sorry.

Euler · 2003-11-25 00:29:18

how about "soul master"?

Christina · 2003-11-25 02:36:51

Ma Rose Slut......................

and that's the most appropriate I could come up with...sorry.

clark · 2003-11-25 04:54:48

somersault.

The plot sounds strikingly familiar to a movie called, "Devil's Advocate", which is probably a remake, or reinterpretation of the book.

Christina · 2003-11-25 07:26:12

A simple phrase children use?

clark · 2003-11-25 07:32:13

"Mommy mommy, watch me. Look at me, watch. Wait, okay. Look mommy, I'm doing a somersault."

"Very good honey!"

I?d say they use it.

Palomar · 2003-11-25 07:43:25

A simple phrase children use?

*Hi Christina: Yes. When one of the book's characters introduced the anagram to Rosemary, she said it is an everyday common phrase which even children use.

Of course, Levin *seems* to hint strongly that this anagram is the key (or a key) to unraveling the plot ahead of time or at the very least is crucial to the story (as was the anagram Hutch gave Rosemary to solve in the first novel, which led to her figuring out her elderly neighbors and their friends were a Satanic coven). Since he didn't give the answer, it's apparently "a lead" (ploy) to keep turning the pages, especially in portions of the book which are a bit boring.

This anagram was given to Levin by a friend, and apparently he had some difficulty figuring it out. He's passing that onto the reader, lol.

--Cindy

Christina · 2003-11-26 02:26:37

Well. from what we're coming up with here, it's just a ploy...

clark · 2003-11-26 10:55:32

I haven't read the book, but the only possible answer is 'somersault'.

R O A S T M U L E S

OR

amuse trols? no.

a most rules? no

as most lure?no

mors salute?no

lost amuser? maybe, but this one is pretty nonsensical.

rule as most? makes sense, but I doubt it.

'somersault' is the only ten letter, one-word, anagram that even a child would use. How it applies to the book though, I haven't a clue.

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#1 2003-11-24 22:14:13

Re: Anagram - ..."Roast Mules"

#2 2003-11-24 22:45:06

Re: Anagram - ..."Roast Mules"

#3 2003-11-25 00:29:18

Re: Anagram - ..."Roast Mules"

#4 2003-11-25 02:36:51

Re: Anagram - ..."Roast Mules"

#5 2003-11-25 04:54:48

Re: Anagram - ..."Roast Mules"

#6 2003-11-25 07:26:12

Re: Anagram - ..."Roast Mules"

#7 2003-11-25 07:32:13

Re: Anagram - ..."Roast Mules"

#8 2003-11-25 07:43:25

Re: Anagram - ..."Roast Mules"

#9 2003-11-26 02:26:37

Re: Anagram - ..."Roast Mules"

#10 2003-11-26 10:55:32

Re: Anagram - ..."Roast Mules"

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