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I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Dancing in the Dark

Last week's theme was a tough one. We ended up giving three hints: (1) "the Harry Potter Baking Championship was on TV while we were putting the theme together"; (2) "we will tell you that both 'Mike' and 'Johnson' work for the theme. So do 'Black' and 'Mirror,' though 'Black' is arguably a bit of a cheat"; and (3) "you need to 'try to understand, try to understand. Oh, oh, try, try, try to understand.'" It was the last one that did it for a lot of readers; here is the solution, courtesy of reader M.H. in Ottawa, ON, Canada:

The theme this week: Names or phrases starting with "magic".

Trump Nominees: Hegseth Looks to Be a Dead Man Walking—"Magic Man," 1975 song by Heart

Media Matters: So Much for Speaking Truth to Power—"Magic Power," 1981 song by (Canadian rock band) Triumph

Does ANYONE Believe This?: Team Trump Says They Don't Have Their Eye on Revenge—Magic Eye, the popular autostereograms from the '90s

News From the Backbench: Martin May Get the Keys to the DNC Kingdom—"Magic Kingdom," nickname for Disneyland. ("Magic Keys" is a board game which won the Kinderspiel des Jahres in 2024, so maybe that's the alternative?)

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Black Mirror—Magic Mirror, a major character in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas, Days 4: Mike Johnson—Either possibility works here! Magic Mike, 2012 Steven Soderbergh film starring Channing Tatum, and Magic Johnson, basketball legend

This Week in Schadenfreude: DeSantis Comes Full Circle?—Magic circle

This Week in Freudenfreude: Can You Spell I-M-P-E-A-C-H-M-E-N-T?—Magic spell

Actually, the other "dual" answer we intended was not "Magic Keys" but instead "Black magic." As we noted, that's kind of a cheat, because it doesn't follow the same pattern (e.g., word + magic, as opposed to magic + word). And obviously, "dark," from this item's headline, also fits. Needless to say, we apologize for allowing Canadian "culture" to invade the list; we had forgotten about Triumph's origins.

Here are the first 50 readers to get it right:

J.N. in Zionsville, IN
B.R. in Arlington, MA
M.W. in Altea, Spain
K.R. in Austin, TX
M.H. in Ottawa
M.S. in New York City, NY
M.J. in Oakdale, MN
S.G. in Durham, NC
D.B. in Pittsboro, NC
M.L. in Iowa City, IA
S.W. in Corvallis, OR
M.S. in Canton, NY
G.W. in Avon, CT
P.A. in Redwood City, CA
S.K. in Ardmore, PA
H.B. in Toronto, ON, Canada
J.C. in Daytona Beach, FL
M.W. in Frederick, MD
D.D. in Carversville, PA
R.S. in Pittsgrove, NJ
G.K. in Calgary, AB, Canada
E.W. in Skaneateles, NY
J.W. in Hillsboro, OR
P.F. in Las Vegas, NV
S.F. in Pemberton Borough, NJ

M.T. in Simpsonville, SC
T.T. in Conway, AR
M.P. in Atlanta, GA
B.N. in San Rafael, CA
D.D. in Highland Park, IL
A.D. in Vass, NC
R.S. in Milan, OH
B.U. In St. Louis, MO
R.W. in Decatur, GA
C.F. in Miami, FL
B.B. in Avon, CT
D.S. in Layton, UT
L.D. in Bedford, MA
M.S. in Dublin, OH
P.W. in Tulalip, WA
T.K. in Half Moon Bay, St. Kitts
M.T. in Wheat Ridge, CO
J.K. in St. Paul, MN
A.R. in Los Angeles, CA
L.S.-H. in Naarden, The Netherlands
M.B. in Albany, NY
R.B. in Santa Monica, CA
F.B. in Montreal, QC, Canada
O.B. in Milwaukee, WI
T.J. in Charleston, SC

After solving the puzzle, D.D. in Carversville added: "And to celebrate, a pizza with mushrooms, after which, we will take a nap on the carpet and let our mind wand...er."

As to this week's theme, it relies on one word per headline, and it fits in the Trivial Pursuit category "Events." For a theme, we'll say that this week's puzzle is rather more similar to last week's than we would like; we were kind of hemmed in by the final headline today.

If you have a guess, send it to comments@electoral-vote.com with subject "December 13 Headlines." (Z)

This item appeared on www.electoral-vote.com. Read it Monday through Friday for political and election news, Saturday for answers to reader's questions, and Sunday for letters from readers.

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