Feb.02

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land"

It has come to our attention that some readers still aren't clear on the nature of the Friday puzzle that is built into the headlines. It's really pretty simple. There is some theme hidden in the words to the right of the colon in each headline. Sometimes it's all the words, sometimes it's some of them. And we don't make a game out of human suffering, so some headlines (i.e., those without a colon) are not a part of the puzzle. For example, the very first headline today has no colon and therefore is not part of the puzzle.

To spell it out a little differently, the commonality this week is contained somewhere within these phrases:

• Biden's Sharp Words about Trump
• Fight Fire with Fire?
• The Buck Stops Here?
• Who's the King?
• Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
• Way to Go, Einstein(s)
• A Hell of a Surprise

This week, as it happens, the theme only relies on some of the words in each headline (last week's by contrast, relied on all of them). Also, if this was a Trivial Pursuit question, it would have to be placed in History. And if you want an additional hint, we'll say that, in a manner of speaking, the key to the puzzle is... explosive.

As to last week's theme, we thought it was pretty tough. We were wrong, as we got more right answers than we've ever gotten before. That is undoubtedly a reflection of the demographic skew of the readership of this site. The solution, courtesy of J.B. in Hershey, PA: "I knew this one from the beginning: All the headlines are from Billy Joel's 1989 hit, 'We Didn't Start the Fire,' where he surveys significant (to him) world events from his birth in 1949 up until current times." Quite a few readers pointed out that the odd wording of the very first headline, "Richard Nixon Back Again," was a dead giveaway, while quite a few others pointed out that they hate that song and cursed us for putting it in their minds.

Here are the first 25 readers to get it right:

1. S.H. in Bedford, MA
2. R.D. in Cheshire, CT
3. J.G. in West Hartford, CT
4. B.M. in Chico, CA
5. B.S. in Lexington, SC
6. T.K. in Half Moon Bay, St. Kitts
7. J.J. in Inglewood, CA
8. C.B. in Lakeville, MN
9. J.L.G. in Boston, MA
10. S.C. in Deerfield, N.H.
11. J.D. in Boston, MA
12. I.G. in New York City, NY
13. E.K. in Arlington, MA
14. B.W. in Tyngsborough, MA
15. R.P. in Brooklyn, NY
16. S.G. in Durham, NC
17. M.J.S. in Cheshire, CT
18. D.B. in Lee, NH
19. B.W. in Baileys Harbor, WI
20. C.R. in Glyndon, MD
21. R.F. in Washington, DC
22. D.S. in Lakewood, OH
23. M.K. in Nolensville, TN
24. K.E. in Peoria, IL
25. N.S. in Los Angeles, CA

If you have a guess as to this week's theme, send it to comments@electoral-vote.com with the subject line "February 2 Headlines." (Z)