Jun.14

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Dem 51

   

GOP 49

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: On the Lam in an Automobile

Because last week's headline theme was unexpectedly tough, we gave three clues. Here they are:

• Friday: [W]e originally had the headline "Trump Polls: Voters Reacting to Verdict," but we changed it to "This Week's Polls: Voters' Reaction to Verdict Is Surprisingly Swift." That is because we aren't 100% sure that the first version fits the theme, but we know the second version does.
  
  
• Saturday: The sentence "The sun is up, Ma, so now we can see the wolf in the woods!" contains four more words that fit the theme, in addition to the one word per headline from yesterday.
  
  
• Sunday: Originally, the headline "Gosar's New Green Deal" was "Gosar Proposal Has an Unpleasant Musk to It."

We got some really good (but wrong) guesses. For example, this one from D.M. in Austin, TX:

These all contain code names used during World War II to designate specific dates as part of military planning and communication:

• Legal News: Hunter Is from Venus, Donald Is from Mars—Hunter refers to D-Day (June 6, 1944)
• This Week's Polls: Voters' Reaction to Verdict Is Surprisingly Swift—Swift was used for April 8, 1944, during the Battle of Imphal in India
• The Price of Loyalty: Gosar's New Green Deal—Green referred to July 20, 1944, the day of the failed assassination attempt of Hitler
• The Price of Disloyalty: Black Balled—Black was used for January 1, 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge
• Fascism Alert: DeSantis Still Trying to Woo Right-Wing Voters—Woo was designated for June 6, 1943, during the Aleutian Islands campaign
• Wheel of Fortune: Time to Turn the Page—Page was for August 17, 1942, during the Battle of Stalingrad
• Foreign Elections: India's Voters Ding Modi—India was for August 15, 1944, during Operation Dragoon in Southern France
• I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Day and Fortnight—Day was for March 7, 1944, during Operation Tidal Wave in Romania

Very impressive, but it doesn't work with the clue. Also, some headlines are not accounted for.

Another good (but wrong) guess from M.W. in Newington, CT:

Grammy winners!

• Legal News: Hunter Is from Venus, Donald Is from Mars—Bruno Mars
• This Week's Polls: Voters' Reaction to Verdict Is Surprisingly Swift—Taylor Swift
• The Price of Loyalty: Gosar's New Green Deal—CeeLo Green
• The Price of Disloyalty: Black Balled—Black Coffee
• Fascism Alert: DeSantis Still Trying to Woo Right-Wing Voters—William Grant Still
• Wheel of Fortune: Time to Turn the Page—Jimmy Page and Patti Page
• Foreign Elections: India's Voters Ding Modi—India Arie
• I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Day and Fortnight—Andra Day
• This Week in Schadenfreude: Jones, Bannon Learn that Actions Have Consequences—Norah Jones
• This Week in Freudenfreude: Bill Walton... Motormouth—Cedar Walton

This is really, really good, but still doesn't fit the clue. There is no Grammy winner, questionable or otherwise, named Trump.

Here is the correct answer, from N.S. in Los Angeles, CA:

The headlines all contain the surname of a billionaire.

• Legal News: Hunter Is from Venus, Donald Is from Mars—Jacqueline and John Mars
• This Week's Polls: Voters' Reaction to Verdict Is Surprisingly Swift—Taylor Swift
• The Price of Loyalty: Gosar's New Green Deal—Jeff Green
• The Price of Disloyalty: Black Balled—Leon Black
• Fascism Alert: DeSantis Still Trying to Woo Right-Wing Voters—Peter Woo
• Wheel of Fortune: Time to Turn the Page—Larry Page
• Foreign Elections: India's Voters Ding Modi—William Ding
• I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Day and Fortnight—Robert Day
• This Week in Schadenfreude: Jones, Bannon Learn that Actions Have Consequences—Jerry Jones
• This Week in Freudenfreude: Bill Walton... Motormouth—Jim, Rob and Alice Walton

Your next-day emphasis of the hint put the idea in my head. Oh, also "The Sun is up, Ma, so now we can see the Wolf in the Woods!" (David, Jack, Dick, Tiger, respectively)

We really thought the Trump clue would give it away, but we were wrong. In fairness to the readers, we erred and put "Trump" on the wrong side of the colon. Also, we tried to use as many famous billionaires as we could come up with, but we didn't really put it over the top until we gave the "Musk" hint on Sunday. Unfortunately, there was no good way to work "Gates" into a headline.

Anyhow, only 20 readers got it. Here they are:

1. N.S. in Los Angeles
2. R.S. in Milan, OH
3. E.S. in Cincinnati, OH
4. J.H. in Sturbridge, MA
5. J.A. in Brisbane, QLD, Australia
6. J.R. in San Antonio, TX
7. A.S. in Fairfax, VA
8. J.L. in Walnut Creek, CA
9. T.K. in Half Moon Bay, St. Kitts
10. M.B. in Albany, NY
11. M.B. in Menlo Park, CA
12. D.M. in Austin, who sent in an updated guess
13. D.M. in Oakland, CA
14. J.K. in New Orleans, LA
15. L.B. in Cardiff, Wales
16. S.K. in Drexel Hill, PA
17. D.H. in Portland, OR
18. H.G. in Springfield, IL
19. O.B. in Santa Monica, CA
20. C.W. in London, England, UK

We try to give the themes roughly equal levels of difficulty, but last week's was WAY on the tough side, and the week before that was definitely on the easy side. Oh, well, variety is the spice of life.

As to this week's theme, it's only one word in each headline, and the first two headlines don't count—mifepristone and IVF are very important issues and we don't feel right making a game out of them. Also, in giving the Trivial Pursuit category, we have previously limited ourselves to only the categories in the original edition. We're not going to do that anymore; instead, we will use every edition as a possible source of categories. And so, this week's category is "The Written Word," which was one of the six categories in the 20th Anniversary edition. And the hint (and this is a really good one) is that we originally had a headline today that used the word "misbehavior," but then realized that would only work if we were British.

If you have a guess, send it to comments@electoral-vote.com, preferably with the subject line "June 14 Headlines." (Z)