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I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Spam Lamm

Readers may recall that (Z) has a near-encyclopedic knowledge of the TV show M*A*S*H. And one of the finer episodes is "Private Charles Lamb," where animal-loving company clerk Radar O'Reilly saves a lamb from becoming holiday lunch by replacing it with a "replica" made of spam. That's what the headline is about, for those who don't know the show.

Anyhow, for last week's headline theme, we gave the hint "we added 'Chippendales' to the headline of this item, in part, because it's adjacent to the theme, in a manner of speaking." On Saturday, we added "we tried to get 'Trickle Down Economics' into a headline, but couldn't do it." On Sunday, we gave a rare third hint: "there was going to be an item headlined 'TrumpWatch 2024: And You Thought Nixon Had an Enemies List,' but we ran out of time and had to push it back." And now, the solution, courtesy of reader D.M. in Austin, TX (who also explained most of the hints):

I think your theme is actually famous "Dicks":

It's the Economy, Stupid: Port Strikers Head Back to Work—Dick Head (footballer from Australia)

Endorsement Watch: Liz Cheney Hits the Road—Dick Cheney (former VP)

Melania Trump: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing?—Dick Wolf (film and TV producer)

Show Me the Money: House Democratic Spending (Largely) Smothers Republican Spending—Dick Smothers (comedian)

October Surprises: Two New York Congressmen May Be in Hot Water—Dick York (actor)

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Chip 'n' Dale (but not Chippendales)—Dick Dale (guitarist)

This Week in Schadenfreude: The Wisdom of Solomon? Not Exactly—Dick Solomon (best character ever in a TV show)

This Week in Freudenfreude: Will and Harper—Dick Harper (Jim Carrey's character in Fun with Dick and Jane)

Hint: Trickle Down Economics—Dick Trickle (race car driver)

Hint: And You Thought Nixon Had an Enemies List—Dick Nixon (former president)

Dick Lamm, from the headline for this item, was governor of Colorado from 1975-87. So, our headlines had a whole bunch of Dicks. And so does Chippendale's.

This one was a toughie, so we didn't actually get 50 correct answers (since we got many, many incorrect answers). Here are the first 25 readers to get it right, though:

P.A. in Redwood City, CA
J.N. in Zionsville, IN
D.L. in Uslar, Germany
S.S. in Santa Monica, CA
T.J.L. in Kansas City, MO
R.L. in San Diego, CA
B.B. in Avon, CT
R.S. in Milan, OH
D.E. in High Springs, FL
D.S. in Laurel, MD
A.D. in Vass, NC
M.S. in Canton, NY
D.D. in Carversville, PA
M.B. in Albany, NY
G.W. in Avon, CT
J.E. in San Jose, CA
P.W. in Tulalip, WA
K.R. in Austin, TX
D.D. in Highland Park, IL
D.S. in Layton, UT
M.M. in Salt Lake City, UT
N.P. in Santa Rosa, CA
D.M. in Austin
M.F. in Milwaukee, WI
J.K. in San Jose, CA

Moving on to this week's theme, it's in the Trivial Pursuit category "Language," and we cannot exactly say if it relies on one or multiple words per headline. We will say that the Israel-Iran headline was not intended to be a part of the theme, because people are going to die when Israel responds, and we don't make a game out of tragedy. That said, that headline accidentally fits the theme, nonetheless. But again, it's not part of the game. For a hint, well, if you look carefully we think you'll be OK.

If you have a guess, send it to comments@electoral-vote.com, with subject line "October 11 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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