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I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: To Produce Paprika, You Need a Sodder

For last week's headline theme, we gave a couple of clues. First, we said we had to hold an item, that otherwise would have had the headline "PollWatch 2024, Part IV: Examining the Senate Sausage." On Saturday, we added that "race car driver Tony Stewart and Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Williams would surely both approve of our choice this week."

And now, the solution, courtesy of reader D.K. in Chicago, IL:

Things that are smoked:

Harris on Fox: Bret Baier Demonstrates How to Fish for Answers—Smoked fish
Dueling Billionaires: Cuban, Musk on the Campaign Trail—Cuban cigars
I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: The GRASS Routine—"Grass" is slang for marijuana
This Week in Schadenfreude: Judge Decides to Crack Down on DeSantis—Crack cocaine
This Week in Freudenfreude: 90%? Holy Smokes!—"Smokes" is slang for "cigarettes"

Sausage, from the lost headline, is also often smoked. As to the Saturday hint, it helps if a reader knows (or googles) that Joe Williams is always known as "Smokey Joe Williams," while Tony Stewart's nickname is "Smoke." Oh, and paprika, from today's headline, is often sold smoked.

Here are the first 50 readers to get it right:

M.R. in Milford, CT
M.M. in Dunellen, NJ
G.W. in Avon, CT
J.C. in Oxford, England, UK
I.H. in Washington, DC
C.K. in Aston, PA
M.Z. in Sharon, MA
A.D. in Vass, NC
J.N. in Zionsville, IN
M.A. in Soquel, CA
D.B. in Glendale, CA
D.K. in Chicago
D.D. in Carversville, PA
B.S. in Ottawa, ON, Canada
D.M. in Austin, TX
M.W. in Altea, Spain
S.K. in Atlanta, GA
T.K. in Half Moon Bay, St. Kitts
C.H. in Richmond, VA
M.S. in Canton, NY
K.H. in Grosse Pointe, MI
P.R. in Kirksville, MO
M.J.S. in Gig Harbor, WA
J.S. in San Antonio, TX
J.M.R. in Chappaqua, NY

S.B. in Warsaw, Poland
R.P. in Kāneʻohe, HI
R.P.E.H. in London, England, UK
M.C. in Newton, MA
J.E. in San Jose, CA
S.E. in Okemos, MI
D.F. in Norcross, VA
M.J. in Oakdale, MN
R.E.M. in Brooklyn, NY
E.W. in Skaneateles, NY
L.D. in Bedford, MA
C.M. in Raymond, NH
J.E. in Whidbey Island, WA
B.K. in Mystic, CT
M.F. in Burlington, ON, Canada
R.S. in Newark, NJ
R.R. in Pasadena, CA
B.F. in Nashville, TN
C.S. in Lancaster, CA
J.P. in Auckland, New Zealand
J.H. in Flint, MI
S.A. in Clinton, WA
D.M. in Grand Rapids, MI
S.L. in Glendora, CA
K.R. in Austin, TX

We must admit, we think this week's theme is tough. First, it's a little trickier than usual. Second, it took a long time to hammer out the fascism item, meaning we did not have time to finish a (difficult) item on polling. Between that, and the fact that we are not going to make a game out of assaults against women or a fascist takeover of the U.S., that means the number of in-play headlines, and thus the number of clues, is rather limited.

Anyhow, we can tell you that the theme relies on one word per headline and that it's in the Trivial Pursuit category "Language." We'll tell you that the missing item, the one about online betting, would have had the headline "Can Your 'Puter Tell You Who's Going to Win the Election?" Since there are so few clues, relatively speaking, we'll give the additional hint that solving the puzzle will likely require a lot of mettle.

If you have a guess, send it to us at comments@electoral-vote.com. Please use the subject line "October 25 Headlines," so we can easily separate out those messages from the ones that are going to tear us to pieces for the fascism item. (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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