Feb.09

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Black Is The Color of My True Love's Hair

Last week's headline theme was on the tough side, as we predicted it would be. Here is the answer key, courtesy of M.H. in Ottawa, ON, Canada:

The second hint got it for me: Each contains the name of a Nobel laureate!

• Biden's Sharp Words about Trump: Phillip Allen Sharp, Physiology or Medicine, 1993
• Fight Fire with Fire?: Andrew Fire, Physiology or Medicine, 2006
• The Buck Stops Here?: Pearl S. Buck, Literature, 1938 or Linda B. Buck, Physiology or Medicine, 2004
• Who's the King?: Martin Luther King Jr., Peace, 1964
• Hemingway, Eichmann, "The Old Man and the Sea": Ernest Hemingway, Literature, 1954
• Way to Go, Einstein(s): Albert Einstein, Physics, 1921 (though you could maybe argue Henry Way Kendall, Physics, 1990)
• A Hell of a Surprise: Stefan Hell, Chemistry, 2014

Very impressive, M.H.! You even caught the two special cases (the two Bucks, and Way/Einstein). The first hint, as a reminder, was that the theme was explosive, in a manner of speaking. The second was that solving the puzzle is a Nobel pursuit, at least for those who can't spell. Both are references to Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, and founder of the Nobel Prizes.

Here are the first 25 readers to get it right:

1. B.M. in Chico, CA
2. G.G. in Nottinghamshire, England, UK
3. B.U. in St. Louis, MO
4. M.B. in Marietta, GA
5. T.P. in Woodland Hills CA
6. E.P. in Long Beach, CA
7. T.K. in Half Moon Bay, St. Kitts
8. M.A. in Park Ridge, IL
9. S.K. in Drexel Hill, PA
10. N.H. in London, England, UK
11. M.S. in Canton, NY
12. T.F. in Craftsbury Common, VT
13. M.B. in Albany, NY
14. K.R. in Austin, TX
15. D.E. in High Springs, FL
16. A.A. in South Orange, NJ
17. F.Y. in Ann Arbor, MI
18. D.O. in Brookline, MA
19. J.D. in Boston, MA
20. D.K. in Orofino, ID
21. D.M. in Burnsville, MN
22. Z.K. in Albany, NY
23. T.L. in West Orange, NJ
24. G.K. in Blue Island, IL
25. M.H. in Ottawa

We also heard from several readers who are personally acquainted with one or more of the Nobel laureates we named; apparently Andrew Fire really gets around. We also got a sizable number of incorrect, but creative, guesses. Perhaps none more so than this from J.G. in Covington, KY, for an answer of "The Holocaust":

• Sharp: Refers to Martha and Waitstill Sharp, two of the founding members of the Unitarian Service Committee. They personally traveled to Europe several times, including Nazi-occupied areas, to help refugees escape. They were the second and third U.S. citizens recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.
  
  
• Fire: While this could refer to the crematoria, I attribute it to the Reichstag Fire Decree of 1933, which abolished the constitutional protections of private citizens, ushering in the Nazi dictatorship.
  
  
• Buck: Refers to Dorothea Buck, a victim of the Nazi policy of forced sterilization. She became an advocate for reform in the treatment of mental health, and forced the German psychiatric profession to confront the part German mental health professionals had played in Nazi persecution.
  
  
• King (part 1): There are at least two candidates for this one. The obvious one is the legendary King Christian X of Denmark. While he never wore a yellow star, as the legend claims, he did encourage the national rescue effort that successfully saved most of Denmark's Jewish population, smuggling them by boat to neutral Sweden.
  
  
• King (part 2): It may also refer to King Michael I of Romania. During the war Romania was controlled by their Hitler-allied Prime Minister Ion Antonescu, who began deporting Jewish citizens. Persuaded by his mother, Princess Helen (later declared one of the Righteous), King Michael worked to prevent deportations, and to secure the return of Jewish citizens imprisoned in ghettos and camps. Their work saved over half the Jewish population of Romania, despite Antonescu's best efforts. Finally, in 1944 King Michael wrested back enough control to sever the alliance with Hitler and have Antonescu arrested.
  
  
• Eichmann: The master of the "Final Solution," Adolf Eichmann coordinated and oversaw the mass deportation and murder of millions of Jewish people.
  
  
• Hemingway: Though a more tenuous connection, it should probably be mentioned that the Nazis burned Hemingway's books, due to the strong condemnation of war that ran throughout his works.
  
  
• Einstein: Probably the most famous Jewish person to escape Nazi persecution. He even had a price on his head, with Nazi organizations proclaiming he should be hanged. (Sound familiar?)
  
  
• Hell: Self-explanatory

Not what we were thinking, obviously, but we are inclined to count this as a winning answer, nonetheless. Although we wouldn't actually use anything Holocaust-related as a theme, given our rule against making a game of human suffering.

As to this week's theme, they're all song titles, so that means that all of the words to the right of the colon matter, and that the Trivial Pursuit category would be Arts and Entertainment. For an additional hint, we'll say that we originally had a title of a song performed by Miley Cyrus, but then decided she didn't count towards the theme.

If you have a guess, send it to comments@electoral-vote.com, preferably with subject line "February 9 Headlines." (Z)