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I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Black Coffee

Last week's clues: (1) "we were going to use a bookkeeper for this week's headline game, but then decided that would be overkill" and (2) "we'll tell you that it might help to watch one of those gum commercials from the 1980s." (Anyone who clicked through the link got a Doublemint gum commercial, featuring multiple sets of twins, from the year 1986.)

And the solution, courtesy of reader M.S. in Royal Oak, MI:

Thanks for reactivating my teenage brain cells with today's theme. Back in high school, I would listen to a local radio station here in Detroit and every evening during the songs, the hostess of the show, Candy Shannon, would ask a riddle, brain teaser, etc. and invite her listeners to call in with the answer. When you gave the hint "bookkeeper," that old neuron flashed, and I knew the answer. All of the headlines have a word with a pair of consecutive identical letters.

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And the reason that I knew this was that your clue "bookkeeper" was the answer to one of those riddles, as the only common word with THREE pairs of consecutive identical letters.

It was also the key to one of the (many) Encyclopedia Brown mysteries. Of course, "coffee," from this headline, also fits the pattern.

Here are the first 50 readers to get it right:

G.M. in Chevy Chase, MD
A.S. in Fairfax, VA
D.S. in Layton, UT
C.B. in Lakeville, MN
S.K. in Greensboro, NC
R.R. in Westborough, MA
M.K. in Long Branch, NJ
M.H. in Ottawa, ON, Canada
A.D. in Vass, NC
J.F. in Fayetteville, NC
P.A. in Redwood City, CA
G.W. in Avon, CT
G.W. in London, England, UK
M.Z. in Sharon, MA
T.K. in Manchester, MO
K.M. in Ypsilanti, MI
J.N. in Zionsville, IN
E.M. in Jersey City, NJ
R.S. in Milan, OH
T.F. in Craftsbury Common, VT
E.W. in Skaneateles, NY
C.S. in Cincinnati, OH
D.P. in Mt. Rainier, MD
F.W. in Nijmegen, The Netherlands
D.L. in Springfield, IL

M.M. in Charlottesville, VA
S.K. in Ardmore, PA
R.E. in Birmingham, AL
M.S. in Washington, DC
J.M. in St. Lawrence County, NY
R.B. in Amherst, MA
N.K. in Cleveland Heights, OH
M.B. in Wichita, KS
B.B. in Avon, CT
K.G.W. in Lafayette, IN
M.K. in Rye, NY
W.S. in Greenville, NC
R.C. in Eagleville, PA
M.T. in Kent, OH
C.G. in Pflugerville, TX
M.K.M. in Marblehead, MA
B.A. in Edmond, OK
P.Q. in Metuchen, NJ
A.G. in Plano, TX
T.C. in Denver, CO
M.W. in Northbrook, IL
J.W. in Newton, MA
B.E. in Brooklyn, NY
D.D. in Highland Park, IL
W.S. in Louisville, KY

The 50th correct response was received at 6:04 a.m. PT on Friday.

For this week's theme, it relies on one word per headline, and it's in the category History (though some might say Monsters & Villains, which is a category in the 2002 Disney Films edition). The Never Forget headline is NOT part of it. For a hint, we'll say that we almost wrote headlines that included "Jackson," "Johnson," "Kennedy," "Washington," "McKinley" and "Taft." And if we had, despite what it seems, only one of the references would have been to a U.S. president.

If you have a guess, send it to comments@electoral-vote.com with subject line "August 1 Headlines." (Z)

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