Electoral-vote.com

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

We have had a few requests for reminders as to how this little headline game works, so here goes:

The clues only appear to the right of the colons in the headlines. We always specify whether it's just one word, or could be more than one.
We sometimes exclude headlines, particularly for items that involve death or other subjects with gravitas. This week, as with previous weeks, the "Never Forget" headline is not part of the game.
We give a couple of hints on Friday, namely the (most) correct Trivial Pursuit category for the theme, and some additional hint. These are important; if a solution does not work with the TP category and/or the hint, it's probably not correct.
Similarly, we try to keep the theme pretty disciplined. For example, we might have a theme that is "football terms." Or we might have a theme that is "football players." But we would not mix football terms and football players.
We had a couple of questions recently as to how someone could be "the winner" if they weren't the first person to submit. The reader whose answers we use for the solution is not "the winner." They are just someone we picked out who laid out the whole solution correctly. To make the Top 50, a respondent does not HAVE to go headline-by-headline, and usually the first few responses do not give us anything EXCEPT the theme, in the interest of quickness.
Similarly, when we give credit for correct answers, we allow a fair bit of leeway.

And with that out of the way, the first hint for last week was: "[W]e'll say that yesterday, the official White House eX-Twitter account posted another ridiculous meme that is meant to: (1) make Donald Trump cool, by connecting him to popular culture, and (2) burnish Trump's credentials as a strongman (or, at least, a strong man). We'll share the actual meme as tomorrow's hint, but for now, we'll say that the #1 comment on the tweet is: 'His only kryptonite is bone spurs and Epstein lists.'" The second hint for last week was the actual image (Trump's head photoshopped onto Superman's body) along with the remark: "This is... a second hint for the week's headline theme. A big hint. A very big hint. A super hint." Oh, and the TP category for last week was "language."

And now, here is the solution, courtesy of reader B.H. in Sherman Oaks, CA:

Each headline has a word that can be preceded by "super":

Trade War: Trump Is Just Making Things up on the Fly

Legal News: The Birthright Citizenship Ball Is Back in John Roberts' Court

Channeling Elbridge Gerry: GOP Desperately Trying to Save House Majority

The Epstein Files: MAGA Base Continues to Freak Out

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: The Jackson 8

This Week in Schadenfreude: Grok Does a Villain Turn

This Week in Freudenfreude: The Farmer Is the Man, Part II

"Star," from the headline for this item, also fits the category.

Here are the 30 readers to get it right:

D.D. in Highland Park, IL
N.H. in London, England, UK
A.C. in Kingston, MA
J.N. in Zionsville, IN
D.L. in Uslar, Germany
A.E. in Cleveland, OH
K.G.W. in Lafayette, IN
P.Q. in Metuchen, NJ
H.B. in Toronto, ON, Canada
S.G. in Durham, NC
B.H. in Sherman Oaks
S.W. in Corvallis, OR
B.B. in Charleston, WV
D.P. in Lexington, KY
H.B. in State College, PA
C.W. in Atlantic Beach, FL
T.T. in Conway, AR
M.W. in Altea, Spain
M.M. in Dunellen, NJ
R.S. in Milan, OH
M.T. in Simpsonville, SC
S.W. in Winter Garden, FL
D.B. in Glendale, CA
D.M. in Oakland, CA
D.L. in Springfield, IL
D.H. in Portland OR
D.M. in Amagansett, NY
O.B. in Santa Monica, CA
C.R. in Houston, TX
D.E. in Lancaster, PA

As you can see, we did not get up to 50. However, the 30th correct response was received at 10:37 a.m. PT on Saturday. Even we can't guess when the 50th correct answer will come in, so don't hold back based on assumptions.

For this week's theme, it relies on one word in some headlines, and multiple words in others, and it's in the Trivial Pursuit category Publishing (which is found in 1983's "Baby Boomer Edition.") For a hint, we'll say that Sarah Palin would certainly be unable to solve the puzzle, especially if Katie Couric is around.

If you have a guess, send it to comments@electoral-vote.com with subject line July 18 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.

www.electoral-vote.com State polls All Senate candidates