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I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: The Blue Dahlia... Also Likes Teals

We weren't sure how tough last week's theme would be, so the first hint we gave was meant to be generous. It was: "we'll tell you that you might have an advantage if you were in a dusty study right now, eating a cheap peach, and enjoying a nice, large lager." We added and removed and added that "large lager" bit several times, trying to figure out if it was giving too much away, or not enough away. On Saturday, we added: "[W]e actually tried to write a headline about gravestones, but that there was no way to pull it off without being too obvious. Specifically, 'Why would they use the word 'stela' here, instead of 'headstone''?" And here is the solution, courtesy of reader S.C. in Mountain View, CA:

Each headline includes a five-letter word (or name, in the case of Tesla) using each of the letters A, E, L, S and T exactly once each:

TrumpWatch, Part I: Noem Learns You Don't Steal from Uncle Sam without Uncle Donald's Approval

TrumpWatch, Part II: Is Bondi the Least Secure Member of the Cabinet Still Standing?

In Congress: How Will the Slate of Senate Candidates in Montana Shake Out?

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Stale Cupcakes

This Week in Schadenfreude: Americans Aren't Buying Trump's Tall Tales about his Ballroom

This Week in Freudenfreude: Much Better Than Buying a Tesla

As for the headline in which this answer appears, it will also have to contain a similar word, yet different from any in the above list. It could be about the leats (water courses) at Knott's Soak City in Buena Park, California, but I think it's more likely to mention former Maryland State Senator John Astle. After all, he will be turning 83 on March 31st, this is a website about politics, and John Astle is a politician. An early Happy Birthday, John!

Astle was too tough to work in there; we pretty much always expected the word for this headline to be "teals." It might have been otherwise, if only Brando had yelled "Stela!" and not "Stella!"

Oh, and some readers did not grasp the first hint. It contains three anagrammed pairs, namely dusty/study, cheap/peach and large/lager.

Here are the first 60 readers to get it right:

G.S. in Basingstoke, England, UK
S.K. in Ardmore, PA
R.S. in Milan, OH
N.H. in London, England, UK
J.F. in Fayetteville, NC
D.L. in Uslar, Germany
J.S. in Chevy Chase, MD
J.T. in Philadelphia, PA
J.H. in Walla Walla, WA
A.O'N. in Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany
J.Y. in London, England, UK
A.D. in Vass, NC
S.A. in Clinton, WA
S.S. in Lucerne, Switzerland
M.J. in Oakdale, MN
C.R. in Cromwell, CT
E.W. in Skaneateles, NY
J.S. in Huntington Station, NY
P.L. in Skövde, Sweden
K.R. in Austin, TX
G.M.K. in Mishawaka, IN
W.L. in Mol, Belgium
J.N. in Zionsville, IN
H.B. in Santiago, Chile
J.L. in Vanntown, TN
M.K. in Seattle, WA
M.M. in Dunellen, NJ
B.K. in Mystic, CT
A.S. in Fairfax, VA
E.B. in Hannover, Germany

T.K. in Manchester, MO
M.S. in Canton, NY
N.C. in Columbus, MS
R.R. in Lancaster, PA
D.L. in Springfield, IL
A.H. in Espoo, Finland
C.S. in Maine, NY
R.C. in Newark, CA
J.P. in Fredericksburg, VA
M.T. in Simpsonville, SC
M.S. in Groningen, Netherlands
D.D. in Highland Park, IL
K.L. in Sterling, VA
E.W. in Samut Prakan, Thailand
B.A. in Edmond, OK
R.W. in Aurora, CO
M.F. in Norwood, MA
S.G. in Durham, NC
F.W. in Decatur, GA
G.W. in Avon, CT
A.D. in Gaithersburg, MD
M.T. in Wheat Ridge, CO
T.P. in Kings Park, NY
C.O. in Marion, IA
J.M. in Estes Park, CO
D.K. in Bethesda, MD
J.B. in Santa Clara, CA
B.M. in Chico, CA
E.V. in Manchester, MO
M.B. in Albany, NY

The 60th correct response was received at 5:46 a.m. PT on Friday. Guess we should have left 'large lager' out, after all.

For this week's theme, it relies on one word on one of the headlines, and on multiple words in the others. It's in the category Movies. For a hint, we'll say that the correct answer could be expressed in a couple of different ways, but that all variants that are correct will include one (and only one) word that is in French. If your answer does not have a word that is French in it, you're barking up the wrong tree. Or the wrong arbre.

If you have a guess, send it to comments@electoral-vote.com with subject line March 13 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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