Some bad news for ScuttleButton fans: No puzzle this week. NPR employees need to take two more days of furlough in the next year, and my two days are tomorrow and Friday -- I'm escaping to a Florida beach. Next Political Junkie post will be Monday, Nov. 9.

Of course, we would never miss celebrating the latest ScuttleButton puzzle winner.

First, a reminder on how to play.

It's easy. Just check out my button puzzle each Friday. Take one word or one concept per button, add 'em up, and arrive at a familiar saying or a name. (Seriously: a saying that people from Earth might be remotely familiar with.) Submit your answer and hope you're the person chosen at random. That's it!

Oh wait. You MUST include your name and city/state to be eligible.

And also remember, the answer does not necessarily have to be political. For instance, the answer to a puzzle a while back was "Minnesota Twins" -- not political at all, unless you're thinking Mondale and Humphrey instead of Killebrew and Oliva.

Here are last week's buttons, in case you forgot:

As New Hampshire Goes So Goes the Nation (with a photo of John McCain) -- McCain upset George W. Bush in that state's 2000 Republican presidential primary.

Time for a Change / New York City Needs Louie Lefkowitz for Mayor -- Lefkowitz, then the state attorney general, was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for mayor against incumbent Robert Wagner in 1961.

Bring Yanks Home / Yank the Cops from Harlem / Vote Socialist Workers -- Third-party button from New York, battling the war in Vietnam and police brutality, circa 1966.

Frederick Keys -- A minor league baseball affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. (Wait. Aren't the Orioles also a minor league team?)

So, when you add New + York + Yank + Keys, you might end up with ...

New York Yankees -- who are hoping to win the World Series in Game Six tonight at the Stadium against the Phillies. Say, did I ever tell you I'm a lifelong Yankees fan?

I'll be honest with you. Not everyone was happy with this choice of ScuttleButton. They said it was shameless. Many wrote in the words "New York Yankees" under protest. Some demanded their money back, although it should be pointed out that Political Junkie is free.

Enough whining. This week's winner, chosen completely at random, is (drum roll) ... Sharon McCauley of San Jose, Calif. -- who, I may add, did not send me a cruel aside when submitting her answer.

... unlike, say, Deirdre Carroll of Seattle, who added "Boo! Hiss!" to her answer. (Luis Maldonado of Tampa only added a "Boo.") "Shameless," lamented Jenny Weaver of Mount Orab, Ohio. James Rupert of Muncy, Pa., simply wrote, "I cannot bring myself to answer this week's puzzle." Chuck Ortenberg wrote, "My keyboard is trying to bite me as I type this." It "pained" Johanna Riordan of Philadelphia to send in her answer. Similarly with Laura Viau of Orlando, who added this postscript: "as much as it pains me to give positive attention to the Evil Empire."

Other cruel responses came from Cynthia Dodge of Pearisburg, Va.; Brian Engel of Hiroshima, Japan; Will Ikard of Austin, Texas; Brian Francis of Charlotte, N.C.; Brendan Hutt of Chicago; Debra Winter of Voorhees, N.J.; Maggie Ainslie of Philadelphia (where?); Brian Lehmann of Manchester, Mo.; Sean Walbeck of Bellingham, Wash.; Cory Springhorn of Shoreview, Minn.; and Maura Spiegelman of Silver Spring, Md. All are being sent to Guantanamo.

Wanna be alerted the moment a new ScuttleButton puzzle goes up on the site? (How can you NOT???) Sign up on our mailing list at politicaljunkie@npr.org.

categories: ScuttleButton

3:18 - November 4, 2009

What is this?

Share