Public Radio For Eastern North Carolina 89.3 WTEB New Bern 88.5 WZNB New Bern 91.5 WBJD Atlantic Beach 90.3 WKNS Kinston 88.5 WHYC Swan Quarter 89.9 W210CF Greenville
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
US

It's ScuttleButton Time!

Ken Rudin collection

Hopefully, the disappointment/frustration of that April Fool's ScuttleButton has subsided and now you're ready for the real stuff.

ScuttleButton, of course, is that once-a-week waste of time exercise in which each Monday or Tuesday I put up a vertical display of buttons on this site. Your job is to simply take one word (or concept) per button, add 'em up, and, hopefully, you will arrive at a famous name or a familiar expression. (And seriously, by familiar, I mean it's something that more than one person on Earth would recognize.)

For years, a correct answer chosen at random would get his or her name posted in this column, an incredible honor in itself. Now the stakes are even higher. Thanks to the efforts of the folks at Talk of the Nation, that person also hears their name mentioned on the Wednesday show (by me) and receives a Political Junkie t-shirt in the bargain. Is this a great country or what?

You can't use the comments box at the bottom of the page for your answer. Send submission (plus your name and city/state — you won't win without that) to politicaljunkie@npr.org.

(Why do people keep forgetting to include their name and city/state?)

And, by adding your name to the Political Junkie mailing list, you will be among the first on your block to receive notice about the column and the puzzle. Sign up at politicaljunkie@npr.org. Or you can make sure to get an automatic RSS feed whenever a new Junkie post goes up by clicking here.

Good luck!

By the way, I always announce the winner on Wednesday's Junkie segment on TOTN — many days after the puzzle first goes up. So you should try and get your answer in as soon as possible. But logistically, you have about a week to submit your guess.

Here are the infamous buttons used in the April Fool's puzzle:

Re-elect Roy Dyson/The Best Man for Our Bay Country — Dyson was a Democratic member of the House from Maryland.

Wooo! Wooo! (picture of train) — Nothing more than that.

Let's Get It Straight/Vote For Davis in the 8th — Need more information about this button.

Kennedy Is Sex, But McCarthy Is Love — One difference between two Democratic presidential candidates from 1968.

So don't even bother adding these up. They don't amount to anything other than the fact that the puzzle was posted on April 1st.

And yet, some figured it out. And the randomly selected winner is Lori Rose of Greenbackville, Va., who wrote, "After struggling for hours with this week's puzzle I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there is no solution-April Fool's prank??"

It was indeed. Lori gets not only the coveted Political Junkie t-shirt — but the Official No Prize Button as well!

And don't forget to check out this week's Political Junkie column, which focuses on the Mark Sanford and Anthony Weiner attempts for political redemption. Click here to read the column.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

US