We Have A ScuttleButton Winner!

Now that President Obama has called for fuel mileage standards to be raised, a bunch of our readers are demanding that ScuttleButton puzzle standards be raised as well.

Last week's puzzle was "too easy," complained Judy Keim of West Chester, Pa.; Daniel Polk of Dallas; Joy Ammons of Greenville, Pa.; Michael White of San Mateo, Calif.; Michael DePalatis of Atlanta and Dawn Hewitt of Bloomington, Ind. Debra Kirsch of Bethesda, Md., went further: "Toooooooo easy," she wrote. And Rob Loewy of North Potomac, Md., pleaded, "C'mon, Ken, give us a challenge next time!"

And yet, not everyone got the puzzle right.

But before we announce this week's winner, a reminder of how to play. Simply take one word or one concept per button, add 'em up, and arrive at a familiar saying or a name. Submit your answer and hope you're the person chosen at random. NOTE: You MUST include your name and city/state to be eligible.

And 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.

Last week's buttons, in case you forgot:

It's Spring / Get a Pontiac -- Well, it IS spring, but they stopped making Pontiacs. (And yes, I do miss my fire engine red 1970 Pontiac Firebird.)

It's Time for them to go! / Vote Democratic -- A picture of then-President George Bush looking at his watch in the middle of his 1992 debate with Bill Clinton and Ross Perot.

4 LBJ -- The successful 1964 Democratic candidate for president.

If You Liked Hitler, You'll Love WALLACE -- An over-the-top campaign button from 1968, comparing independent presidential candidate George Wallace to Adolf Hitler.

So, when you add Spring + Time + 4 + Hitler, you kind of get ...

Springtime for Hitler, the song from the Mel Brooks movie/musical The Producers.

(Jamie Eiler of New Albany, Ind., reminded us of one of the lines from the song: "Don't be stupid, be a smarty. Come and join the Nazi party!")

(Many suggested the answer should be "Springtime for Love," which I can see. But it's not the kind of sappy, syrupy sentiment that goes through my mind. Certainly not during ScuttleButton sweeps week.)

(And one answer was, really, "Spring into action, vote Democratic 4 a Government Hitler would love." So at least this puzzle stumped someone!)

Anyway, the winner, selected at random among the correct responders, is (drum roll) ... Teresa Henderson of Tallahassee, Fla.

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.

New puzzle every Friday.

P.S. As always, some readers wanted to know more about my thinking process in putting together each week's puzzle. Bruce Boyd of St. Louis asked, "What in the world brought that on?" Bunny Salter of Cumming, Ga., said she is "curious. Do you make these puzzles up in advance or do you just whip one up every week at the last minute?"

Usually, it's the latter. But when General Motors announced a while back that it would stop making Pontiacs, I immediately thought of the Spring/Pontiac button. And then Spring led to the Springtime for Hitler thought. Similarly, Mother's Day is what led to the recent "Mamma Mia" puzzle, and the retirement announcement of Supreme Court Justice David Souter is what prompted my "Diana Ross and the Supremes" puzzle. But usually it's off the top of my head. Which is worrisome enough.

