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It's ScuttleButton Time!

Ken Rudin collection

Disgraced but asking for redemption.

I'm describing me, of course, after a spate of uneven ScuttleButton puzzles. Though, I must admit, I liked last week's offering.

ScuttleButton, of course, is that once-a-week waste of time exercise in which each Monday or Tuesday — or, as they call today, "Wednesday" — 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 — seven or eight 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 buttons used and the answer to last week's puzzle:

Feinstein for Vice President — Then-San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein was a Democratic VP hopeful in 1984.

Perot for President — Billionaire Ross Perot made an independent bid for the White House in 1992 and again, as a third-party candidate, four years later.

No Roberts Yes Roe ... Impeach Earl Warren ... Stop Souter — Three buttons in opposition to Supreme Court justices. And remember, whenever I arrange buttons horizontally, the answer I'm looking for is plural.

So, when you combine Dianne + Ross + 3 Supreme Court justices, you may just very well end up with ...

Diana Ross & the Supremes. Stop! in the name of ScuttleButton.

The winner, chosen completely at random, is ... Kelly Cherry-Leigh of Washington, D.C. Kelly 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 talks about how history favors Joe Biden should he seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 ... but how history never accounted for a (potential) rival like Hillary Clinton. Click here to read the column.

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

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