Its absence of bylines may please some jaded American readers, while others may be hooked by its coverage of foreign climes and exotica. What’s most striking, though, is The Economist’s blatant intellectual snobbery, especially its pervasive aping of the London Times Crossword, a traditional status symbol for “too clever by half” sophisticates like Detective Inspector Morse.

Apart from subtly permeating its sentences, this too-clever-by-half feature shows up most noticeably in The Economist’s page by page headlines. Here are some from the opening section of a single (Nov. 14, 2009) issue, each followed by a speculative gloss (The ECON omits explanations).

P. 18: “A City Named Sue”… The article discusses law suits; the punning headline alludes to a Johnny Cash song, “A Boy Named Sue.”

P. 25: “Heads in the Cloud”… A transparent Spoonerism of the familiar phrase, “head in the clouds.”

P. 40: “Come Home, Tom Joad”… The article discusses former residents returning to newly prosperous Oklahoma. The headline parodies the song title, “Come Home, Bill Bailey,” substituting “Tom Joad” as a patronizing Oklahoma dust bowl link.

P. 42: “Rolling Stuck”… The article discusses streetcars and their difficulties. The headline echoes “rolling stock,” a familiar railroad phrase.

P. 46: “Her Master’s Voice”… The article discusses the political future of Dilma Rousseff, chief of staff for Brazil’s president, Louis Ignacio Lula da Silva. The headline echoes “His Master’s Voice,” an antique pop cult painting of a bulldog gazing at 78 RPM record player.

P. 48: “Home Thoughts from Abroad”… The article describes Canada’s prime minister’s knack for getting national-issue votes from foreign policy speeches. The headline repeats the title of a famous Robert Browning poem.

As indicated by the narrow range of page numbers, this is a small sample of the roguish crossword puzzles which The Economist via boldface shouts at it readers. But its difficulty level is representative, enough so to suggest that the goal of this feature to please, not to frustrate.

continue reading… http://www.npe.ednews.org/Review/Essays/v6n4.htm