CARTOON CAPTION CONTEST CONTINUES! Like an odds-defying lightning bolt, The New Yorker strikes again with its cartoon caption contest!

For Contest #16 (devil and clergyman chatting in front of friendly congregants), the winner is my favorite, “O.K., they're yours, but I still don't know where you got that fourth ace." It's by Robert Dodge, of Los Osos, California (not New York).

For Contest #18 (businessman on phone while stuff flies all over his office), my submission was "To be honest, boss, I don't think we're ready for lunar outsourcing." What was yours? The actual nominees include allusions to God and FEMA, but my favorite is the concise, “Miss Jones, send in the extra paperweights.” It's by Robert Lucas of Providence, Rhode Island. (None of the nominated writers was from New York.)

If you want to hear from an actual winner instead of loser me, there's an interview with Chicago's Eric Butterfield, author of "Well, it's a lovely gesture, but I still think we should start seeing other people." It's at Emily Gordon's blog emdashes, which is devoted to everything New Yorker. Previously, Gordon posted an interview with another winner, "Mississippi" Jan Richardson, who came up with “He's the cutest little thing, and when you get tired of him you just flush him down the toilet.”