Podcast Episodes

Monday, September 1, 2025 - A labor of love for Labor Day

Season 13 Episode 100

Today's crossword marks Lynn Lempel's 103rd for the NYTimes, and was a great way to usher in September. While there were no debut answers, quite a few of the clues caught our fancy, including 64A, Fl…

Published on 4 months ago

Sunday, August 24, 2025 - Corporate chaos, or crafty crossword? You be the judge!

Season 13 Episode 99

Michael Lieberman was definitely playing against type when he dreamed up this crossword, because he spends his days at his law firm fighting corporate mergers, but his nights -- apparently -- trying …

Published on 4 months, 1 week ago

Saturday, August 23, 2025 - ITSGOOD - in the grid and an apt description of today's crossword

Season 13 Episode 98

The fifth NYTimes crossword by Ryan Judge made for a very nice Saturday; not a walk in the park, by any stretch, but more straightforward than last Saturday's "let's scale Mt Everest barefoot" uber-c…

Published on 4 months, 1 week ago

Friday, August 22, 2025 - Wanna know which country's national anthem has no lyrics? We've got you covered!

Season 13 Episode 97

Our cohosts were surprised and delighted to learn, thanks to today's crossword, that there are four countries whose national anthems have no lyrics, and so people instead hum, or sing something along…

Published on 4 months, 1 week ago

Thursday, August 21, 2025 - Five out of five doctors agree: Simeon Seigel has delivered an abfab Thursday crossword!

Season 13 Episode 96

Once again, the NYTimes crossword has delivered the perfect blend of joy and education in one neat bundle. The joy comes from, primarily, the theme -- which we will say no more about here, but we hav…

Published on 4 months, 1 week ago

Wednesday, August 20, 2025 - SEITAN makes its debut!

Season 13 Episode 95

One of our favorite foods is SEITAN - healthy, delicious, and, up until now, never mentioned in the NYTimes crossword. Ah, but the times they are a changin', as evidenced by today's 50D, Wheat-based …

Published on 4 months, 1 week ago

Tuesday, August 19, 2025 - MONITORLIZARD, available if Best Buy and Petco decide to merge 🙄

Season 13 Episode 94

This was a fine Tuesday crossword by Eric Rollfing, marking his fourth overall in the NYTimes, and his Tuesday debut.

There were a bevy of TWL (Today We Learned) clues in today's puzzle. Most notably,…

Published on 4 months, 1 week ago

Monday, August 18, 2025 - Ha-ha-ha-HA-ha!

Season 13 Episode 93

Today's crossword was truly a labor of love for one of the greatest voice talents of all time. We speak, of course, of the immortal, indomitable, indefatigable Mel Blanc, pretty much the reason why t…

Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Sunday, August 17, 2025 - Red Alert! It's a Sam Ezersky puzzle, coming in hot 🥵

Season 13 Episode 92

Sam Ezersky is known for making devilishly difficult crosswords, and he does not disappoint today. Jean found this to be a bit of a challenge; Mike has decided that ... the intersection of Sam's whee…

Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Saturday, August 16, 2025 - Byron Walden puts it to the metal!

Season 13 Episode 91

Byron Walden has had a whopping 109 crosswords published in the NYTimes, including an astonishing 70 Saturdays. Frankly, it shows, because today's was perfect: highly challenging, but sprinkled with …

Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago