Podcast Episodes

Thursday, May 15th, 2025 - Today's puzzle BELIEs the notion that nobody knows what BELIE means 😉

This marks Simeon Siegel's 17th crossword since 2020, and while he might not be OVERPROUD, it is most certainly something to celebrate. The theme was particularly NOteworthy, and, YES, we meant to wr…

Published on 7 months, 2 weeks ago

Wednesday, May 14, 2025 - Featuring potatoes: the origin story!

Season 12 Episode 99

Today's crossword was by award-winning crossword constructor Rebecca Goldstein and, if not award-winning, deserving-of-award crossword constructor Adam Wagner. Unsurprisingly, the result was ... awar…

Published on 7 months, 2 weeks ago

Tuesday, May 13, 2025 - ELATION! A crossword with *ELATION* in the grid 😀 😉🙄

This was a nice Tuesday crossword by Joe Rodini, his second for the NYTimes. He's now been published on Monday and Tuesday, so ... 5 to go, Joe! Today's theme was a bit messy, but that's by design, a…

Published on 7 months, 2 weeks ago

Monday, May 12, 2025 - 🥳 Celebrating the 500th appearance of the OREO in the NYTimes crossword!!🎉🎈

Season 12 Episode 97

It is hard to believe that today marks the 500th appearance of OREO in the NYTimes crossword, but that's the word according to xwordinfo.com, and they oughta know! Now that might sound like Nabisco h…

Published on 7 months, 3 weeks ago

Sunday, May 11, 2025 - Danger, Will Robinson! Extremely hard crossword approaching

Season 12 Episode 96

Brendan Emmett Quigley is famed for writing tough crosswords, and he has the pedal to the metal today. First, the grid: it is the standard 21x21 Sunday, but has only 54 black squares, a record. So, t…

Published on 7 months, 3 weeks ago

Saturday, May 10, 2025 - Happy Mother's Day Eve!!

Season 12 Episode 95

This was a fine Saturday crossword - tough but fair, as Saturday crosswords were meant to be. Our favorite clue had to be 29A, Some dragonflies, DARNERS (really: apparently people used to believe tha…

Published on 7 months, 3 weeks ago

Friday, May 9, 2025 - At long last, GRACEHOPPER is in the grid!

Season 12 Episode 94

This was a Friday crossword, and even a casual glance through the clues and grid makes it clear that co-constructors Willa Angel Chen Miller and Erik Agard are dialing up the difficulty. Clues like 3…

Published on 7 months, 3 weeks ago

Thursday, May 8, 2025 - Battle stations! An incoming Dan Caprera crossword at 9 o'clock!!

Season 12 Episode 93

It seems appropriate that MENSA was in the grid (well, 4/5 of it, anyway - see the podcast for deets), because this crossword was genius. It had a stunning theme, which made the puzzle much tougher t…

Published on 7 months, 3 weeks ago

Wednesday, May 7, 2025 - Happy Belated Wordle Day!

Season 12 Episode 92

We have it on good authority that yesterday was Wordle Day - ironic, because one of the answers in today's puzzle also solved today's wordle! That cannot possibly be a coincidence, in our humble opin…

Published on 7 months, 3 weeks ago

Tuesday, May 6, 2025 - Ho, ho, this grid's got HOHOS 😀

Season 12 Episode 91

This was a terrific Tuesday crossword by Enrique Henestroza Anguiano, featuring -- of course -- a terrific theme and a strong supporting cast of "other clues". As an example of the latter, we have 60…

Published on 7 months, 3 weeks ago