Thursday, August 13, 2026 — Killian Olson's Killer Thursday 😀

Kudos and congrats to Jeremy Venook on getting his debut crossword in the NYTimes! 🎉🥳 He had us when he name-dropped URIAH Heep, and kept us enthralled with a theme that was ideal for a Tuesday. Wel...

19 Elo 13min

You would expect that someone who has published 85 (!) NYTimes crosswords, including 31 Mondays, would craft a fine Monday puzzle, and your expectations would be met and then some. Zhouqin Burnikel ha...

18 Elo 11min

This marks Sam Brody's fourth NYTimes crossword, and we found it quite appealing. The theme was suitably punny, and we learned oodles. For instance, we now know 40D, Bum, CADGE, Mike can now speak kno...

17 Elo 20min

This was a challenging Saturday crossword, requiring that both cohosts really put their backs into it — which, since we are talking about crosswords, involves moving hardly a millimeter while staring ...

16 Elo 16min

Zhou Zhang is gradually working through the days of the week: this crossword marked her Friday debut. The only days on which she has not published are Tuesday and Saturday, but we expect those in shor...

15 Elo 20min

This midweek crossword was short (well for some: YMMV) and sweet, with a theme that did a fine job of melding two of our favorite activities: cruising the web, and cruising NE Wisconsin. It also inclu...

13 Elo 8min

Today's crossword, a debut (😃) by Wade Bednar, combined music and dynasties — specifically Chinese dynasties — in an absolutely ingenious way. But Wade didn't slough off when it came to clues, eithe...

12 Elo 15min