Saturday, September 23, 2023 - AMIDALA and DARTH walk into a bar ...

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 that...

11 Touko 202514min

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 33...

10 Touko 202517min

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 th...

9 Touko 202519min

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 opini...

8 Touko 202514min

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 60A...

7 Touko 202516min

We try and be as impartial as possible while discussing the crossword, but when our favorite vehicle -- the DeLorean, of course -- appears in the grid, we find it very difficult to stay neutral, so, w...

6 Touko 20258min

Today's crossword must've surely been challenging to construct, but the end result is brilliant, thanks to constructor Brandon Koppy (under the keen supervision, no doubt, of editor Will Shortz). This...

5 Touko 202515min

This was a very nice Saturday crossword by Michael Lieberman, his 29th for the NYTimes. It had a boatload of fine Saturday-level clues, perfectly positioned as far as difficulty is concerned: enough t...

4 Touko 202514min