Friday, July 19, 2024 - BURPEE, the origin story!

This is David P. Williams' fourth NYTimes crossword, and interestingly all four have used the same grid, so apparently DPW has taken the phrase "why mess with success?" to heart. There are some magnif...

26 Touko 202418min

For your edification, we present our analysis of a nice -- in fact, twice as nice! -- crossword by Carolyn Davies Lynch that really has a lot to commend it, most notably some really, really difficult...

25 Touko 202417min

We don't normally namedrop Shakespearean quotes, but we are inspired by today's highly twisty-turny theme that looks like it might take 100 years or so to construct, but Adam Wagner managed to pull it...

24 Touko 202415min

Today's crossword had eight, count'em, eight debut answers, including every computer programmer's favorite, DEBUGGER, the unsung hero of software development. A number of other clues didn't make it i...

23 Touko 202410min

Tuesday's crossword, just like the child in the nursery rhyme, is full of grace -- and we mention nursery not just to name drop but because it is an essential component of today's puzzle. Intrigued? W...

22 Touko 202412min

A delightfully wry Monday theme courtesy of Jack Scherban, and if that name doesn't ring a bell that's because this crossword marks his debut in the NYTimes, so congrats, Jack! There were a few answer...

21 Touko 20248min

Somewhat akin to Robert Frost's "two roads diverged in a yellow wood", Jean & Mike's solves diverged, with Jean tearing through today's crossword, and Mike coming to a screeching halt (with him supply...

20 Touko 202417min

Today's crossword looked daunting - a sea of white squares, and two 3-stack sets of grid-spanning answers. But while our first reaction was 36A, [Uh-oh], GULP, and our second reaction was 59A, "I'm s...

19 Touko 202416min