Thursday, July 17, 2025 - Sam Brody doesn't just knock it out of the ball park, he clears the parking lot, too 😀

Mark Diehl has been writing NYTimes Crosswords - predominantly Friday and Saturday puzzles - since 1984. He's eased off as of late, his last appearing in 2020. But he's back with an ingenious Saturday...

8 Helmi 15min

There were some truly awesome clues in today's crossword. We definitely hit the highlights in the podcast, but we'd be remiss if we didn't mention 44D, Stage name of South Korean rapper Park Jae-sang,...

7 Helmi 16min

Today's crossword, a debut (huzzah!) by Dario Salvucci, was one of those puzzle-in-a-puzzle challenges that we just adore. In this case, one had to decipher some emoticon-like clues to get the correct...

6 Helmi 20min

Today's crossword leveraged a hilarious line from a very well-known sitcom, and with just the slightest change in syllabification, turned it into the foundation of a terrific theme. Sheer genius from ...

5 Helmi 11min

It's been almost 2 years since Nate Cardin last graced the pages of the NYTimes, and from our perspective that's almost 2 years too long. But he's back now, and in excellent form, with a wry theme and...

4 Helmi 15min

The Cardinal Rules of Crossword Construction: Rule # 1: never repeat an answer in the gridRule # 2: ignore rule 1 if it'll make for an especially awesome crosswordWe are pleased as punch to report th...

3 Helmi 13min

Both cohosts found today's crossword, a collaboration between Lance Enfinger and John Kugelman, to be a real workout (mentally, of course: physically they were pretty much doing their best mannequin i...

2 Helmi 17min

This was a strenuous Saturday workout, no doubt, with more misdirection then you'd see at a Penn & Teller performance. Consider 15D, "Science is ___ that works": Kurt Vonnegut, MAGIC (what a fabulous ...

1 Helmi 14min