Thursday, January 22, 2026 - Joe DiPietro pulls out all the stops 😀 🚦

For the of you who are feeling nostalgic for Muzak, you have two choices: this crossword, or Urgent Care 😀. We recommend the former, because Jeff Chen and Stephan Prock have put together a wonderful ...

8 Sep 15min

John Kugelman has written 24 crosswords for the NYTimes, including an impressive 17 Sundays. Today's was novel, in that for the first time it featured color illustrations — Gray Lady indeed! Both coh...

7 Sep 16min

Both cohosts found today's crossword easier than yesterday's, but just as entertaining. It featured some phenomenal clues, including those discussed on today's episode, but here are a few more to whet...

6 Sep 12min

Both cohosts struggled mightily with today's crossword, the third from Julian Xiao since 2024. Here are just a few clues, to give you a taste of the difficulty level (spoiler alert: it's high): 28A, C...

5 Sep 17min

If it seems like you've been seeing Zhou Zhang's name in the crossword a lot, lately, you are not imagining things: her name has appeared in the masthead a whopping 7 times ... and the year's not over...

4 Sep 16min

Mac Motz has produced a mmmmagnificent debut crossword. We are not entirely sure how he came up with the theme, but we thought it terrific — we are such suckers for alliteration. Who could resist 46A,...

3 Sep 11min

This was a relatively rare event, a double debut for Paul Hudes and Margot Kohn. Kudos to both for an excellent job. The theme sparkled, and clues like 53A, Like Javan rhinos, RARE; 29A, Risky bets, ...

2 Sep 13min

This was another fine Monday crossword by Christopher Youngs. The theme was delicious, and the clues maybe a tad more feisty than usual for a Monday. As an illustration, consider 37A, Took shots first...

1 Sep 11min