Tag: Samantha Podos Nowak

Scroll on for our recommendations from the last week of puzzles!

Remember that this is not an attempt to pick the “best” puzzles, and we won’t be commenting as critics. Our approach is best described as “puzzles we don’t think you should miss.” Kind of like staff recommendations at a local bookstore.

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Washington Post: Color-Coated (3/17) by Evan Birnholz. This Sunday puzzle has it all for me – an engaging theme, some humor, clean fill, and a payoff that’s totally worth it. – Matt

New York Times: ($) All Over the Map (3/17) by Simeon Siegel. It doesn’t make sense, until it does, and that’s always a fun process. – Matt

Black Crossword: (3/18) by Juliane Pache. A satisfying punch in a mini package. – Matt

Inexact Puzzles: International Relations (3/19) by Zach Obsniuk. This is my kind of themeless — a pinwheel grid and open corners — that’s a bit on the downtrend lately. A banger of a marquee spanner helps, too. – Matt

Universal: What’s This? (3/19) by Tom Pepper and Zhouqin Burnikel. Fun twist on a typical theme structure. – Matt

The New Yorker: (3/20) by Robyn Weintraub. A quintessential Robyn puzzle, with conversational and accessible entries throughout. – Matt

AVCX Classic: Themeless #75 (3/20) by Kate Chin Park. Super fun themeless (and don’t worry, not as “HARD!” as AVCX advertised!) with Kate’s trademarks of clever wordplay and feel-good content. – Norah

Crossword Club: (3/21) by Erica Hsiung Wojcik. Simple and cute mini theme and four nice spanners. – Norah

The Modern: (3/22) by May Huang. Made my recs for the 3D clue alone but so much fun and fresh content all over in this fun midi. – Norah

Puzzmo: Human Reproduction (3/22) by Will Nediger. Fantastically rule breaking with a super on-point title. – Norah

The New York Times: (3/22) by Mansi Kothari and Erik Agard. My favorite NYT themeless of the year so far. – Norah

This puzzle is worth your time for a half-dozen clues alone, never mind the rest of its (high) quality. – Matt

The New Yorker: Mini (3/22) by Kate Chin Park. While I for one am super bummed at the loss of the Friday themed puzzle, if all the easy minis are this good – clean, fresh, and fast – it will be a good consolation. – Norah

The Riddles of the Sphinx: I Pronouns Thee by Anna Shechtman. A clever mechanic in a puzzle that also serves as an interesting and interactive introduction to the book. – Norah & Steve

Reminder: This weekly post is not at all an attempt to pick the “best” puzzles, and we won’t be commenting as critics. Our approach is best described as “puzzles we don’t think you should miss.” Kind of like staff recommendations at a local bookstore.

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Wall Street Journal: Letter Carriers (3/9) by Peter Gordon. The theme is neat, and dense, but really I’m throwing this in here for the clue at 48d. – Matt

Los Angeles Times: Con Test (3/10) by Brian Thomas & Kate Chin Park. Just a really cute theme that I had a lot of fun solving. – Rich

The Atlantic: Caleb’s Inferno (3/10) by Caleb Madison. So devilishly tricky in the lower half. -Norah

Boswords Spring Themeless League: Puzzle #2 (3/11) ($) by Jess Rucks. A tremendously balanced grid that I hope wasn’t lost on solvers in a competitive setting. My favorite themeless of 2024, so far. – Matt

Autostraddle: Mini Crossword is a Lapsed Catholic (3/11) by Kate Hawkins. Silly, fast, and fun with more references than seems possible for a mini, and made my recommendations for 1D alone. -Norah

Bewilderingly: Word Cloud (3/11) by Will Nediger. I have not solved this puzzle yet. It’s a strong recommendation based on the instructions alone, and I have no doubt it will be great once I do get it.– Matt

LuterCross: Talking Big (3/12) by Matthew Luter. I’ve been enjoying so much of Matt’s work lately and this puzzle is a good example of why. I found this one as educational as entertaining. -Norah

AVCX: ($) Edge Play (3/13) by August Miller. August’s note from AVCX says “this puzzle was motivated in part by my rediscovery of Hyrule (after many years) during the pandemic” and for me it felt like exploring for hidden treasures. Fun and modern. -Norah

Puzzmo: Life in Plastic (3/13) by Mark Valdez. An adorable mini theme and a lot of fun evocative cluing. – Norah

The New Yorker: The Crossword (3/13) by Erik Agard. Great themeless grid with a showstopping 1-Across. – Rich & Norah

Fireball: Leaves Stumped (3/14) by Adam Vincent. I had to hold myself back from listing *every* major outlet’s Thursday puzzle this week. This one had a satisfying multi-part “aha moment.” – Matt

The New Yorker: The Crossword (3/14) by Caitlin Reid. I’m on record as preferring tougher themelesses, but The New Yorker’s easy end has been a highlight each of the last several weeks, and this one is no different: smooth as heck while still having interesting fill. Two of my favorite themelesses in a while in the same week. – Matt

Wall Street Journal: Straight to the Source (3/14) by Drew Schmenner. Lovely, tricky theme done well, with colorful entries throughout. – Matt

Crossword Club: Daily Crossword (3/14) by Quiara Vasquez. I don’t usually care about scrabble scores, but a midi with an apt grid shape is a great place to run them up. – Rich

Puzzmo: Happy Pi Day! (3/14) by Adam Aaronson. Honestly can’t believe Adam made this work. – Rich and Norah

Los Angeles Times: (3/15) by Alan Levin. I solved this one as a themeless, did a double take at the revealer after finishing, and it hit me all at once. Elegant work hiding in plain sight. – Matt

Reminder: This weekly post is not at all an attempt to pick the “best” puzzles, and we won’t be commenting as critics. Our approach is best described as “puzzles we don’t think you should miss.” Kind of like staff recommendations at a local bookstore.

Los Angeles Times: (3/2) by Stella Zawistowski. Multiple approaches to inject difficult on display in the same puzzle.

New York Times: (3/4) by Samantha Podos Nowak. A gentle puzzle done well.

Universal: Themeless Sunday 75 (3/3) ($) by Rafael Musa. You’ll see why.

Lutercross: Why So Negative? (3/4) by Matthew Luter. Themeless with some fun clues. – Matt

New York Times: (3/6) by Brad Wiegmann. A creative mechanism that had me looking forward to each themer. – Matt

The New Yorker: The Crossword (3/6) by Patrick Berry. A two-pair of grid-spanners in this medium-difficulty themeless. – Matt

Fireball: Compound Interest (3/7) by Dylan Schiff. A theme worthy of the outlet, especially once it clicks. – Matt

Luckystreak+: not that deep (3/5) ($) by Ada Nicolle. A smooth and fun themeless full of delightful content with an especially sparkly bottom stack. -Norah

Cruciverbology: You’re Projecting: (3/4) by Elise Corbin. Mind- (and grid-) bending, boundary-pushing, and satisfyingly difficult. This one rightfully got a lot of praise this week! – Norah and Rich

The Atlantic Mini: (3/8) by Paolo Pasco. Midi that makes great use of the space with a ton of fun trickiness. – Norah

Los Angeles Times: (3/8) by Joe DiPietro. I had no idea what was going on for about 75% of this puzzle till it was perfectly tied together at the end. – Rich

Universal: Wrong Turns (3/8)($) by Jeffrey K. Martinovic. About as hard a theme as you’ll see in Universal. – Rich