Outside the Blocks: A Puzzle Podcast

[whimsy]

Thanks, @Abide. And we pronounced your name right this time!

Another episode (this one about the two most recent Pandora's Blocks puzzles) is forthcoming this Sunday, way ahead of our usual release schedule, so stay tuned!

Catching up with these and enjoying.
Thanks, Team!

[damefox]

Hello Muggles!

First of all, if you've been listening to this podcast, a huge thank you to you! We have a new episode out today that is a longer discussion on the Pandora's Blocks "Alternate Endings" puzzle - give it a listen and let us know what you think!

Second of all, the reason the "new" episode today is actually just an alternate version of an old episode is that I am in the middle of what (fingers crossed) will be the last two months of my PhD program and saying to my advisor, "No, sorry, that thesis chapter isn't done yet because I was editing a crossword podcast" didn't seem like a great situation to end up in. So it may be a little while before we are able to bring you fully new podcast content. But rest assured @AnswerPfinder and I have not forgotten about this podcast, and new content will be coming your way in the next few months!

Emma

[BarbaraK]

Just listened to the new episode that came out today. Great interview with our own @MarkWoychick

And congratulations to newly minted PhD, Dr. Emma Oxford, aka @damefox !!!

[damefox]

New episode today! Will is out of town, hence the lack of email about it.

If there are any puzzles from the Crosswords for Cancer puzzle pack that you would particularly like us to cover in a future episode, please let us know! You can send us an email, put a post here, or tag us in a post on the CCCC forum.

[damefox]

Hi all! Forgot to post last weekend, but we have a new podcast episode out! Will and I chatted with @Abide for our first episode about the CCCC puzzles. Thank you so much for coming to talk to us Peter!!

We are going to be very ambitious and try to release an episode every week for at least a few more weeks, which means we have another episode with another guest coming out this Sunday as well!

[damefox]

New episode out today! Will is doing an Ironman today, hence no email. I, however, am not doing an Ironman, will never be doing an Ironman, am deeply concerned that this is a thing that exists, and therefore am here at my computer able to provide podcast updates. We chatted with Lydia Roth (@schmidzy) and Christina Bodensiek for this episode!

[damefox]

New episode out today too! No guest today (guests will return next week), so Will and I talk about our puzzles from the CCCC pack.

[damefox]

New episode today! Will and I chatted with @MikeyG about his "Mixed Numbers" puzzle in what was quite possibly our most chaotic recording session yet. Usually our guests help rein us in, but Mike... um... didn't do that. A very fun conversation though and hopefully a fun (and coherent?) episode for you all!

[MikeyG]

New episode today! Will and I chatted with @MikeyG about his "Mixed Numbers" puzzle in what was quite possibly our most chaotic recording session yet. Usually our guests help rein us in, but Mike... um... didn't do that. A very fun conversation though and hopefully a fun (and coherent?) episode for you all!

This episode is about as coherent as I get, haha.

[damefox]

Oh I forgot: this recording got so chaotic that somehow at the end I forgot to thank Mike for coming to chat with us, which I think I did for all of our other guests and which I meant to do this time. (It's also possible I did but somehow it was buried amidst other audio that I had to cut out so it didn't get included? Truly I have no idea.) But anyway, THANK YOU @MikeyG for coming to chat with us!

[Joe Ross]

I had to listen to this as I worked on @whimsy's MEOW #141 files, because all of these podcasts are excellent. I lost count of the number of times @MikeyG was thanked for being on the podcast in the first 5 minutes, even if he wasn't thanked at the end. (Will @AnswerPfinder speeling-out his email address kind of took the air out of the waves & it was time to go!)

RUN, don't walk, to listen to this recording of tres genioses having too much fun!

[damefox]

In case you missed it, we released another new episode on Sunday (8/13)! Will and I chatted with @madhatter5 aka Josh Rubin. We have one more episode in our CCCC series coming out this Sunday (8/20), so now is a great time to get caught up if you haven't already!

[rjy]

I had to listen to this as I worked on @whimsy's MEOW #141 files, because all of these podcasts are excellent. I lost count of the number of times @MikeyG was thanked for being on the podcast in the first 5 minutes, even if he wasn't thanked at the end. (Wil @AnswerPfinder speeling-out his email address kind of took the air out of the waves & it was time to go!)

RUN, don't walk, to listen to this recording of tres genioses having too much fun!

I made the mistake of listening to this at the driving range… found myself cackling on the backswing and at least having a solid excuse for errant shots!

[markhr]

I listened to a few of these. Mikey was about as I would expect--funny and extroverted and a little out of control. Josh was more reserved but thoughtful. (I still remember solving his MEOW puzzle that had all blank clues; now that was a challenge.) These conversations are quite entertaining and I would recommend them to meta enthusiasts. Thought: maybe have a sit-down with Dr. Tom. That should be entertaining.

[damefox]

New episode out today! We chatted with @MarkWoychick, our first repeat guest! Huge thank you to Mark for putting up with us again.

This is going to be the final episode in our series on CCCC puzzles, so Will and I also took a few minutes in the episode to wrap up the season and talk about our plans for the podcast. If you're not so much interested in that and just want to hear us talk about Mark's puzzle, skip to 10m30s.

[damefox]

New episode out today about the meta Will and I had published in Fireball a couple weeks ago!

[damefox]

New episode out today! We dive into an old but memorable Evan Birnholz puzzle. (If anyone can find a link to said puzzle please send it to me!)

[rjy]

New episode out today! We dive into an old but memorable Evan Birnholz puzzle. (If anyone can find a link to said puzzle please send it to me!)

Just LOVED that puzzle from Evan from 2 years back. I grabbed a PDF at the time - I'm a local paying, home-delivered old-school WaPo subscriber here so I'm 100% good on having unobtainable digital contraband. Sounds like you're looking for a link, not the puzzle. But just saying I have the PDF here... just saying

[BarbaraK]

New episode out today! We dive into an old but memorable Evan Birnholz puzzle. (If anyone can find a link to said puzzle please send it to me!)

I didn't think it could possibly be that hard to find. It's only two years old. Things live on the internet forever.

Should have known that if a pair of newly minted PhDs can't find it, it's not going to be easy.

I was going to go to my local library today and ask if they still keep old newspapers on microfiche. Since @rjy has already got a PDF, that will save me from their laughter:)

[damefox]

Any Wordle-heads out there might enjoy our most recent episode, released today! We were planning to do an episode with a guest but had to reschedule that, so you just get me and Will today.