Outside the Blocks: A Puzzle Podcast

Emma and Adam return to close out the discussion they started last July on the 2024 Muller Monthly Music Meta puzzles! Spoilers for the MMMM puzzles from August-December 2024 as well as the mega meta and the red herring. Links of interest: Muller Monthly Music Meta: https://pmxwords.com/ Full list of the 2024 MMMM Puzzles:  https://pmxwords.com/2024-puzzles/ Ariadne's Crossword Library:  http...

Emma and Mike talk about two of Mike's "Pun of a Kind" metas! If you've ever found yourself thinking, "I would like crosswords more if 30% of clues were puns," then oh boy have we got some puzzles for you! Links of interest: Pun of a Kind on XWord Muggles Forum: https://xword-muggles.com/viewforum.php?f=48 Pun of a Kind Blogspot:  https://punofakind.blogspot.com/ Mike...

Emma and Adam talk about the first seven* Muller Monthly Music Meta puzzles from 2024! Spoiler warning for ALL of those puzzles, so go solve them first if you haven't already! *The first ~30 minutes of the episode is a discussion of the January-June puzzles, and the rest of the episode is a live-solve and discussion of the July puzzle, which was released the day of recording. Links of interes...

A long overdue discussion on the 2024 (or is it the 2023?) ORCA Awards, which were announced all the way back in March. Spoilers for all seven of the puzzles which were nominated for Best Contest Crossword this year! Links of interest: 2024 ORCA Awards:  https://crosswordfiend.com/2024/03/10/2024-orca-awards/ All ORCA Awards posts on Crossword Fiend: https://crosswordfiend.com/category/orca-awards...

Surprise! We played a whole 15-minute trivia game with Peter and Alex when they joined us last month that we didn't have time for in episode #31, so here it is now! Links of interest: Listen to the rest of the audio from our chat with Peter and Alex: https://outsidetheblocks.buzzsprout.com/2044327/14994031-31-resounding-success-and-take-the-fifth-with-constructor-alex-eaton-salners-and-editor...

Emma and Will sing about the periodic table! Wait what the... *checks notes*... who wrote these notes... *double checks notes*... this can't be right... *throws out notes*. Emma and Will talk about the May 2024 MMMM puzzle? Yes that sounds much more likely. Spoilers for "Gold-Plated Record" ahead! Links of interest: Muller Monthly Music Meta: https://pmxwords.com/ "Gold-Plated...

The time has come! The episode that Will has been hyping for six months is finally here! Emma and Will talk with Peter Gordon, editor of Fireball crosswords, and Alex Eaton-Salners, prolific crossword constructor, about two meta puzzles Alex constructed for Fireball in 2023: "Resounding Success" and "Take the Fifth." Spoiler warning for both of those puzzles! Note Fireball is a...

Welcome to season four of Outside the Blocks! Emma and Will are joined by Mike Dirolf, creator of Crosshare, who they last chatted with back in episode 5, to talk about what's been going on over at everyone's favorite crossword sharing website. Links of Interest: Crosshare: https://crosshare.org/ Previous Outside the Blocks episode with Mike Dirolf: https://outsidetheblocks.buzzsprout.co...

Emma and Will talk about the final two Pandora's Blocks puzzles, "Form One Line, Please" and "Stepping Down." Spoilers for both of those puzzles! Pandora's Blocks may be ending, but Outside the Blocks will continue! More podcast episodes on more fun puzzles coming your way soon. And yes, Will did find that lost collar stay. Links of interest: "Form One Line, Plea...

We're back! Emma and Will are back to talk about two more Pandora's Blocks puzzles. On the menu today is "First Place" and "Dropdown Menus." Spoilers ahead for both of those puzzles. Only two more Pandora's Blocks puzzles to go! Links of interest: Pandora's Blocks: https://pandorasblocks.org/ "First Place": https://crosshare.org/crosswords/orx4tC7O...

Emma and Will do some flower arranging outside a filling station! Wait... hang on a sec... *checks notes* ... Emma and Will fill in the blanks outside a flower shop? No, that doesn't sound right either... *checks notes again* who wrote these notes?? Okay, well, probably Emma and Will talk about three Pandora's Blocks puzzles. Let's go with that, that sounds right. Spoilers for &quot...

Emma and Will talk about three more Pandora's Blocks puzzles! Spoilers for "Duplication Prohibited," "Get to Gettin'," and "Cold Opens." Links of interest: Pandora's Blocks: https://pandorasblocks.org/ "Duplication Prohibited": https://crosshare.org/crosswords/fSBx4rBy7GlqgdgF4XcX/duplication-prohibited OneLook: https://onelook.com/ Wordlisted...

Emma and Will are joined by speed solver extraordinaire, Adam Doctoroff, for a crash course in speed-solving and a discussion on the Muller Monthly Music Metas from 2023! Spoilers for 2023's MMMM puzzles ("Triple Up" and "Hope Springs Eternal" in particular), so go solve those first if you haven't already! Links of interest: Muller Monthly Music Meta:  https://pmxword...

Pandora's Blocks is back for one more season! Emma and Will talk about the first two puzzles of season six. Spoilers for "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and "Through the Five Hole" as well as for an older meta from over on the Muggles Forum, "Not a Creature Was Stirring..." Thanks to @Bird Lives (and Rodney Dangerfield) for inspiring the title of this episode. Links o...

Emma and Will take a look at some of their favorite metas from the past year! Spoilers for several metas from 2023. See below for links to solutions and other sites of interest. Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC): crosswordsforcancer.com TO GET ACCESS TO THE PUZZLE PACK: 1. Make a donation (suggested amount $13) to a cancer-related charity. 2. Email a copy of your receipt to crosswordsforc...

Emma and Will solve a mini cryptic! Links of interest: Crosswords and Trivia by Stella Zawistowski: https://toughasnails.net/ Oneth of the Month Mini Cryptic #18: https://toughasnails.net/2023/10/01/oneth-of-the-month-mini-cryptic-18/ All #cryptic content at Tough as Nails: https://toughasnails.net/tag/cryptic/ B-t-Z Vwllss Crsswrds Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/petergordonpuzz...

Will and Emma play Wordle and do mostly okay with geography! If you listened to our last episode, then we're sorry to say this is not the episode you want it to be - we do have a very exciting guest to talk to, but we had to postpone the recording. Links of interest (in the order they're mentioned in the episode): Wordle: https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html Dordle: https://do...

Emma and Will explore a haunted house! Wait, that doesn't ... huh ...  *checks notes* ... oh hey that's basically right! Spoilers for Evan Birnholz's "The Haunted House" puzzle suite from Oct. 31, 2021. We're sorry to say we can't provide you with a link to go solve "The Haunted House" at this point. If anyone knows of an easily accessible link where th...

Emma and Will have a hellishly difficult conversation. Wait, that doesn't sound right. Emma and Will *checks notes* have a conversation about a "devilishly hard" metapuzzle! Yes, that's it. (It's actually not that hard, don't be put off.) This episode includes spoilers for the Fireball contest "Mind the Gap" from September 13, 2023, so go solve it first if y...

 Emma and Will chat with Mark Woychick, constructor of the puzzle "Fifth Wheels"  in the Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) puzzle pack. This episode includes spoilers for "Fifth Wheels," so go solve it first if you haven't already! Since this is the final episode in the series on CCCC puzzles, Emma and Will also chat a bit about what the plans are for future podca...

Emma and Will chat with Josh Rubin, constructor of the puzzle "Half-and-Half"  in the Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) puzzle pack. This episode includes spoilers for "Half-and-Half," so go solve it first if you haven't already! TO GET ACCESS TO THE PUZZLE PACK: 1. Make a donation (suggested amount $13) to a cancer-related charity. 2. Email a copy of your receipt...

Emma and Will chat with Mike Graczyk, constructor of the puzzle "Mixed Numbers"  in the Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) puzzle pack. This episode includes spoilers for "Mixed Numbers," so go solve it first if you haven't already! TO GET ACCESS TO THE PUZZLE PACK: 1. Make a donation (suggested amount $13) to a cancer-related charity. 2. Email a copy of your recei...

Emma and Will talk about their puzzles from the CCCC puzzle pack: "To Everything There Is a Season" and "Consider All Options." This episode includes spoilers for both of those puzzles. Guests will return next week! TO GET ACCESS TO THE PUZZLE PACK: 1. Make a donation (suggested amount $13) to a cancer-related charity. 2. Email a copy of your receipt to crosswordsforcancer@gmai...

Emma and Will chat with Lydia Roth and Christina Bodensiek, constructors of the puzzle "That's the Spirit!" in the Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) puzzle pack. This episode includes spoilers for "That's the Spirit!" so go solve it first if you haven't already!  TO GET ACCESS TO THE PUZZLE PACK: 1. Make a donation (suggested amount $13) to a cancer-rela...

Welcome back to Outside the Blocks and to our first episode on the Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer puzzle pack! In this episode, Emma and Will talk to Peter Abide, constructor of the puzzle "You Can Get There From Here." Spoilers for that puzzle as well as incidental spoilers for some old Muggle Meta Monday puzzles. TO GET ACCESS TO THE PUZZLE PACK: 1. Make a donation (suggested amou...