Dissociate from the world by solving my @sfgate.com mini crossword today! www.sfgate.com/california-m...

Need a distraction from the news? Check out my latest crossword over at Apple News+! apple.news/JsKmC066PST-...

Annoyed that the NYT mini is paywalled now? Solve my mini today over at @sfgate.com instead! 💁‍♀️🏳️‍🌈

@sfgate.com has CA-themed mini crosswords now and I wrote today’s! Check it out: www.sfgate.com/california-m...

Season 15(!) of Dr. Cardin’s Chemistry 👨‍🔬

I used to make these Quiptics to help my fellow North Americans grasp the more deceptive UK cluing style by limiting the wordplay devices to one per clue. Every once in a while I get the urge to set a few more for my old blog. Here's a new batch. squarepursuit.com/2025/08/19/q... #cryptic #crossword

Breaking out an airplane hand shape in my next game of rock, paper, scissors because nothing beats a Jet2Holiday ✈️

Happiest of birthdays @danfeyer.bsky.social! You truly were born on the best day of the year, which further bolsters your GOAT status! 💕💕

in the final hours of pride month, we just passed $25,000 USD raised for trans charities 🥹 thank you all so much, seriously

One of my favorite crosswords I’ve ever written was featured at this weekend’s Westwords Tournament! You can buy a copy of it (and all the other great puzzles!) at the link below. 🚗🌴☀️

Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.

Me: Finalizing student grades and trying to figure out how to ::spoilers redacted:: in Blue Prince. My husband: “Have you heard?!?!” 😂

A TRANS PERSON MADE YOUR PUZZLE is LIVE !!!! donate at least $10 USD to an American trans charity and receive 10 puzzles by trans constructors edited by me and @cantorlope.bsky.social beautiful cover art by @pseudonymjones.bsky.social happy pride :) tinyurl.com/transxwords

Time to post it again.

Super proud to have written puzzles for this and previous editions of @tpfa.bsky.social! If you value reproductive justice and are looking for great crosswords for a solid cause, check this out. 🙌

attn: xword constructors! spread the word(list) now has all of q1, 2025! new highly-ranked answers @enriqueha.bsky.social and i like: TAMAL, BEDCHEM, OKAYBYE, ACEPRIDE, INDIEDEV, VEGANMENU, JERSEYSWAP, LOGICPUZZLE, IVESEENWORSE, ENERGYVAMPIRE, SPOTIFYWRAPPED, CHOICESWEREMADE spreadthewordlist.com

Episode 3 of Crosstalk with @sidsivakumar.bsky.social is out now! Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/1sq5... Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Credit to the constructors of this puzzle, @naytnaytnayt.bsky.social and @enriqueha.bsky.social !

Top 25% of solvers at #ACPT - I’ll take it! For someone who’s maybe solved a handful of crosswords in 2025, to get through all seven puzzles here with no mistakes feels huge!

Y’all, @theadamsass.bsky.social sent me autographed copies of ALL of his books(!) to help rebuild the library of queer books that we lost in the fire. 🥹🏳️‍🌈📚 Now, more than ever, it feels crucial to support queer authors - and I’m overwhelmed to have folks like Adam supporting me back!

Buy, solve, and support the hell out of “A Trans Person Made Your Puzzle,” a new crossword puzzle pack from @adanicklmao.bsky.social sites.google.com/view/transxw...

Did the universe just steal an hour from you? Let it steal a few more minutes by tackling today’s @usatoday.com crossword, written by yours truly.

Losing my Wheel of Fortune name tag to the fires was unexpectedly devastating, especially since I never thought I’d get that memento back. But look what the WOF producers sent over today! It’s truly kindness like this that keeps me going. 💕 Thank you, WOF!

This puzzle includes maybe one of my favorite cryptic clues I’ve ever written: [Teased unruly horde with “HOT TO GO!”(4)] More amazingness like that in the puzzles at abortionpuzzles.com 💁‍♀️

Very proud to have a cryptic with @enriqueha.bsky.social in this charity puzzle pack, which supports such incredibly vital reproductive health organizations. Get your copy of TPFA5 today!

I wrote today’s @latimes.com crossword - check it out!

And now they’ve charged us $59 for unreturned equipment 🙃🙃🙃

🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈 ✨✨✨✨T R A N S✨✨✨✨✨ 💜💜💜💜P E O P L E💜💜💜💜 🌟🌟🌟🌟B E L O N G🌟🌟🌟🌟 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Happy Valentine’s Day! We are so excited to announce that TPFA5 is available for presale! fund.nnaf.org/campaign/the... ⬆️Donate here, and be first in line to get your puzzles when the pack drops in March!

Lovvvve getting a mailer from Spectrum asking me to return the modem from my previous address 🙃

Bongo (a daily word game at @puzzmo.com) has been one of the only things getting me through the past few weeks - and I got to make today’s! Play it for free over at puzzmo.com/puzzle/2025-...

I'm excited to share Episode 2 of Crosstalk with Rachel Fabi (@fabioethics.bsky.social) is out now! We discuss mentorship, cryptics, where to submit, Jeopardy!, and more! Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/1BMz... Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c... Amazon: music.amazon.com/podcasts/f7c...

Very much missing our little house today on its one month burniversary

Drumroll, please… 🥁🥁🥁🥁 Announcing our all-star constructor and editor lineup for These Puzzles Fund Abortion 5! #tpfa5 #crosswords #abortion #reprojustice #fundabortion

The next @blackcrossword.bsky.social puzzle book arrives this summer 😄✏️🧠🧩 Pre-order wherever you get your books: blackcrossword.com/buythebook

Why does every single store, company, and website email me with a survey after every interaction? This is going to be my villain origin story (well, that and the whole fire destroying my entire home and village thing).

A small bit of joy among the grief: I wrote today’s Apple News+ crossword. Check it out if you have access! 🍎

What nobody tells you about your house burning down is the sheer amount of administration (phone calls, emails, paperwork, insurance, documentation) you then have to undertake - and how vigilant you have to constantly be on top of that to avoid scammers and bad actors. It is easily a full time job.

It breaks my heart to tell you that we lost our home to the Altadena fires. It’s completely gone. Thankfully, we’re safe with our dog across town, hosted by some dear friends. I never thought this would be me, but a friend made us this GFM, which I post here with incredible humility:

Things could have gone very differently. We are coming off a year in puzzles where several major crossword features have been scaled back significantly, or cut entirely. It's through the generosity and tenacity of the crossword community that the expanded AVCX is still here.

Starting the new year with a Starter Pack! 🎉 There's already a Cryptic Crosswords starter pack (mostly British) and a Crossword Sky starter pack (mostly non-cryptic), so here's my compilation of non-UK/Europe #cryptic #crossword, #wordplay and #puzzle creators: go.bsky.app/GYVp7RQ

AVCX Cryptics is OPEN for submissions the month of January 2025. My fellow editors and I look forward to seeing what you folks come up with! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

As I just explained on TV, the tiny crossword visible in tonight’s opening shot was created by our brilliant team member Dan Peake and CAN BE PLAYED! To save you copying it off the television, here are photos of both these simple and cryptic versions. Happy New Year! We love you. #OnlyConnect

Thanks to a commute and regular attempts to put down my phone, I read / listened to 65 books in 2024! Here are my favorites. First up, (gay, obv) romance:

Steve’s variety cryptics have been one of my favorite things in 2024 and I can’t wait for another year of them to come!

The @nytimes.com puzzle editors came up with a list of their favorite debut entries in the NYT crossword across 2024. One of my puzzles made the list for four of its entries! 🥹

One more crossword before the new year, this time over at Apple News 🍎

I just saw this on Instagram and shouted “ewwww!” This makes me tremendously sad.

I very much need a Clue-style version of Emmet Otter’s Jug-band Christmas, where there are multiple endings but you never know which one you’ll get. Sometimes Emmet’s band wins the talent show! Sometimes Ma does! Sometimes you know who still wins. (Every ending would still have mashed potatoes.)