Ryan is off losing money in Las Vegas, so we chanted "Barnacle! Barnacle! Barnacle!" -- and lo and behold, Ben Zimmer appeared to regale everyone with tales of the Scripps National Spelling Bee! Also: jealousy of the British, misery around baseball, and discussion of crosswords! #crossword #podcast

This week, Ryan and Brian celebrate the Marx Brothers, Van Halen, and mediocre cryptic clues! Consider participating in the upcoming NPL Convention (puzzlers.org/convention/npl-convention-2026) and/or Scott Weiss's newest Anti-Match Quiz (www.tinyurl.com/AMTonys26). #crossword #podcast

This week, Ryan and Brian continue their efforts to understand unusual math, this time courtesy of the Dozenal Society. Other topics include the Minute Cryptic, Les Miserables, and whether your streak stories are "interesting." #crossword #podcast

This week, Ryan and Brian try to understand sexagesimal counting, take a crack at some cryptic crossword clues, and say the number five in a way they haven't said it in over two years. #crossword #podcast

This week, Ryan and Brian can't find a burger at a burger bar, learn about the Peanut Butter Lacuna, and marvel at the existence of a 6-day week. #crossword #podcast

This week, Ryan and Brian receive information about nuclear fusion, non-placental reproduction, and Högertrafikomläggningen, and yet feel they've actually learned nothing. #crossword #podcast

This week, Ryan and Brian investigate driving across borders, brainstorm modern means of cheating, and keep Carl the dog away from Coco (the cat). If you haven't already donated to These Puzzles Fund Abortion 6, you should consider doing so. #crossword #podcast

This week, Ryan and Brian wonder about the Ides of April, the calendrical specificity of matzo ball soup, and how one learns to stay in their lane. All that plus a celebration for two new members of the International Viewers Who Eat Club! #crossword #podcast

This week, Ryan and Brian get existentialist about technology, time travel, and driving on the other side of the road. Also, Lollapuzzoola 19 is on Saturday, August 15 -- get tickets at bemoresmarter.com! #crossword #podcast

This week, Ryan and Brian investigate mustard, theme parks, and calendars -- and still, Ryan has no confidence over the security of his crossword streak as he travels back in time to New Zealand. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian don't understand international travel, cultural holidays, or the distinctions between two playwrights. Thanks to a mouse, this was recorded on a Friday, so it's up to the viewers to tell the hosts about the weekend puzzles. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian revisit Manet/Monet mnemonics, make an effort to self-educate on Jewish holidays, question the powers of various fruit juices, and get an abundance of antipodal advice on maintaining crossword streaks. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian delve back into food curiosities through no fault of their own! It was you, gentle viewers, who sent this stuff in! That, plus the usual junk (including an arboreal Kealoa). #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian ponder Manet/Monet mnemonics (say that ten times fast), feel ancient when faced with allegedly comedic "memes" and "other internet lore," and realize they don't actually understand how groundhogs determine the weather. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian discuss levels of pain (some of which they inflict on each other), listen to 50-year-old music, and dismiss potentially quality sandwiches by virtue of poor personal relationships. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian plan on matching dinners, nearly break records, and appreciate that an overseas listener wants America to find more positive new vocabulary. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, it's the highlight of any FMI Season, because Ben Zimmer joins Ryan and Brian to discuss the 2025 Word of the Year! There's still plenty of the same slop there's always been, but skip to the 31-minute mark if you're here for The Barnacle. #woty #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan is away, so Shannon Rapp (aka Norah Sharpe, an expert in sconces; the name is fake but the puzzles are real) steps in for discussions of crosswords, sandwiches, and thunder gods -- yup, even without Ryan, the topics still don't really change. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian continue to suffer from bronchial ailments despite having both gotten all the appropriate vaccines. Also: should we move to Malta, is Hello Kitty a cat, and ought the host of a murder mystery party play a critical part of the story? #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian don't really recap 2025 -- but it is the last show of the year. With that, we all wish you a happy holiday season, and look forward to continuing our weekly delivery of top*-tier, high*-quality, information-packed* podcast content in 2026! #asteriskmeansnotanyofthosethings

Achievement unlocked -- Lollapuzzoola referenced on @jeopardyofficial.bsky.social !!! ❤️ Jenna LaFleur, reigning Lollapuzzoola champion. No spoilers in this video or this post, but it's been so great seeing an assortment of crossword stars (and Lolla alums!) on Jeopardy in recent months.

This week, Ryan and Brian dig deep into butts, shoulders, clams, and Caesars. How do you take yours? Try out the Contest of Still Going On (a standard crossword) available at bemoresmarter.com/fmicontest! #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian dive into Lucky Charms, question the Kingston Trio, and discuss a challenge to the "get what it's called" rule. All that, plus a brand new Contest of Now (a standard crossword) available at bemoresmarter.com/fmicontest! #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian don't know which cities are fictional, which currencies are spelled which way, or how much a baseball is worth. That, plus a Contest (a Rows Garden puzzle) available at bemoresmarter.com/fmicontest! #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian learn about nicknames, heavy metal music, and history from 1981 -- plus, a brand new Contest of Now (a Rows Garden puzzle) available at available at bemoresmarter.com/fmicontest! #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian talk about vacations and children and fanfic, oh my! This is your reminder to always get what it's called ... plus, there's a Contest of Still Going On (available at bemoresmarter.com/fmicontest)! #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

Ryan is in Sweden with all the furniture and meatballs, Brian is in Syracuse with all the recording equipment. More baseball than sandwiches, but not as much as you might think. All that plus a new Contest of Now (available at bemoresmarter.com/fmicontest)! #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

Ryan struggles between his needs of traveling the world and watching the World Series, while Brian just struggles. There's a Contest of Still Going On (it's a variety cryptic!), and lest you thought the sandwich stories were a thing of the past, they're not. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

Go tell your plowman! This week, Ryan challenges Brian with Broadway history, Brian challenges everyone with a brand new Contest of Now (forms.gle/sy5JNUPS6E7q...), and Alex Verdugo can't leave well enough alone. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Brian is joined by Shannon Rapp for a super-sized episode with an insider's recap of the Midwest Crossword Tournament, hefty sandwiches, and a non-NYT Thunder Round with puzzles from the LA Times, Apple News, Universal, USA Today, and Fireball! #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

Next week, FMI will be guest co-hosted by Shannon Rapp aka Norah Sharpe (the name is fake, but the puzzles are real)! Thunder Round: 10/6 NYer, 10/7 USAT, 10/8 Fireball, 10/10 Apple, 10/10 and 10/11 LAT, 10/12 Univ. Visit dailycrosswordlinks.com to find these puzzles (and more)! #crossword #podcast

This week, Ryan and Brian eat on the show. Sorry. Also: Blue Jays, Buckwheat Boyz, Bakers, and a Brinck Report. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian sound like a couple of grumpy middle aged men -- but maybe that's what you're here for. It's almost October, which bears the bad news of post-season baseball. With any luck, everyone will lose this week and it can all be over. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, the Thunder Round features Ryan and Brian attempting the Wall Street Journal meta-week of contest puzzles. In addition, there's at least 6.022x10^23 sardines, bananas, and beets, as well as a battle of classic literature. Shana tova! #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, everything is fine. Ryan and Brian get new insight on asymmetrical grids, dig unnecessarily deeper into peanut butter sandwiches, and find irritation in capitalism. Next week, the Thunder Round will be Wall Street Journal puzzles! #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian find more sandwiches in the viewer mail bag, ponder the power of the throat lozenge, and enjoyed the Fri/Sat puzzles more than the rest of the week (and a lot more than 1/7 of the week). #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian find their thunder in a new set of puzzles -- August's Sunday puzzles from the Washington Post, all constructed by Evan Birnholz. Also, if this show evolves into a sandwich podcast by the end of Season 11, that'll be a success. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

In 2008, nobody thought that two idiots like us would get to something we could realistically call "Season Eleven," but here we are. We start with sandwiches, continue with crosswords, and there's only the tiniest sliver of baseball at the end. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian recap Lollapuzzoola (puzzles are still available!), get a beatdown on beaming up, learn that some people believe cake cannot be savory, and in a post-Lolla stupor, Brian concedes that tacos are sandwiches. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Brian can barely think straight, what with Lollapuzzoola looming in five days. Ryan tries to pick up the slack with talk of potato cakes, Paul McCartney, and Scott Weiss's newest Anti-Match Quiz. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Brooke Husic drops by the FMI studio to offer the Announcement of the Year — who is making puzzles for Lollapuzzoola! Is there more? Well, yes: how to count, how to order food in Russia, how to alienate a brilliant web designer ... typical stuff. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

Lollapuzzoola constructor lineup dropping ... TOMORROW! #crossword #tournament #lollapuzzoola

This week, Ryan and Brian can't say real words ("reminiscences"), create fake words ("touichisón"), attempt to explain things astronomical, acoustic, and binary, and argue about (so sorry) sandwiches. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian celebrate 500 episodes with fond memories, celebratory tributes, fictional performances, little known facts, sticks, canes, deckers, Dodgers, and an overwhelming sense of gratitude to everyone who has been part of the FMI universe. #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian predict patterns, fear asteroids, and reminisce spreadsheets – plus a brand new audio Contest of Now, courtesy of Jenna LaFleur! #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

This week, Ryan and Brian recap Westwords, sports from many years ago, trees from Connecticut, Ryan's once and future middle name, and Menudo. In other news, there are now Fill Me In t-shirts!!! #crossword #podcast bemoresmarter.com/fmi

LOLLAPUZZOOLA 18 is coming up in just 50 days -- Saturday, August 9 to be exact. We hope to see you there! bemoresmarter.com/lollapuzzool...

This week, Ryan is on vacation, so Ben Zimmer saves the day and joins Brian with renewed excitement over the National Spelling Bee, the National Puzzlers' League, and the National League East-leading Mets. #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh

This week, Claire, the kids, and I learn more about hot lead in the New York Times, the Pope in the mini crossword, and Phil Silvers musicals in the 1950s. #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh

This week, Ryan and Brian learn something new about the newspaper, reminisce about body-swap films, and aim to put the ASS into this first clASS podcast. #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh