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

This week, Ryan and Brian have not watched NCIS (well, not both of them), not watched Susunu! Denpa Shōnen (not either of them), and have not critically reviewed ramen from overseas (but someone else has). #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh

This week, Ryan and Brian have no Pope news! Instead, it's baseball (shocking), musicals (also shocking), and arrogant opinions (you've probably turned it off by now). Sorry -- we don't mean to yuck your yum. #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh

This week, Ryan and Brian examine the balance between good and bad, the origin of names they already know, and the demographics of the average NCIS episode. #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh

This week, Ryan and Brian rank people and fruit, try to remember Snoopy's friends, and travel west by a continent or two for a special request Kealoa. #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh

This week, Ryan is a little less sick but still just as much in Japan. He's visited both Tokyo and Kyoto, which might come in handy later in the show. Otherwise, Brian and Ryan deal with typos, horse races, too much coughing, and multiple spellings of "wolf." #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh

This week, Ryan is both sick and in Japan -- and he still shows up for a fresh episode. (Brian is neither sick nor away from home, so his contributions are adequate and predictable. Derbies, Verdugos, and (hopefully not vulgar) stories about bathrooms. #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh

This week, Ryan and Brian learn about crossing the street, what may or may not be in a salad, and raise questions about hats and horses. Please check out Ryan's other podcast (buff.ly/xAUuTsv) as he departs for adventures overseas! #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh

This week, Ryan and Brian recap the ACPT (even though only one of them was there), perpetuate rumors of traveling to Japan (even though only one of them is traveling), and get the details about the New York Times games (even though one of the stories is made up). #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh

This week, Brian and Ryan are scared of the National Puzzlers' League, emboldened to challenge the talents of certain prominent gamespeople at the ACPT, and looking at the possibility of renaming the game Orskorel. #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh

This week, Alex Verdugo signs with Atlanta for $1.5M. First of all, that's ridiculous. Second of all, why is this part of the Fill Me In universe? Rest assured, Ryan and Brian are unable to answer that question. Also: mark your calendars for August (not April) 9. #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh

This week, Ryan and Brian share the glory of the non-defunct XWordInfo (acrostics, anyone?), spill the news of the ACPT constructor lineup, and recognize no particular connection between Irish soda bread and Tucson native Alex Verdugo. #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh

This week, Ryan reports on spring training, drinks Scottish beer, and suggests a hot dog tasting competition, while Brian loiters around Syracuse being relatively unproductive. The episode title might be the longest ever, but we haven't fact-checked that claim. #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh

Not one but two AI baseball players infiltrate the viewer mail this week, after which Ryan and Brian talk briefly about the Oscars (both the awards and the children), and rumble through a Thunder Round of this past week of #nytxw puzzles. #crossword #podcast buff.ly/3K5FPyh

You know the old adage "victory is sweet, but losing comes with free lessons"? Or ... wait -- is that an axiom? No matter. Ryan is back with Brian to banter about Frank Sinatra, failing to do basic stuff in new ways, and how long ago was fifty years ago. #crossword #podcast

This week, special guest co-host Rachel Fabi joins Brian for the goods and bads of Pittsburgh sports, Cinderella musicals, and New York Times crosswords. If you're able, please support These Puzzles Fund Abortion 5 at abortionpuzzles.com. #crossword #podcast https://buff.ly/3K5FPyh

Looking for something to love on Valentine's Day? How about loving this breaking news: Lollapuzzoola 18 is happening on Saturday, August 9, 2025. And that, my friends, is a Saturday in August.

This week, Ryan and Brian reminisce about Canada, marvel at the history of technology, and question the quality of really bad movies. (Oh yeah, and it's a normal episode again, sorry about last week.) #crossword #podcast https://buff.ly/3K5FPyh

This week, Ryan and Brian

This week, Ryan and Brian wonder about missing accolates, consider entering a 45-year-old contest, envy a boat and a pool and a river, and struggle with most of the crosswords from the past seven days. #crossword #podcast https://buff.ly/3K5FPyh

This week, the team at Lemonade Disco (Taylor Johnson, @mossdef.bsky.social, @norahsharpe.bsky.social) visit the studio to discuss puzzles, publishing, and prompts. Also, Kealoa, which is just a bit of this and a bit of that. Clicks &c. in our show notes! apple.co/3fqLQnO #crossword #podcast