Shook off some podcasting dust to join this ep since I wasn’t gonna miss a chance to gush about Brooke’s amazing work which has, frankly, made me give a shit about crosswords on a daily basis. Lots of wisdom in this chat about rethinking the status quo + building something fundamentally inclusive.

Ep. 157: Going Off-Grid with Brooke Husic (Puzzmo Crosswords) We chat with @xws.bsky.social about showrunning @puzzmo.com’s daily crossword, her prolific career as a constructor, the impact of cultural biases on puzzles, the perils of editing, and so! much! more!! secretlives.games/157-going-of...

the good news is that today’s @puzzmo.com crossword (the 1,001st in its history!!) was a collab between me and editor extraordinaire @xws.bsky.social, themed around the bad news, which is that unfortunately someone’s gonna die tonight

for puzzmo day 1000, @orta.io and i made this website for you! data.puzzmo.com

It's an Orta + @xws.bsky.social Crossword day on @puzzmo.com This Crossword is themed around a genre of games that kinda play themselves. I'm a fan of them! www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2026-...

new spread the wordlist update! from me and @enriqueha.bsky.social! some newly-high-ranked faves: STRAVA, BA DUM TSS, JAZZ CLUB, QUEERTOK, DON'T LAUGH, SPICY TUNA, WHAT SAY YOU, SORRY LADIES, HELMET NACHOS, HEATED RIVALRY, CLIMATE JUSTICE, NOT MY FINEST WORK 💜 spreadthewordlist.com 💜

i'm still making daily minis for @puzzmo.com! i think today's is an interesting one www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2026-...

Hey, puzzle friends! Please give my sparkly new @puzzmo.com crossword a try.💎🌊 www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2026-...

My month of constructing @puzzmo.com mini crosswords is almost done, but it’s not too late to get in on the action with this little fella (which was a real joy to create): www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2026-...

We’re at the halfway point for my @puzzmo.com mini crossword residency in April! Today’s puzzle has everything: Grid-spanning entries, circled letters, and a shout-out to my grandpa in the post-solve notes. Check it out! www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2026-...

Folks! We're hiring at @puzzmo.com again. Since launch, I think the majority of my time has been spent on B2B systems inside Puzzmo - and it's time to start handing over some of those responsibilities to someone We're currently the puzzles infra for a gazillion publishers and more are coming

spread the wordlist is a free resource for crossword constructors. @enriqueha.bsky.social has written a data-driven algorithm to compile answers we think are good from published crosswords. our goal is to remove the financial and/or time cost of curating your own wordlist 💜 spreadthewordlist.com

another spread the wordlist update just dropped from me and @enriqueha.bsky.social! some new highly-scored faves: MAKI, KAWAII, RUDE BOY, LIVE JAZZ, LOX BAGEL, COME SAY HI, SO MUCH YES, TRIVIA TEAM, PARTY SCHOOL, POKEMON TRAINER, DECISION FATIGUE, OR SO IT WOULD SEEM 💜 spreadthewordlist.com 💜

For this year's Crossword Con on Fri. Apr. 10, I'll be giving a talk on "Adventures in Gridspotting" at 11:15 am ET. Come join us in person (or watch the livestream)! www.crosswordcon.com

This is NOT a prank: I’m ecstatic to be the April mini-constructor-in-residence at @puzzmo.com, following the impressive footsteps of @robdubbin.bsky.social & @acommonrose.bsky.social! My first puzzle is now live at the link, desperately waiting to be solved by you! www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2026-...

My last Puzzmo mini is running today, so I just wanted to say a big thank you to anyone who has solved and enjoyed the March minis!

Join the Puzzmo team for our third annual Crossword Con one month from today — in Manhattan or online! www.crosswordcon.com

@e-a-rly.bsky.social with an all-timer today 🤯 play here: www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2026-...

I probably won't post every individual puzzle here (especially this week when I'm traveling), but I am Puzzmo's resident mini creator this month! www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2026-...

a huge part of why i agreed to make a puzzmo mini crossword every day for a month is that crossword puzzles seem to be one of the actual battlefields for getting my peer group to stop giving money to the NYT

Delighted to share a byline with @xws.bsky.social at @puzzmo.com! It's called "You should know better!" The puzzle's emoji is ⚖️, but it could just as easily be 🦙 - IYKYK

Fellow puzzle lovers: In honor of the Super Bowl I made a little football-themed crossword with my friend @robdubbin.bsky.social for @puzzmo.com. You can play for free today: www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2026-...

they say don’t meet your heroes, but what about getting interviewed by your editors? well, i’m happy to say in this case it went great. here’s me interviewed by @xws.bsky.social for the puzzmo newsletter about my february mini crossword residency! link.mailer.puzzmo.com/view/65959cc...

day 3 dawns on my puzzmo mini-crossword residency…. turns out that when there are only 10 total clues in a puzzle, you can kiiiind of coax them all into sort of relating to each other. it’s WORKING TOGETHER www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2026-...

i made today's (2/3/26) puzzmo crossword! i really like this one, and i hope you enjoy it too :) www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2026-...

thrilled to announce i’m doing a mini-crossword residency at @puzzmo.com all month! 28 tiny crosswords, one each day of february. i’ll thread them here, first up is CROSSOVER EVENT www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2026-...

happy new year from me and @enriqueha.bsky.social over at spread the word(list), now updated through all of 2025! 🍾 fave new highly-ranked answers: PROP BET, I'D BE DOWN, THERAPESE, FEEDER TEAM, GENDERPLAY, VIBECODING, AURA FARMING, BEARD-SECOND, MIDWEST NICE, PUZZLE PEOPLE ✨ spreadthewordlist.com

we 💛 our amazingly talented crossword constructors: here's 50 of our crossword editor @xws.bsky.social's favorite puzzmo midis from 2026, all of which are now free to play 💝 blog.puzzmo.com/posts/2025/1...

❗🧩 new puzzle 🧩❗ today is my @puzzmo.com debut! it's my first time having a crossword published anywhere and it means a lot to me :D it's free to play today, and playable anytime after with a subscription: www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2025-...

who said minis have to be square 😤 www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2025-...

It's a @xws.bsky.social and Orta Cross|word day on @puzzmo.com www.puzzmo.com/play/crosswo...

I have been an avid crossword-puzzler for as long as I can remember, including cryptics and currently learning about metas, and I still learned stuff from the mini series. Very worth a play, you can easily get the seven-day free trial and run through all the minis in a few hours

dream team @maaaaybeheron.bsky.social + @obergs.bsky.social collab alert 🤩 www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2025-...

if you’ve ever been curious about getting into solving crossword puzzles, puzzmo has just wrapped an incredible series of 30 daily 5x5 minis, each one tuned to share something new about how crosswords work. it’s like a breezy duolingo++ course for the form, by the always top-of-game @xws.bsky.social

i loved this project so much. i wanted to make the resource i wished i'd had when i started solving crosswords. if you solved any or all of the minis: thank you for being a part of it!!! and... minis (sans lessons) on @puzzmo.com will be continuing 💛

The last mini of the series! 💛

these just continue to be absolute bangers

big day

early reviews are saying this one is a banger

an absolute dream to have a poem in the new yorker today, on why being a yankees fan is good, actually, present cursed season aside ... www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

oops, all highlighted answers today 😈

@enriqueha.bsky.social and i are back with more spread the word(list)! some new favorites, now with q3 and all of @puzzmo.com: SSRI, LUMON, VAN LIFE, CARE WORK, ETSY WITCH, ZEBRA PRINT, MAJOR BUMMER, PROTEST SONG, CALL ME ISHMAEL, EMAIL BANKRUPTCY, SONG OF THE SUMMER 🔥 🦄 www.spreadthewordlist.com 🦄

🌏 Puzzmo Mini Crossword #8: www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2025-...

@puzzmo.com is running a mini crossword series that teaches you tricks to interpret clues and I love it. Brooke is doing such a great job building on each lesson and honestly, it's both fascinating and kinda making me want to learn how to build(?) crosswords myself.

today's was a tough one to make 😅

we’re three days in on the mini and it’s all bangers. checkout today’s (and all the previous ones) in this thread:

incredible stuff from @e-a-rly.bsky.social today 💖 www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2025-...

Remembering I have public facing social media just long enough to share my solo @puzzmo.com debut. Fandoms! Language! And an (un?)surprising number of Gundam fans saying how they feel seen by 18D! www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2025-...

@puzzmo.com just launched a free mini crossword by Brooke. 🐸 bonus: it's amazing 🍕 double bonus: it will teach you how to solve full-size crosswords 🍔 triple bonus: even if you are a crossword pro you will love this mini, each one is exquisite. play it ⇢ www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2025-...

2 years ago: @stfj.net says puzzmo will never run minis 6 months ago: @orta.io and i brainstorm how i might design a mini that could change zach's mind today: @puzzmo.com's first mini join us for 30 days of minis that teach you how to solve crosswords. start here: www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2025-...