My latest crossword for @puzzmo.com may shock you. www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2025-...

solve today's midi crossword by @benzimmer.bsky.social (edited by @acommonrose.bsky.social !) to see what 1992 solo debut album makes a marquee appearance (and what apt answer he paired it with) www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2025-...

live now streaming the regulars + puzzles from @benzimmer.bsky.social, @gppasco.bsky.social, erik agard and a turtle downs only on green! www.twitch.tv/crossweirdtv

Big day for lexicographical unboxing! Received the just-published 12th edition of @merriam-webster.com's Collegiate Dictionary (a big surprise to everyone in the dictionary game) and @stefanfatsis.bsky.social's long-awaited journey through modern lexicography, UNABRIDGED. Get 'em both!

Happy to be making my @latimes.com crossword debut! www.latimes.com/games/daily-...

New crossword for @slate.com! Can you puzzle it out? slate.com/life/2025/09...

The @wired.com video that @mixedlinguist.bsky.social and I did a while back on the life cycle of slang got featured today on @upworthy.com! www.upworthy.com/linguists-ex...

New @slate.com crossword, with a clue for the Swifties slate.com/life/2025/08...

live now with some regular stuff + puzzles from @evanbirnholz.bsky.social, @kayebrown.bsky.social and the stumper by @benzimmer.bsky.social on green! www.twitch.tv/crossweirdtv

It's another Saturday Stumper (super-tough @newsday.bsky.social crossword) from yours truly! www.gamelab.com/games/stans-...

Rounding out a busy puzzle week, it's my solo debut for @nytimes.com!

New puzzle for @slate.com! What *does* this grid look like anyway? slate.com/life/2025/08...

It's my second puzzle for @puzzmo.com! www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2025-...

New @slate.com midi crossword is ripped from the headlines! slate.com/life/2025/07...

I've got the @slate.com crossword today! In which I try to rack up cool points by including an entry about trying to rack up cool points slate.com/life/2025/07...

I’m conducting a quick (anonymous!) survey about perceptions of terms in the AAE lexicon, if you could take a few mins to fill it out I’d greatly appreciate it!!

New @slate.com midi crossword from me! slate.com/life/2025/07...

If you're wondering about "bee's dick", well, that's only natural. @benzimmer.bsky.social has the buzz on the Strong Language blog: stronglang.wordpress.com/2017/08/21/a... #etymology #slang

"Bag of dicks", "bee's dick", "perviness", and "fudge" (int.; often as a euphemistic alternative to "fuck") are among the words and senses newly added to the OED www.oed.com/information/...

Hey, it's my @puzzmo.com debut! www.puzzmo.com/puzzle/2025-...

New midi crossword from @slate.com! Hope you don't find it too much of a dumpster fire. slate.com/life/2025/06...

Check out Wednesday's @nytimes.com crossword, from @zachsherwin.bsky.social and me! The "sweltering day" theme turned out to be well-timed.

New blog post! At the intersection of language and... abstract math aaronson.org/blog/square-...

I'm judging today's prelims at @scrippsbee.bsky.social! Tomorrow (Wed.) you may be able to catch me talking on the broadcast around 11 or 12 during the quarterfinals. (You can watch streaming on spellingbee.com.)

Former FBI Director Jamey Comey is under investigation after posting and then deleting a photo of seashells spelling out “8647.” The White House says he was calling for Trump’s assasination. What’s the history of “86”? buff.ly/uxhNVhC

@politifact.bsky.social quotes me on the "86"/Comey kerfuffle. www.politifact.com/article/2025...

All the most important vocabulary in my latest @slate.com midi crossword slate.com/life/2025/05...

Word of the week: Crisis-tunity, aka crisitunity, aka crisatunity. | ht @benzimmer.bsky.social @heidiharley.bsky.social and "The Simpsons." fritinancy.substack.com/p/word-of-th...

New @slate.com crossword! (Just 60 words!) slate.com/life/2025/05...

New @slate.com midi crossword from me, with a fun grid shape! slate.com/life/2025/04...

Newsday's Saturday Stumper is from yours truly. www.gamelab.com/games/stans-...

Tomorrow! Hope to see you at @planetworddc.bsky.social, DC peeps.

If you're in DC on Sat. 4/26, come on by @planetworddc.bsky.social, where the School Scrabble Championship is happening! I'm giving a talk at 10:45 am and joining @stefanfatsis.bsky.social for another chat at 3:20 pm. The talks are open to everyone! More info: planetwordmuseum.org/events/a-dab...

New midi crossword on @slate.com, featuring some fine cuisine (add bacon for the true Elvis experience) slate.com/life/2025/04...

Amazing showdown in the A Division Finals of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, with @gppasco.bsky.social @bewilderingly.bsky.social and @danfeyer.bsky.social. Congrats to all! #acpt #acpt2025 www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYqW...

Congrats to @danschwartz.bsky.social, winner of the B Division finals at the 2025 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament! #acpt #acpt2025 www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB1J...

Today's Cryptic Crossweird puzzle is from friend of the stream @benzimmer.bsky.social! We're honored to know and have the opportunity to work with such a smart cookie! Check it out here: tinyurl.com/ydu4dz3w

Please enjoy my @slate.bsky.social crossword today and its accompanying earworm! slate.com/life/2025/02...

I won’t even go into the influence of the language of Clueless, because that’s been written about before in detail by @benzimmer.bsky.social and others. www.wsj.com/articles/how...

My latest crossword for @slate.bsky.social. Know your trendy liquors! slate.com/life/2025/02...

My latest @slate.bsky.social crossword includes a couple of nominees for @americandialect.org's Word of the Year (and other entries that fit our current political vibe). slate.com/life/2025/01...

The producer of the ICYMI podcast is a linguist who attended the @americandialect.org WOTY vote. Every time I hear WOTY described for the public, I have to laugh--if only they could be a fly on the wall for the earnest jockeying between grad students and elder linguists slate.com/podcasts/icy...

I say a bit about all these international #WotY2024 on last week's @thatwordchat.bsky.social episode, now available on YouTube. With @benzimmer.bsky.social @petersokolowski.bsky.social @wendalynnichols.bsky.social inter alia! www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dso...

On the latest episode of the crossword podcast @fillmeinpodcast.bsky.social, @cimmet.bsky.social and I talk about @americandialect.org's Word of the Year shenanigans and other silly stuff. bemoresmarter.libsyn.com/fill-me-in-4...

Tomorrow is #ThatWordChat’s Words of the Year 2024 show! We're thrilled to host an international panel of experts to discuss the language that defined 2024. Register here: bit.ly/ThatWordChat #WOTY #ANDC #OED #UniversityOfSussex #CambridgeDictionary #MerriamWebster #AmericanDialectSociety

Univ. of Michigan professor Anne Curzan has her roundup of the 2024 Word of the Year action on @michiganpublic.bsky.social. www.michiganpublic.org/podcast/that...

“Rawdog,” @americandialect.org's word of the year, has undergone at least two semantic shifts, from nonsexual to sexual and back to nonsexual. | Ht @caitlinmoriah.bsky.social @misterslang.bsky.social @wordorigins.bsky.social @lingsocam.bsky.social fritinancy.substack.com/p/word-of-th... #woty2024

It’s us, hi, we’re the problem, it’s we! And yes, we do know the meaning and etymology, and yes, people are really using it in a G-rated way across the internet. Press release here: americandialect.org/2024-word-of...

It’s nice to see the popular press reporting on linguistic news in a relatively informed way for a change. www.avclub.com/american-dia...

Proud to be a linguistic chaos gremlin.