Claim OwnershipOutside the Blocks: A Puzzle Podcast
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© 2024 Outside the Blocks: A Puzzle Podcast
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A podcast dedicated to meta crosswords and other fun puzzles! Come join Emma and Will as they break down the month's puzzles, interview constructors, and just generally have a good time.
33 Episodes
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Emma and Will sing about the periodic table! Wait what the... *checks notes*... who wrote these notes... *double checks notes*... this can't be right... *throws out notes*. Emma and Will talk about the May 2024 MMMM puzzle? Yes that sounds much more likely. Spoilers for "Gold-Plated Record" ahead!Links of interest:Muller Monthly Music Meta: https://pmxwords.com/"Gold-Plated Record" by Will Pfadenhauer, Pete Muller, Mack Meller, and Andrew White: https://pmxwords.com/2024-puzzle-5-gold-plated-...
The time has come! The episode that Will has been hyping for six months is finally here! Emma and Will talk with Peter Gordon, editor of Fireball crosswords, and Alex Eaton-Salners, prolific crossword constructor, about two meta puzzles Alex constructed for Fireball in 2023: "Resounding Success" and "Take the Fifth." Spoiler warning for both of those puzzles!Note Fireball is a a subscription, so we can't link you directly to solvable versions of "Resounding Success" and "Take the Fifth," but ...
Welcome to season four of Outside the Blocks! Emma and Will are joined by Mike Dirolf, creator of Crosshare, who they last chatted with back in episode 5, to talk about what's been going on over at everyone's favorite crossword sharing website.Links of Interest:Crosshare: https://crosshare.org/Previous Outside the Blocks episode with Mike Dirolf: https://outsidetheblocks.buzzsprout.com/2044327/11997972-5-guest-mike-dirolf-creator-of-crosshareSlate Games (including links to their daily crosswo...
Emma and Will talk about the final two Pandora's Blocks puzzles, "Form One Line, Please" and "Stepping Down." Spoilers for both of those puzzles!Pandora's Blocks may be ending, but Outside the Blocks will continue! More podcast episodes on more fun puzzles coming your way soon.And yes, Will did find that lost collar stay.Links of interest:"Form One Line, Please": https://crosshare.org/crosswords/7bpbFT8eqvlCuAQ4SHHd/form-one-line-pleaseRosalind Franklin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind...
We're back! Emma and Will are back to talk about two more Pandora's Blocks puzzles. On the menu today is "First Place" and "Dropdown Menus." Spoilers ahead for both of those puzzles.Only two more Pandora's Blocks puzzles to go!Links of interest:Pandora's Blocks: https://pandorasblocks.org/"First Place": https://crosshare.org/crosswords/orx4tC7OYrZV6vfqa3uB/first-place"Dropdown Menus": https://crosshare.org/crosswords/RlcuiWzytkgnfnbmZeLZ/dropdown-menusSara Mae Berman: https://en.wikipedi...
Emma and Will do some flower arranging outside a filling station! Wait... hang on a sec... *checks notes* ... Emma and Will fill in the blanks outside a flower shop? No, that doesn't sound right either... *checks notes again* who wrote these notes?? Okay, well, probably Emma and Will talk about three Pandora's Blocks puzzles. Let's go with that, that sounds right. Spoilers for "Floral Arrangement," "Fill-Ins," and "Outside In, Inside Out."Links of interest: Pandora's Blocks: https://pand...
Emma and Will talk about three more Pandora's Blocks puzzles! Spoilers for "Duplication Prohibited," "Get to Gettin'," and "Cold Opens."Links of interest:Pandora's Blocks: https://pandorasblocks.org/"Duplication Prohibited": https://crosshare.org/crosswords/fSBx4rBy7GlqgdgF4XcX/duplication-prohibitedOneLook: https://onelook.com/Wordlisted: https://aaronson.org/wordlisted/"Get to Gettin'": https://crosshare.org/crosswords/vux4xWIxKnoZKtuuwrC8/get-to-gettinOpen Source Shakespeare: https://www.o...
Emma and Will are joined by speed solver extraordinaire, Adam Doctoroff, for a crash course in speed-solving and a discussion on the Muller Monthly Music Metas from 2023! Spoilers for 2023's MMMM puzzles ("Triple Up" and "Hope Springs Eternal" in particular), so go solve those first if you haven't already!Links of interest:Muller Monthly Music Meta: https://pmxwords.com/2023 Mega Meta solution (this page also includes an explanation of the red herring and solution grids for all of the 20...
Pandora's Blocks is back for one more season! Emma and Will talk about the first two puzzles of season six. Spoilers for "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and "Through the Five Hole" as well as for an older meta from over on the Muggles Forum, "Not a Creature Was Stirring..."Thanks to @Bird Lives (and Rodney Dangerfield) for inspiring the title of this episode.Links of interest:Pandora's Blocks: https://pandorasblocks.org/"Do You Hear What I Hear?": https://crosshare.org/crosswords/70J4tioNcRblgAKnL...
Emma and Will take a look at some of their favorite metas from the past year! Spoilers for several metas from 2023. See below for links to solutions and other sites of interest.Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC): crosswordsforcancer.comTO GET ACCESS TO THE PUZZLE PACK:1. Make a donation (suggested amount $13) to a cancer-related charity.2. Email a copy of your receipt to crosswordsforcancer@gmail.com.3. Receive puzzle pack! OR, provide the email of a friend who you would like to gift ...
Emma and Will solve a mini cryptic!Links of interest:Crosswords and Trivia by Stella Zawistowski: https://toughasnails.net/Oneth of the Month Mini Cryptic #18: https://toughasnails.net/2023/10/01/oneth-of-the-month-mini-cryptic-18/All #cryptic content at Tough as Nails: https://toughasnails.net/tag/cryptic/B-t-Z Vwllss Crsswrds Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/petergordonpuzzler/b-t-z-vwllss-crsswrdsFireball Newsflash Crosswords Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projec...
Will and Emma play Wordle and do mostly okay with geography!If you listened to our last episode, then we're sorry to say this is not the episode you want it to be - we do have a very exciting guest to talk to, but we had to postpone the recording.Links of interest (in the order they're mentioned in the episode):Wordle: https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.htmlDordle: https://dordle.io/ (there are many sites where you can play this)Quordle: https://www.merriam-webster.com/games/quordle/#...
Emma and Will explore a haunted house! Wait, that doesn't ... huh ... *checks notes* ... oh hey that's basically right! Spoilers for Evan Birnholz's "The Haunted House" puzzle suite from Oct. 31, 2021.We're sorry to say we can't provide you with a link to go solve "The Haunted House" at this point. If anyone knows of an easily accessible link where the puzzle can be solved or the PDF can be downloaded, please let us know and we'll add the link to this description.Links to solution write...
Emma and Will have a hellishly difficult conversation. Wait, that doesn't sound right. Emma and Will *checks notes* have a conversation about a "devilishly hard" metapuzzle! Yes, that's it. (It's actually not that hard, don't be put off.) This episode includes spoilers for the Fireball contest "Mind the Gap" from September 13, 2023, so go solve it first if you haven't already!Links of interest (in the order they're mentioned in the episode):Fireball Crosswords: https://www.fireballcrosswords....
Emma and Will chat with Mark Woychick, constructor of the puzzle "Fifth Wheels" in the Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) puzzle pack. This episode includes spoilers for "Fifth Wheels," so go solve it first if you haven't already! Since this is the final episode in the series on CCCC puzzles, Emma and Will also chat a bit about what the plans are for future podcast episodes; if you just want to listen to puzzle talk, skip ahead to 10m30s where the discussion of "Fifth Whee...
Emma and Will chat with Josh Rubin, constructor of the puzzle "Half-and-Half" in the Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) puzzle pack. This episode includes spoilers for "Half-and-Half," so go solve it first if you haven't already!TO GET ACCESS TO THE PUZZLE PACK:1. Make a donation (suggested amount $13) to a cancer-related charity.2. Email a copy of your receipt to crosswordsforcancer@gmail.com.3. Receive puzzle pack!4 (optional but encouraged). Tell other people to do steps 1-3....
Emma and Will chat with Mike Graczyk, constructor of the puzzle "Mixed Numbers" in the Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) puzzle pack. This episode includes spoilers for "Mixed Numbers," so go solve it first if you haven't already!TO GET ACCESS TO THE PUZZLE PACK:1. Make a donation (suggested amount $13) to a cancer-related charity.2. Email a copy of your receipt to crosswordsforcancer@gmail.com.3. Receive puzzle pack!4 (optional but encouraged). Tell other people to do steps 1-...
Emma and Will talk about their puzzles from the CCCC puzzle pack: "To Everything There Is a Season" and "Consider All Options." This episode includes spoilers for both of those puzzles.Guests will return next week!TO GET ACCESS TO THE PUZZLE PACK:1. Make a donation (suggested amount $13) to a cancer-related charity.2. Email a copy of your receipt to crosswordsforcancer@gmail.com.3. Receive puzzle pack!4 (optional but encouraged). Tell other people to do steps 1-3. Links of interest (in t...
Emma and Will chat with Lydia Roth and Christina Bodensiek, constructors of the puzzle "That's the Spirit!" in the Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) puzzle pack. This episode includes spoilers for "That's the Spirit!" so go solve it first if you haven't already! TO GET ACCESS TO THE PUZZLE PACK:1. Make a donation (suggested amount $13) to a cancer-related charity.2. Email a copy of your receipt to crosswordsforcancer@gmail.com.3. Receive puzzle pack!4 (optional but encouraged). ...
Welcome back to Outside the Blocks and to our first episode on the Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer puzzle pack! In this episode, Emma and Will talk to Peter Abide, constructor of the puzzle "You Can Get There From Here." Spoilers for that puzzle as well as incidental spoilers for some old Muggle Meta Monday puzzles.TO GET ACCESS TO THE PUZZLE PACK:1. Make a donation (suggested amount $13) to a cancer-related charity.2. Email a copy of your receipt to crosswordsforcancer@gmail.com.3. Recei...
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