Emma and Mike talk about two of Mike's "Pun of a Kind" metas! If you've ever found yourself thinking, "I would like crosswords more if 30% of clues were puns," then oh boy have we got some puzzles for you!

Links of interest:
Pun of a Kind on XWord Muggles Forum: https://xword-muggles.com/viewforum.php?f=48
Pun of a Kind Blogspot: https://punofakind.blogspot.com/
Mikey G's Crosshare page: https://crosshare.org/mikeyg

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Want to get in touch with us? We would love to hear from you! You can reach Emma at damefoxwords@gmail.com, and you can reach Will at pandorasblockswmc@gmail.com. We may read your letter on a future episode!

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Emma and Adam talk about the first seven* Muller Monthly Music Meta puzzles from 2024! Spoiler warning for ALL of those puzzles, so go solve them first if you haven't already!

*The first ~30 minutes of the episode is a discussion of the January-June puzzles, and the rest of the episode is a live-solve and discussion of the July puzzle, which was released the day of recording.

Links of interest:
Muller Monthly Music Meta: https://pmxwords.com/
"32. An Elemental Episode" (our previous episode on the 2024 MMMM covering just the May puzzle): https://outsidetheblocks.buzzsprout.com/2044327/15093368-32-an-elemental-episode
MMMM discussions on the XWord Muggles Forum: https://xword-muggles.com/viewforum.php?f=8
"18. "Fifth Wheels" by Mark Woychick" (our episode on another puzzle with a similar mechanism to the July 2024 MMMM): https://outsidetheblocks.buzzsprout.com/2044327/13429835-18-fifth-wheels-by-mark-woychick

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Want to get in touch with us? We would love to hear from you! You can reach Emma at damefoxwords@gmail.com, and you can reach Will at pandorasblockswmc@gmail.com. We may read your letter on a future episode!

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A long overdue discussion on the 2024 (or is it the 2023?) ORCA Awards, which were announced all the way back in March. Spoilers for all seven of the puzzles which were nominated for Best Contest Crossword this year!

Links of interest:
2024 ORCA Awards: https://crosswordfiend.com/2024/03/10/2024-orca-awards/
All ORCA Awards posts on Crossword Fiend: https://crosswordfiend.com/category/orca-awards/
"Signs of the Times" by Mike Shenk: https://www.wsj.com/articles/signs-of-the-times-friday-crossword-january-20-11674083351
"Plurality" by Mike Shenk: https://www.wsj.com/articles/plurality-friday-crossword-may-12-d86ef45
"Hope Springs Eternal" by Pete Muller and Mack Meller: https://pmxwords.com/2023-puzzle-8-hope-springs-eternal/

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Want to get in touch with us? We would love to hear from you! You can reach Emma at damefoxwords@gmail.com, and you can reach Will at pandorasblockswmc@gmail.com. We may read your letter on a future episode!

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Music by FASSounds from Pixabay

Surprise! We played a whole 15-minute trivia game with Peter and Alex when they joined us last month that we didn't have time for in episode #31, so here it is now!

Links of interest:
Listen to the rest of the audio from our chat with Peter and Alex: https://outsidetheblocks.buzzsprout.com/2044327/14994031-31-resounding-success-and-take-the-fifth-with-constructor-alex-eaton-salners-and-editor-peter-gordon
"A-to-Z Crosswords" Kickstarter from Peter Gordon (live through 10pm EDT on June 2, 2024):
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/petergordonpuzzler/a-to-z-crosswords-2024

Additional music by DanJFilms from Pixabay

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Want to get in touch with us? We would love to hear from you! You can reach Emma at damefoxwords@gmail.com, and you can reach Will at pandorasblockswmc@gmail.com. We may read your letter on a future episode!

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Music by FASSounds from Pixabay

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-record/
Pete Muller's solution (and cover of the meta answer!) to "Gold-Plated Record": https://pmxwords.com/2024-puzzle-5-gold-plated-record-solution/
"Muller Monthly Music Meta, May MMXXIV" on Crossword Fiend: https://crosswordfiend.com/2024/05/12/muller-monthly-music-meta-may-mmxxiv/#more-160108
"Gold-Plated Record" discussion on XWord Muggles Forum: https://xword-muggles.com/viewtopic.php?t=2882
MMMM on the Washington Post's website: https://www.washingtonpost.com/crossword-puzzles/monthly-music-meta/

Other element-al puzzles:
"Table Setting" by Evan Birnholz: in the CCCC puzzle pack, information below on how to get that!
"Addition Reactions" by Mikey G: https://crosshare.org/crosswords/R6ftkA9uIUyk7hMlhfn3/addition-reactions
"AP Chemistry" by Pete Muller & Milo Beckman (WSJ Contest 7/12/2019), Crossword Fiend write-up: https://crosswordfiend.com/2019/07/14/wsj-contest-friday-july-12-2019/
"It's Elementary" by Emma Oxford (Universal 8/13/2020), Crossword Fiend write-Up: https://crosswordfiend.com/2020/08/12/thursday-august-13-2020/#un
Untitled by Jack Murtagh (NYT 12/10/2020), Crossword Fiend write-up: https://crosswordfiend.com/2020/12/09/thursday-december-10-2020/#ny

"A-to-Z Crosswords" Kickstarter from Peter Gordon (live through June 2, 2024):
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/petergordonpuzzler/a-to-z-crosswords-2024

Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC): crosswordsforcancer.com
TO GET ACCESS TO THE CCCC 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.

Is anybody reading this? Please confirm.

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Want to get in touch with us? We would love to hear from you! You can reach Emma at damefoxwords@gmail.com, and you can reach Will at pandorasblockswmc@gmail.com. We may read your letter on a future episode!

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Music by FASSounds from Pixabay

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 you can subscribe to Fireball and purchase any previous year's puzzles via the link below!

Links of interest:
Fireball crosswords: https://www.fireballcrosswords.com/
"Resounding Success" review on Crossword Fiend: https://crosswordfiend.com/2023/04/03/fireball-contest-march-29-2023/
"Take the Fifth" review on Crossword Fiend (the typo in the title on the Fiend write-up makes this one very difficult to find via Google!): https://crosswordfiend.com/2023/07/16/fireball-contest-july-12-2023/
Fireball submission guidelines: http://www.fireballcrosswords.com/SpecSheet.pdf
"Puzzlewright Guide to Diagramless Crosswords" by Alex Eaton-Salners (this is the Amazon link, but this is available wherever books are sold): https://www.amazon.com/Puzzlewright-Guide-Diagramless-Crosswords-beginners/dp/1454944870
"A-to-Z Crosswords" Kickstarter (live through June 2, 2024):
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/petergordonpuzzler/a-to-z-crosswords-2024

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Want to get in touch with us? We would love to hear from you! You can reach Emma at damefoxwords@gmail.com, and you can reach Will at pandorasblockswmc@gmail.com. We may read your letter on a future episode!

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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-crosshare
Slate Games (including links to their daily crossword, powered by Crosshare!): https://slate.com/tag/slate-games
Donate to Crosshare: https://crosshare.org/donate

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Want to get in touch with us? We would love to hear from you! You can reach Emma at damefoxwords@gmail.com, and you can reach Will at pandorasblockswmc@gmail.com. We may read your letter on a future episode!

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Music by FASSounds from Pixabay

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-please
Rosalind Franklin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin
"Stepping Down": https://crosshare.org/crosswords/FEP77dhkepVr6fWWLg0W/stepping-down

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Want to get in touch with us? We would love to hear from you! You can reach Emma at damefoxwords@gmail.com, and you can reach Will at pandorasblockswmc@gmail.com. We may read your letter on a future episode!

Podcast hosting by Buzzsprout
Music by FASSounds from Pixabay