Outside the Blocks: A Puzzle Podcast

Emma Oxford and Will Pfadenhauer
  • 5.0 (7)
  • HOBBIES
  • UPDATED MONTHLY

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.

  1. 01/19/2025

    37. And Still ANOTHER Musical Episode with Guest: Adam Doctoroff

    Emma and Adam return to close out the discussion they started last July on the 2024 Muller Monthly Music Meta puzzles! Spoilers for the MMMM puzzles from August-December 2024 as well as the mega meta and the red herring. Links of interest: Muller Monthly Music Meta: https://pmxwords.com/ Full list of the 2024 MMMM Puzzles: https://pmxwords.com/2024-puzzles/ Ariadne's Crossword Library: https://ariadnescrosswordlibrary.com/ ------------------------------------------- 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

    49 min

  2. 08/04/2024

    36. "It's a Breeze!" and "Interstate Travel" with Constructor Mike Graczyk

    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 ------------------------------------------- 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

    40 min

  3. 07/14/2024

    35. Another Musical Episode with Guest: Adam Doctoroff

    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 ------------------------------------------- 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

    43 min

  4. 06/16/2024

    34. A Killer (Whale) of an Episode

    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/ ------------------------------------------- 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

    36 min

  5. 06/02/2024

    33. HELLaciously Difficult Trivia with Peter Gordon and Alex Eaton-Salners

    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 ------------------------------------------- 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

    16 min

  6. 05/19/2024

    32. An Elemental Episode

    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. ------------------------------------------- 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

    28 min

  7. 05/05/2024

    31. "Resounding Success" and "Take the Fifth" with Constructor Alex Eaton-Salners and Editor Peter Gordon

    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 ------------------------------------------- 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

    42 min

  8. 04/21/2024

    30. Guest: Mike Dirolf, creator of Crosshare

    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 ------------------------------------------- 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

    35 min
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About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Emma Oxford and Will Pfadenhauer
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    38
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Outside the Blocks: A Puzzle Podcast
  • Show Website
    Outside the Blocks: A Puzzle Podcast