157: Going Off-Grid with Brooke Husic (Puzzmo Crosswords)

We chat with Brooke Husic (Puzzmo, New Yorker, A24) about creating, stewarding, and showrunning a daily crossword for the web-based puzzle phenomenon, Puzzmo. Our discussion covers Puzzmo's first 1,000 days, Brooke's prolific career as a constructor, the impact of cultural biases on crosswords, the early-2020s indie-puzzle development boom, the need to care for both solvers and setters during revisions, the interconnectedness of difficulty and context, the relationship between constructor and venue, and so! much! more! Also: Don't forget to check out today's Puzzmo midi crossword, its 1,001th, a special collaboration between two names that will be familiar to listeners of this episode.
Audio edited by Dylan Shumway
Discussed in this episode:
Puzzmo puzzmo.com/today
Today's Brooke and Rob collab puzzle, "Time to get up!" puzzmo.com/puzzle/2026-07-12/crossword Puzzmo Data Initiative data.puzzmo.com
Brooke's 30-day Crossword Tutorial Mini-series brookehusic.com/puzzminis
Brooke's puzzle blog xwordsbyaladee.blogspot.com
Rob's Puzzmo crossword debut, "Baker's Corner" puzzmo.com/puzzle/2024-05-10/crossword
Lollapuzzoola bemoresmarter.com
American Values Club (AVCX) avxwords.com/about-us
Ingrid ingrid.cx
Brooke on Bluesky bsky.app/profile/xws.bsky.social

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