The secret rules of crossword puzzles, with Natan Last
13 November - 29 mins1133. This week, crossword pro Natan Last talks about his book "Across the Universe." We look at the technical and cultural differences between American and British puzzle styles and the secrets that will surprise you about how clues are written and edited. We also look at "crosswordese," the long submission process for the “New York Times,” and the AI that won a human crossword tournament.
Find Natan Last at Natanlast.com.
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Series Episodes
How '23 skidoo' & 'at sixes and sevens' are related to '6-7.'
1132. This week, in honor of Dictionary.com choosing "6-7" as its Word of the Year, we look at the origin of other number phrases: "23 skidoo" and "at sixes and sevens."
18 mins
11 November Finished
What a ‘Science' magazine experiment says about the future of AI in journalism, with Abigail Eisenstadt
1131. This week, we talk with ‘Science' magazine senior writer Abigail Eisenstadt about her team's year-long experiment testing ChatGPT's ability to summarize research papers. We look at their methodology, the limitations they realized, and their main finding: that AI could “transcribe” scientific studies but failed to “translate” them with context.
23 mins
6 November Finished
What Roman togas have to do with today's elections. 'Home in' versus 'hone in.'
1130. This week, we look at words related to elections, and then I help you remember the difference between "home in" and "hone in" with a tip that includes a shocking historical tidbit about spiders.
16 mins
4 November Finished
Finding the true history of words, with Ben Zimmer
1129. This week, we talk with Ben Zimmer about the linguistic detective work of antedating words — finding earlier usages than those published in dictionaries. We look at the surprising origins of "Ms.," "scallywag," and the baseball history of "jazz."
26 mins
30 October Finished
‘Ghost words’ and their history. Rules for ‘between’ and ‘among.’ Wilsoning.
1128. This week, in honor of Halloween, we look at “ghost words” and phrases, from “ghost runners” in baseball to “ghost forests” made by earthquakes. We also look at the difference between “between” and “among” for collective groups.
14 mins
28 October Finished
