Fill Me In

This week, Ryan and Brian find their thunder in a new set of puzzles -- August's Sunday puzzles from the Washington Post, all constructed by Evan Birnholz. Also, if this show evolves from a crossword…

In 2008, there were literally zero people who would have thought that two idiots like us would get to something we could realistically call "Season Eleven" of this podcast, but here we are. We start …

This week, Ryan and Brian recap Lollapuzzoola (puzzles are still available!), get a beatdown on beaming up, learn that some people believe cake cannot be savory, and in a post-Lolla stupor, Brian con…

This week, Brian can barely think straight, what with Lollapuzzoola looming in five days. Ryan tries to pick up the slack with talk of potato cakes, Paul McCartney, and Scott Weiss's newest Anti-Mat…

This week, Brooke Husic drops by the FMI studio to offer the Announcement of the Year — who is making puzzles for Lollapuzzoola! Is there more? Well, yes: how to count, how to order food in Russian, …

This week, Ryan and Brian can't say real words ("reminiscences"), create fake words ("touichisón"), attempt to explain things astronomical, acoustic, and binary, and argue about (so sorry) sandwiches…

This week, Ryan and Brian celebrate 500 episodes with some fond memories, celebratory tributes, fictional lyric performances, little known facts, sticks, canes, deckers, Dodgers, and more than anythi…

This week, Ryan and Brian predict patterns, fear asteroids, reminisce spreadsheets, promote other things like tournaments and YouTube channels, and marvel at two more relevant publications from The …

This week, Ryan and Brian recap Westwords, sports from many years ago, trees from Connecticut, Ryan's once and future middle name, and Menudo. In other news, there are now Fill Me In t-shirts!!!

If y…

This week, Ryan is on vacation, so Ben Zimmer saves the day and joins Brian with renewed excitement over the National Spelling Bee, the National Puzzlers' League, and the National League East-leading…

This week, Claire, the kids, and I learn more about hot lead in the New York Times, the Pope in the mini crossword, and Phil Silvers musicals in the 1950s.

If you get bored (how could you?!), write s…

This week, Ryan and Brian learn something new about the newspaper, reminisce about body-swap films, and aim to put the ASS into this first clASS podcast.

If you get bored (how could you?!), write som…

This week, Ryan and Brian have not watched NCIS (well, not both of them), not watched Susunu! Denpa Shōnen (not either of them), and have not critically reviewed ramen from overseas (but someone else…

This week, Ryan and Brian have no Pope news! Instead, it's baseball (shocking), musicals (also shocking), and arrogant opinions (you've probably turned it off by now). Sorry -- we don't mean to yuck …

This week, Ryan and Brian examine the balance between good and bad, the origin of names they already know, and the demographics of the average NCIS episode. Check out Scott Weiss's new Anti-Match Qui…

This week, Ryan and Brian rank people and fruit, try to remember Snoopy's friends, and travel west by a continent or two for a special request Kealoa.

If you get bored (how could you?!), write someth…

This week, Ryan is a little less sick but still just as much in Japan. He's visited both Tokyo and Kyoto, which you'd think would come in handy a little later in the show. Otherwise, Brian and Ryan d…

This week, Ryan is both sick and in Japan -- and he still shows up for a fresh episode. (Brian is neither sick nor away from home, so his contributions are adequate and predictable. Derbies, Verdugos…

This week, Ryan and Brian learn about crossing the street, what may or may not be in a salad, and raise questions about hats and horses. Bon voyage to Ryan as he departs soon for his favorite Asium …

This week, Ryan and Brian recap the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (even though only one of them was there), perpetuate rumors of traveling to Japan (even though only one of them is traveling),…