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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 10h

7th place at the Midwest Crossword Tournament. I was aiming for the top 10 and I got it, and that was despite coming down with a nasty cold that completely wrecked my voice. Good thing I didn't have to sing my answers into the grid or I'd have been screwed. #midwestgridfest

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The adventure is complete: I've landed in Chicago a few hours after I was supposed to, but I'm here. Now let's see if we start the next adventure called "Evan Taxies on the Tarmac for the Next Four Hours."

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

And it looks like we're ready to go! Adventure ... complete? We'll find out when I land.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

It's time for another adventure of "Will Evan Make It to Chicago for the Midwest Crossword Tournament???" In this year's episode, there's a plane that needs to refuel, a sick passenger who had to get off the plane, and a rainstorm preventing our departure! ALL THIS AND MORE ON BLUESKY DOT COM.

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Rizz-em Emotion @dadnotfound.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Well, nobody wants to talk about the elephant in the dining room, after all.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Just saw an email where the writer said "You know what they say about eating an elephant" and I did not, in fact, know what they say about eating an elephant.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Roll call: Whomst among you will be going to the Midwest Crossword Tournament this weekend? #midwestgridfest

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The #Cubs with the old "score more runs than any other team during the regular season and then score one run over two playoff games" tactic: bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for them. (It did not pay off for them.)

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Gonna go way, way out on a limb and say that giving up a home run on the first pitch is bad. #Cubs

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The Eagles just got a bad case of the Keenums. #Bears

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

New bucket list achievement unlocked: I sang the national anthem at a baseball game! Here's me with a brief moment on the Jumbotron at the Phillies game last night with the Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I didn't get to see most of the game today since I was singing at a memorial service for a friend's grandmother, but the game might as well have been a memorial service for the 2026 #Bears (September 13, 2026-September 20, 2026).

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Amelia Sandrine Reisinger 🏳️‍⚧️ @ameliasandrine.com · 17/09/2026

Gonna start referring to Democrats who take anti-trans stances as “Biological Republicans”

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

People are criticizing Mitch McConnell and the Republicans because he didn't show up to work for 13 weeks but in fairness that was the best thing Mitch McConnell ever did as a senator and he should continue not showing up to work as a senator.

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Will @tlmberwolves.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

www.twitch.tv/lebronswanson @defector.com crosswords plus an @evanbirnholz.bsky.social oversized meta plus more Star Wars Zero Company

twitch.tv

Lebronswanson - Live on Twitch

Defector + WaPo + Star Wars | Streaming crosswords.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Ben Johnson's mid-year goal is to break the Scorigami record. #Bears

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Scorigami @nflscorigami.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

🏈 CHI 59 - 37 CAR FINAL ✅ That's Scorigami!! It's the 1096th unique final score in NFL history.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

NFL fans: "The #Bears offense is good but they're not gonna break the scoring record, Ben Johnson is crazy to even think about it." Ben Johnson:

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The #Bears have over 50 points and over 500 yards of offense and somehow not a single one of those yards have gone to Colston Loveland.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

This weekend's Sunday WaPo crossword is larger than normal (23x23 squares) and it has a meta. You're looking for a Dolly Parton song from the 1970s. Good luck.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

For anyone who prints out the Washington Post Sunday crossword from the website, here's a reminder that you should click on the "Empty" button below "Evan's Sunday print options" to pull up the newspaper edition PDF. Do NOT click on the black Save/Print button at the bottom; that printout is bad.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

That feeling when you're searching for potential theme answers for a crossword and one of them that comes up is the guy from the PuzzleLux ad.

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Ben Zimmer @benzimmer.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

The OED records "barnacle" as a verb from the mid-19th century. Here's an example of "barnacling" from 1866! www.newspapers.com/article/dail...

newspapers.com

barnacling

Clipping found in Daily National Intelligencer and Washington Express published in Washington, District of Columbia on 6/28/1866. barnacling

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Kindly asking the universe to allow the word BARNACLE to be a verb because the gerund form BARNACLING would end with a word aptly describing what barnacles do.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

*workshopping my #Cubs related tweets from the 1940s* You can't spell HEPCAT without PCA.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

It should be way harder for mosquitoes to bite humans. They should have to submit paperwork and references and pay you a nonrefundable $100 fee before they're allowed to bite you so that they can feel the crushing agony of bureaucracy before they feel the crushing blow of the palm of your hand.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

"ChatGPT not working" was still true even when there wasn't an outage.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Need someone on here to open a national chain of art supply stores and call it Green Paint. Crossword constructors will thank you.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The Clippers in 2026 looking back on the Clippers in 2019:

Did you do it?

Yes. We got Kawhi and Paul George.

What did it cost?

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Danilo Gallinari. Four unprotected first-rounders in 2021, 2022, 2024, and 2026. One protected first-round draft pick in 2023. Two first-round pick swaps in 2023 and 2025. Five future first-round draft picks in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033. $30 million fine. Year-long suspension of Steve Ballmer. Year-long suspension of Gillian Zucker. Six-month suspension of Lawrence Frank.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The existence of a minibar implies the existence of a midibar and a maxibar.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

No you may not add LAKE AMERICA to your word lists, crossword constructors.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Tim Curry had many iconic moments but for me nothing beats the library scene in the 1990 version of "It." The guy must have had so much fun making that scene hilarious in a miniseries that was otherwise meant to be scary. Rest in peace. youtu.be/jkGS45l9FsA?...

youtu.be

Richie At The Library - Stephen King's It (1990) 🎈

YouTube video by drugstore-hooligan

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

My two-year-old son just said "I like sharp things" and the potential futures I'm projecting onto him from this statement are wondrous and terrifying in equal measure.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

My fun fact of the day is that SCARLET and CLARETS both refer to red things and they're anagrams of each other.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

The crossword that I didn't know I'd be co-constructing today but I'm happy that I co-constructed today. (Potential title that another crossworder came up with: "Poached Eggs")

"Nick Drake is one of my favourite people named after a type of bird theft. Others include Russell Crowe, Rob Fowler, Peregrin Took and Jack Sparrow."

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Secret pro-tip for solving at a crossword tournament: If you enter the Konami code before you start the puzzle, you get a copy with 30 letters already filled in for free. They come in handy for the mid-puzzle boss battle that randomly happens. #Lollapuzzoola #LPZ19

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Happy Lollapuzzoola Eve to all who celebrate. Come say hi to me if you'll be there!

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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

CNN producer: El-Sayed is projected to win. Quick, get the biggest fucking loser you can find on air

John Fetterman looking like a dipshit loser on CNN

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Reposted by Evan Birnholz

Hemant Mehta @friendlyatheist.com · 05/08/2026

Best thing Haley Stevens did was burn up tens of millions of AIPAC dollars. Well done.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

An upstart progressive candidate won his primary against a moderate who got over $60 million in support from AIPAC and was backed by the entire Democratic establishment. Here's why that's bad for the left. (🧵 1/152)

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Good morning to the cool kids on the Internet.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

ChatGPT, show me literally *the* perfect image of how billionaire tech overlords think of children not as human beings to love and care for but as inconveniences for AI to deal with (and show me *the* perfect reply to one of those billionaires):

Tweet from Sam Altman: "cool use case of chatgpt work i heard last night:

connect your family calendars and explain your kids' interests.

every morning for the drive to school, have it make a podcast that talks about one kid's soccer game that afternoon, one kid's upcoming birthday, some news, etc."

Reply to Sam from Alex Hirsch: "What if you just talked to your children"

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28 Days Lehner 🪦 @danlehner.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

[Homer sits backwards on a chair] let me tell you about ANOTHER giant brute who was being beaten by Nobody

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Sorta wish the word "convict" were actually "convuct" because the phrase NO JURY WOULD CONVUCT YOU would have the vowel sequence OU four times in a row.

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Evan Birnholz @evanbirnholz.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Heard there were a fair number of solvers who don't think video games are a worthy subject of a high-brow pastime like the New York Times crossword so I'm planning to make a Contra-themed puzzle for them that's completely impossible unless you enter the Konami code beforehand.

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