T Campbell

It can mean any of the above? Erect, muscular, constipated...it can also mean "incapable of thought," which relates to when your phone gets "bricked." Language!

My fringe opinions are so terrible that they must never be shared

Heaven's Gate?

The man's essentially an admitted pathological liar; I won't believe anything he says about himself unless it's independently verified. Not saying his recent announcement is definitely a lie, but I'm thinking there's about a 75% chance of it.

Gen Z does more crossword puzzles than Baby Boomers The top places to people prefer to do their crossword puzzles are home, in-transit, the bathroom and work.

Actually, it's evidence you're most likely to be a zoomer! Thinking crosswords make you old is a millennial thing: www.thetelegraph.com/news/article...

1925: The Year In Crosswords (1 of 4) More like XXX-words, am I right?

1925: The year that crosswords went from riches to rags, from sex symbol to yesterday's news! Start here: tcampbell.substack.com/p/1925-the-y...

Got another tiny quote puzzle for you! This one's by an inspirational guy whose name is connected to a less-inspirational guy.

The latest issue (and the brand new John Langdon logo) of The Journal of Wordplay, now available! Engineering superheroes with acronyms, a new Scrabble record, dictionary chapters' last words, and much more! www.journalofwordplay.com

Critical thinking skills tell me this is much more likely "We don’t want to miss out on the Next Big Thing" than "Let’s all form a giant conspiracy to make people stupid"

1920: The Year in Crosswords A new King and a court jester.

Why did the crossword almost disappear in early 1920? And who was Jerry King?

1919: The Year in Crosswords World at peace, puzzles still untamed.

More quirky, experimental designs from crossword puzzling's golden age.

New puzzle at ubercross.com/microstic.html! Fair warning: it’s a hard one.

The Hero Who Outdid Superman (3 of 3) Can you name him? Can he name HIMSELF?

The first Captain Marvel took his powers from six legendary figures. There have now been more than six Captain Marvels--enough to power their own meta-Captain Marvel.

The Hero Who Outdid Superman (2 of 3) Though he didn't OUTLAST him.

Comics' wildest and (I'd argue) most wasteful legal battle.

The Hero Who Outdid Superman (1 of 3) And his weird legal and lexical history.

Why classic Captain Marvel was great: "I am a species of human being a million years advanced over! WITH MY POWERFUL BRAIN, I WENT INTO A LIBRARY AND LEARNED YOUR LANGUAGE IN A FEW MINUTES! I ALSO PICKED UP A GUN."

1918: The Year in Crosswords Grids go to war.

In 1918, the crossword feature was caught between providing an escape from the war and acknowledging it as an item of national interest. It split the difference in some interesting ways. (One grid included the word ARMISTICE.)

The (Lost) Language of Science-Fiction Fandom The slang itself gafiated.

A perspective on fan jargon from someone who did a lot of looking into it!

Neil Gaiman, Fandom, and Pedestals Dreams can die, but it's up to each dreamer to say when.

On Neil Gaiman, and disappointing authors more generally.

Demon Spelling Bee 2025 Here's to the troublemakers.

I took the hardest new words in the Scripps Spelling Bee's study guide, and then turned those words into pictures.

Microstic #2 Getting defensive.

Got a new puzzle! This one's a bit more challenging than the first, but I think you got this.

Schrödinger puzzles Schrödinger puzzles -- ones that have more than one correct answer

Oh, yeah, I know that one! It's called a "Schrodinger" puzzle, and it's pretty cool. www.xwordinfo.com/Quantum

If you want to submit something to the Journal of Wordplay, the next three weeks is the time! You can get in touch with me here.

The Strangest "Normal" Super-Team Some of you aren't going to believe this one.

My theories about why the JLI is actually the oddest super-team ever created...and why, despite its success, it was doomed to be one of a kind.

The Last Words And MORE words, about THOSE words!

A few words from the back fringes of the dictionary!

Four Vowels, No Waiting Whaaaa--?

Today, a quick roundup of words with four vowels in a row: tcampbell.substack.com/p/four-vowel...

I am releasing a new kind of puzzle today and for the next fifty Wednesdays: ubercross.com/microstic.html . It's like an acrostic, but tiny!

Crash Blossoms News read more ways than one.

Cherry blossom walks: Plot of the next Godzilla movie? 🐲 More ambiguous headlines at the link.

X, My Ex Watching a platform recede.

A few thoughts on Xwitter, as I spend time on it for the last time until 2026 at least. (And why you'll only see so much of me on Bluesky...)

If you switched over to this from 9CL, I wouldn't *complain* exactly...though I concede I might be in the minority there

The Year in Crosswords, 2024 In which I, an old, try to get down with the zouth.

The Year in Crosswords 2024 is here!