# Crosswords and the death of the monoculture **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game\ **Created:** [September 15, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058 "2025-09-15T13:29:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/41 "2025-09-15T21:36:49Z")
There are plenty of other crosswords besides the NYT, both mainstream (often appearing in other publications) and indie (more typically online only). Some of the indie crosswords have entries that are more “niche” (e.g. rappers that I’ve never heard of). > **[Daily Crossword Links](https://dailycrosswordlinks.com/)** > > “Waaay better than a repository.” – Fill Me In ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/42 "2025-09-15T21:53:34Z")
If you’re not a sports fan, you need to know Bobby ORR, OREL Hershiser, and Mel OTT. And soon you will have to remember Naomi OZAKI. Names are like gifts to cruciverbalists. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/43 "2025-09-15T21:55:35Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > If you’re not a sports fan, you need to know Bobby ORR, OREL Hershiser, and Mel OTT. And soon you will have to remember Naomi OZAKI. Not to mention Major League Baseball’s various ALOUs. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/44 "2025-09-15T21:55:45Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Naomi OZAKI OSAKA Also, did anyone mention Isao Aoki? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/45 "2025-09-15T22:04:02Z")
Good grief. Who was I thinking of? Must have been the fabulous Dr. Naomi K. Ozaki, a neonatologist in Torrance, California. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/46 "2025-09-15T22:07:07Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Names are like gifts to cruciverbalists. ILENE Graff, OONA Chaplin, IONE Skye, Yoko ONO … ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/47 "2025-09-15T22:08:02Z")
There was an episode of M\*A\*S\*H where they’ve gotten ahold of a copy of the Sunday NYT, and it takes the whole base working together all week to finish the Sunday puzzle. That’s definitely not relatable now. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/48 "2025-09-15T22:11:56Z")
Ah, yes, as a crossword lover, I definitely remember that episode. The clue that was preventing everybody from completing the puzzle was, “Yiddish bedbug.” They eventually ended up calling somebody’s friend, who was a crossword fanatic, back in the US. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/49 "2025-09-15T23:59:45Z")
Also, ESAI Morales, SELA Ward, TERI Hatcher, IRA Glass, India ARIE, Lance or Midori ITO, UMA Thurman and YMA Sumac. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/50 "2025-09-16T00:16:59Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > The clue that was preventing everybody from completing the puzzle was, “Yiddish bedbug.” But of course, there would have to have been at least two words that nobody could get. Nobody ever asked about the words crossing “vonts”. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/51 "2025-09-16T02:44:15Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > I’m 45 and this clue meant nothing to me, even after I looked it up. If the crosses didn’t give me all 4 letters, I’d be doomed. The full clue was “Winter fogs giving Kelly’s possum chills. (8)” POGONIPS ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/52 "2025-09-16T03:12:20Z")
Oh well why didn’t you say so, the full clue makes if obvious! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/53 "2025-09-16T03:15:23Z")
I don’t get it. The result is not a word, although it is an anagram of a word. What in the clue gives a hint that it’s an anagram? Fogs? Chills? Winter? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/54 "2025-09-16T03:25:41Z")
I’d never heard of it before. [POGONIP Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pogonip) ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/55 "2025-09-16T03:51:40Z")
More than 30 years ago a great family friend gave me a book of Daily Telegraph cryptics originally published in the early 60s. I have never looked at the answers in the back, and as a result of its difficulty and its heavy reliance on British references both geographic and cultural, I have literally only finished three of them, but I take cracks at it semi-regularly. He passed away 20 years ago, so it’s a great way to remember him, and the few times I’ve been able to finish one I notify the family and everybody has a brief, mini celebration in his memory. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/56 "2025-09-16T18:25:50Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > POGONIP Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster Now I get it. There are √2 πi Pogonips in a nip. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/57 "2025-09-16T18:52:27Z")
Possums have 13 nipples arranged in a ring of 12 with the 13th in the center. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/58 "2025-09-16T19:25:52Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And in case anyone is unaware, the NYT puzzle is supposed to be easiest on Monday and hardest on Saturday, with Sunday’s puzzle being at a Wednesday or Thursday level. And Thursday is when you might have to use the rebus button. That is, it’s the day when HOUSE or TIC or STAR might take up a single cell. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/59 "2025-09-16T20:59:52Z")
Or various other gimmicks, like some answers making a right turn at a corner, or a few squares with different letters across and down, or the like. Usually one of the long clues is itself a clue to the gimmick. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058/60 "2025-09-16T21:55:54Z")
14 K of g in a pogonip [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crosswords-and-the-death-of-the-monoculture/1023058.md?page=4)