The crossword craze — now and then — with Ben...

1177. This week, we look at behind-the-scenes of being a curator at Harvard's Houghton Library with John Overholt. We look at why 18th-century paper is surprisingly tough, how John managed the high-stakes transport of a George Washington book, and why curators actually prefer bar ...  Show more

1176. This week, we look at mind-bending words, including "semordnilap" (which spells "palindromes" backwards), "pentasyllabic" (which has five syllables), and "hyphenated" (which is not hyphenated). Then, we tackle how to use "me" and "myself" (with an aside for "hisself," "mese ...  Show more

Crosswords! Puzzles! Wordles! Magic? Ah yes, world-renowned Enigmatologist David Kwong drops in to chat about the intersection of sleight of hand and brain games, covering everything from Scrabble strategies to how to get away with a surprise party unsuspected. Also: crossword ...

To celebrate 2024, we’re taking a look backwards, and diving into the standout thinkers who have taken to the Intelligence Squared stage in the past 12 months. You might still be on the hunt for that perfect gift for the avid reader in your life, or perhaps you’re after some food ...  Show more

📥 ⁠Grab the FREE PDF⁠ with 20+ advanced expressions from this episode, complete with quizzes and example sentences , to learn today’s vocabulary 3x faster. Plus, get the script from today's story included! 🎓 ⁠⁠⁠⁠Join my weekly online group lessons⁠⁠⁠ Welcome to a series of shor ...  Show more

📥 ⁠⁠⁠⁠Grab this episode's FREE PDF⁠⁠⁠⁠ with 10 advanced expressions from this episode, complete with quizzes and example sentences, to learn today’s vocabulary 3x faster! 🎓 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join my weekly online group lessons⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ A children’s fairy tale gets a cheeky modern twist as Ch ...  Show more