Another year of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is in the books, and Dan Feyer has solidified his place as the seemingly unbeatable king of the crossword world. Puzzlemaster Brendan Emmett Quigley joins us again with his wrap-up of the action from Brooklyn.  Continue reading...

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the first "tweet" on Twitter. Since then, the service has grown phenomenally, and has even been used for poetic and literary purposes. The New York Times Week in Review takes a look at the rise of "twitterature," with observations from Visual Thesaurus editor Ben Zimmer, here.

Live from Brooklyn, puzzlemaster Brendan Emmett Quigley is providing exclusive commentary from the 2011 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. Brendan's got the scoop on all the action at the end of the first day of competition.  Continue reading...

This weekend, the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott will once again host the 34th American Crossword Puzzle Tournament — the premier annual gathering of word nerds. Presided over by New York Times puzzle editor Will Shortz, the ACPT promises to provide just as much competitive drama as past years.  Continue reading...

Our latest Wordshop feature comes to us from Steven Kushner, who teaches at Bremen High School in Midlothian, Illinois. Steven drew on inspiration from family road trips to come up with a Mad Libs-style memory recall activity for the classroom.  Continue reading...

I was recently asked by a young and annoyingly successful poet how I thought language learners dealt with the special demands that poetry puts on the reader, and the discussion that followed led us into a marvelous land.  Continue reading...

"I love your idea of reading 52 books a year," said a colleague last week. But the modifier  "theoretically" hung in the air. "How do you ever manage it?" she added.

In truth, I adore reading so much I don't find it difficult. I was the kind of kid who read the backs of cereal boxes at breakfast.  Continue reading...