Friday, July 3, 2026 — Happy Fourth Eve! 🎇

Barbara Lin is a highly versatile constructor — she has made crosswords for every day of the week, and this is her second Friday creation.The grid had a daunting amount of white space in it, with 4 grid-spanning answers. Fortunately, the clues went easy on the pop culture references and both cohosts — solving independently as is their wont — were able to get through the puzzle without too many naticks.The clues themselves were excellent. Few could resist 8D, Essayist who wrote "Not many sounds in life, and I include all urban and all rural sounds, exceed in interest a knock at the door", ELIA. We wager that only the most dour would frown at 28D, Pros in Washington, YEAS. And only the most jaded would be unimpressed with 34A, Makes a return that hits the net?, EFILES.In addition to the crossword, we have a Fun Fact Friday™️ segment for your listening pleasure, and an exceptional piece of listener mail. Enjoy!Show note imagery: On the left, TEMPERA; on the right, TEMPURA. Whatever you do, do not confuse the two: painting with TEMPURA could be highly problematic 😉🎨We love feedback! Send us a text...Contact Info:We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected], we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!