Upcoming Episodes plus STUFF for "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words" (KABF19)

11/23 - PRE-EMPTED for "24: Redemption"

11/30 - Mypods and Broomsticks (KABF20) Bart becomes friends with a Muslim boy after an incident at the Mapple Store (as in Mapple Mypod), but when Homer offends them, he goes over to their house to apologize, only to discover what he thinks is a plot to destroy the Springfield Mall

12/7 ** NOTE TIME ** 8:30 Eastern, 7:30 Central, 7:00 Mountain, 8:00 Pacific - The Burns and the Bees (KABF21) Mr. Burns wins the Boston Celtics in a poker game and wants to build a new basketball stadium in Springfield, but Lisa has a problem with the site, which is on the last bee colony in the town; Homer tries to solve the problem by getting the bees to mate - with Africanized "killer" bees * The show will air 30 minutes later than normal in the Eastern and Central time zones because of the BCS Selection Show at 8:00 Eastern (airing live throughout the USA, so it is on at 6:00 Mountain and 5:00 Pacific)

STUFF for "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words" (KABF19)
--------------------------------------------
Written by Tim Long
Directed by Nancy Kruse
Blackboard: none
Couch: A Pompeii-era Simpson family on a stone bench is covered  by
       volcanic ash
Special Guest Voice: Merl Reagle, Will Shortz, Scott Thompson,
        Marcia Wallace
Also Starring: Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, Russi Taylor,
        Karl Wiedergott
Crossword Puzzles Constructed by Merl Reagle
Overseas Animation: Akom
TV Rating: TV-PG-DV

REFERENCES Life in Hell (the "words no longer in the dictionary" remind me of Matt Groening's annual list of "forbidden words" - in fact, forbidden words is the subject of the first LIH cartoon) Lisa Comics (Lisa doing word puzzles) EABF12 (Homer's former roommate wants to break up with someone)

DYN
...the man who proposed to Miss Hoover didn't use her first name?
...Homer's Wednesday 2 PM breakup is Pat & Pat, and his Monday
   morning breakups are Mark & Jane, Mark & June, and Mark & Jim?
...Gloria wants to break up with Snake?  (Maybe she'll get back
   together with Mr. Burns?)
...the crosswords Lisa thought up tended to be British style (where
   usually there are no "blocks" of letters)?
...one of the clues Lisa has in her crosswords is "San Francisco
   People Mover" while that day's New York Times puzzle had the clue
   "Driving alternative in S.F.", both with the answer "BART" (the San
   Francisco area subway system)?
...in Lisa's half of the bracket in the crossword tournament were
   Dr. Hibbert, one of the van Houtens, Arnie Pye, Database, and
   Captain McCallister, and in the other half were Miss Hoover, Gil,
   Professor Frink, and someone named Snyder?
...Lisa didn't realize that Gil couldn't have been that bad with
   crosswords as he had made it to the tournament final?

GOOFS / FREEZE FRAME / WHATNOT Maggie's "lemonade pool" disappears when the lemonade stand is destroyed.

Didn't Mrs. Krabappel already break up with Principal Skinner?

The New York Times crossword for 11/18/2008 was the same one Lisa solved at the end of the show, complete with the two hidden messages, with one exception; the TV version says "a hundred and forty-four letters," but the actual version leaves out "and". Merl Reagle's syndicated crossword for that date also contained some Simpsons clues - I'll throw in some spoiler space here in case you are still working on it: 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

The syndicated puzzle had a "sort of" hidden message (it was mentioned in one of the clues); reading the letters along the diagonal starting at the bottom right revealed: FABDCAFDBBBCBBBCEFFFF which the last 21 notes of the theme song (all of which are natural, except for the E which is flat - this was also an answer in the puzzle)

Also, a number of clues had character names hidden in them; for example, "Archrival of the Longhorns" (with ampersand) is "texasa&MAGGIEs", and "Breakfast option" is "sausagePATTY"

In both puzzles, the last Across answer - "Driving alternative in S.F." (referring to the subway) and "Homer's imp son" - is "BART"

-- Don S1.1 MAG+++ LIS++ BAR+ SKI+ MrsK+ MissH+ P&S# FLA- (heresy!) f+++ n+++ Ilps(w) $+++ M46 No - not Snake and Gloria?!

My cable system's on-screen guide just gave the title as "Homer and Lisa Exchange." I was trying to figure out what the heck *that* was a reference to!

Wouldn't that be the "boys will be boys" judge?

Is this puzzle available online? I know someone posted a link to a solution, but is there a way to do the puzzle online?

Brett A. Pasternack wrote:

Why, yes. Yes, it would. I keep forgetting he has a name.

The New York Times charges for access to their crossword puzzles online - and the Times has a reputation for aggressively protecting its copyrights (especially when they charge for the material).

-- Don