Joshua Kosman
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joshuakosman.bsky.social
Joshua Kosman
@joshuakosman.bsky.social
2.8K followers 440 following 3.7K posts
Retired classical music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. Co-constructor, Out of Left Field cryptic crossword. pacificaisle.substack.com. He/him
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joshuakosman.bsky.social
SHOES for INDUSTRY in the Zohran font. SHOES for THE DEAD in the Zohran font.
November 9, 2025 at 12:25 AM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
Fire engulfs rear of train, except for the concession stand (5,3)

In our latest Out of Left Field cryptic crossword, sent to subscribers this morning, @hpicciotto.bsky.social and I explore an improbable railway disaster.

www.patreon.com/posts/puzzle...
A train car in flames.
November 6, 2025 at 6:20 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
All-time banger

sarahcandersen.com/page/76
Four-panel cartoon by Sarah Anderson titled CATS LIVING TOGETHER. 1. White cat, snuggling black cat, says "I love you." Black cat replies "I love you too." 2. The two cats sit in wordless bliss, eyes slitted contentedly. 3. Same panel except white cat's eyes are open with a sudden realization. 4. White cat cocks his fist and says "Actually you know what".
October 31, 2025 at 8:13 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
San Francisco
A protest sign with a drawing of a large orange butterfly captioned THE ONLY MONARCH I WANT!
October 18, 2025 at 8:57 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
Arcane comedic art: going blue (10)

In our latest Out of Left Field cryptic crossword, sent to subscribers yesterday, @hpicciotto.bsky.social and I delve into the world of dirty jokes.

www.patreon.com/posts/puzzle...
Lenny Bruce performing with a handheld microphone.
October 17, 2025 at 4:44 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
how Phineas got the nickname Huey long
An orange and white cat stretched to maximum length on the living room rug.
October 2, 2025 at 2:03 AM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
Post a fictional comedian who definitely would accept an invitation to the Riyadh Comedy Festival.
RIgoletto (baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat) in brightly colored jester's motley from the San Francisco Opera's recent production of that opera.
September 30, 2025 at 10:06 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
Name a film from before 1950.
Movie poster for the 1945 film “Dead of Night” featuring Michael Redgrave as the terrified ventriloquist Maxwell Frere with his dummy Hugo.
September 23, 2025 at 12:23 AM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
One of the central literary texts of my childhood:
Book cover of P.D. Eastman’s “Sam and the Firefly” showing Sam (an owl) perched on a tree branch next to Gus the firefly.
September 2, 2025 at 1:19 AM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
Sorry @avcx.bsky.social but my answer is better. (Great puzzle otherwise though!)
Screenshot of a crossword puzzle showing the clue "URL ending that doesn't always signify a reliable source" with the answer GOV.
September 1, 2025 at 4:41 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
Karen posts "Why can't I find a guy like this ugh" over a picture of the young Robert Plant Robert Plant: Hey Karen: No Robert Plant: I'm literally the guy in the pic.
August 30, 2025 at 6:12 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
In the footsteps of giants
CHAPTER I. Down the Rabbit-Hole Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, “and what is the use of a book,” thought Alice “without pictures or conversations?”
August 9, 2025 at 3:33 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
If the sculpture be rusty
Richard Serra it must be
Five rusty-looking sculpted plates.
July 18, 2025 at 5:57 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
Crosswords by the Mississippi #winning
A bald bearded white man in a white shirt (me) stands by the Mississippi River with a clipboard full of puzzles and a shit-eating grin.
July 17, 2025 at 4:49 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
Share a bartender from a film or television

Howard da Silva in The Lost Weekend

The unutterable contempt of "One's too many and a hundred's not enough."
Howard da Silva as Nat the bartender in "The Lost Weekend." He stands in front of a rack of glasses with a bottle in his hand, his face dripping scorn.
July 10, 2025 at 7:03 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
A head of lettuce.
July 4, 2025 at 2:40 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
He was a year ahead of me in high school, and honestly not a terribly bad guy. But this. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_A...
During the Detroit newspaper strike of 1995–1997, Albom crossed the picket line and returned to work.
June 30, 2025 at 9:46 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
Weird thing general has: sleepwear (10)

In our latest Out of Left Field cryptic crossword, sent to subscribers yesterday, @hpicciotto.bsky.social and I celebrate the bedroom style of Buck Turgidson and his peers.

www.patreon.com/posts/puzzle...
George C. Scott as General Buck Turgidson en deshabille in "Dr. Strangelove."
June 28, 2025 at 5:25 AM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
meet me at midnight
A car with a license plate reading MRXIAO.
June 28, 2025 at 2:16 AM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
Apologies, I’ve lost the source. But here are the gents fortuitously answering that exact question in an interview.
"It's one of the largest buildings in the world. You know, an extravagant structure with a rotating restaurant on top." — Walter Becker "It exists only in our collective imagination. In the Steely Dan lexicon it serves as an archetype of a building that houses great corporations." — Donald Fagen
June 26, 2025 at 2:17 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
Misbehaves, wrecking US pact (4,2)

The latest Out of Left Field cryptic crossword by @hpicciotto.bsky.social and me, sent to subscribers yesterday, was — and I cannot stress this enough — in no way inspired by recent events.

www.patreon.com/posts/puzzle...
Keir Starmer and Donald Trump cosplaying as international leaders.
June 20, 2025 at 2:23 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
Sign from Futurama: 0 DAYS SINCE LAST ARCADIA REFERENCE.
June 20, 2025 at 1:14 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
This has been on my bookshelf for so many years I’d stopped even seeing it (pub date 2000).

It’s the recycling bin for you, Yuri! (But also, RIP the Schwann catalog 😢)
An ancient edition of the Schwann catalog with a cover picture of Yuri Temirkanov
June 10, 2025 at 4:15 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
Cryptics.
Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate, as Walter Brooke (Mr. McGuire) says "just one word" to him.
May 23, 2025 at 3:11 PM
joshuakosman.bsky.social
Since we seem to be doing the "laughing hard" prompt on Mother's Day, here's Mom and me on the last morning of her life. I miss her constantly.
An old guy and his mother laughing their fool heads off at something.
May 11, 2025 at 4:49 PM