Joe Marquez comes down to earth. By Sam Corbin THURSDAY PUZZLE — In the world of word puzzles, pop culture gets a bad rap. We tend to think of it as unserious stuff when compared with, say, history or classic literature. But I’ll tell you what, solvers ...

Elizabeth C. Gorski is the founder of Crossword Nation and writes a daily puzzle for King Features Syndicate. She has created crosswords for the New York Times and other publications.

There's nothing like beating The New York Times' daily crossword puzzle. You get a buzz, a jolt of pride that makes you feel like you could banter with the best of them. You're a genius, AI-enabled gadgets and glasses are wasted on you,