Welcome to the slop era of online shopping.

Obscure meme costumes are sucking the joy from the holiday.

And new fiction by Elizabeth Strout. Two short book reviews.

No wonder Russia finds its useful idiots among the extremely online.

Join me on weekly deep dives into my favorite words and phrases from Atlantic crosswords.

Solvers must develop strong intuitions about what entries are possible and how they can be clued.

A collection of Atlantic writing on the joy and frustration of the quest