| "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words" | |
|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |
 Promotional image featuring Merl Reagle, Homer, Lisa, and Will Shortz. | |
| Episode no. | Season 20 Episode 6 |
| Directed by | Nancy Kruse |
| Written by | Tim Long[1] |
| Featured music | Word Up! by Cameo |
| Production code | KABF19 |
| Original air date | November 16, 2008 |
| Guest appearances | |
| Merl Reagle as himself Will Shortz as himself Scott Thompson as Grady | |
| Episode features | |
| Couch gag | In a reference to the Vesuvius eruption, the family sits on a bench dressed in togas, and is covered in volcanic ash. |
"Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words" is the sixth episode of the twentieth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 16, 2008. In the episode, Lisa discovers that she has a talent for solving crossword puzzles, and she enters a crossword tournament. Lisa's feelings are hurt when she discovers that Homer bet against her in the championship match.
The episode was inspired by Patrick Creadon's 2006 documentary Wordplay, and was written by Tim Long, and directed by Nancy Kruse. Crossword puzzle creators Merl Reagle and Will Shortz guest star as themselves in the episode while Scott Thompson has a cameo as Grady, a character he first voiced in "Three Gays of the Condo". Reagle created all of the crossword puzzles that appear in the episode and as a promotion for the episode, a special Simpsons-related message (dedicated to this episode) that appeared in The New York Times Sunday crossword on November 16, 2008.
The episode received generally positive reviews from critics, and finished fourth in its timeslot during its initial airing on Fox, with a 3.9 Nielsen rating.