Did anyone catch “The Simpsons” last night? It was all about Lisa discovering a love of crossword puzzles and entering a crossword tournament. As a crossword lover, the episode hooked me. But the most amazing moment occurred at the end.

In the last few minutes, Lisa did a crossword that happened to be yesterday’s actual New York Times crossword.

And it turned out that while that puzzle was a regular themed Sunday puzzle, it also had two independent references to last night’s episode. The letters along the northwest-to-southeast diagonal, and the first letters of every clue read in order, both had special messages from Homer to Lisa that figured into the plot of the episode and were mentioned in it. Frickin’ amazing.

Also, New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz and the creator of yesterday’s puzzle, Merl Reagle, both appeared in the episode.

Here’s how it all came about. More here.