Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words/References

Cultural references

 * "Word Up" by Cameo is played during Lisa's cross-word competition.
 * "Cherish" by David Cassidy is played after Homer wins Lisa back at the end of the episode.

Trivia

 * As spoken, Homer's message to Lisa was, "Dear Lisa, you make me so happy. Really, really, really happy. Sorry, he told me I needed a hundred-and-forty-four letters. What was my point again? Oh, right. Bouvier or Simpson, I cherish you." For the record this little speech has 147 letters, not 144.
 * The words in Lisa's Hopscotch Crossword are: justice, happier, vegan, rebel, practicing, over, think, PTA, cerebral, rights, saxophone, playtime, lemonade, paradox, Jimbo, recess, Ralph, overachiever, recital, Krabappel, uniter, PhysEd, phenomena, and tree.
 * Words that have been removed from the dictionary in the past year: SKEDADDLE, NIXONIAN, ZOUNDS, MIMEOGRAPH, HOOTENANNY.
 * Just after Bart says "Speaking of San Francisco people mover--" the show cuts to Homer at gay club helping Grady break up. During this transition the following can be seen on the screen for a split second: Scene 151, Take 2, Akom and Film Roman Fix
 * Tim Long credited the 2006 documentary, Wordplay, which chronicles the national crossword puzzle championships, as the main inspiration for this episode.