Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

In honor of the Paris Olympics, Paolo Pasco has put together a fabulous tribute, one that has to be seen to be believed. It was slightly more challenging than a typical Sunday crossword, but that must surely pale in insignificance compared to the challenge of constructing it! To see what we mean, check out the completed grid at xwordinfo.com , and, of course, check out our analysis of it ... right...

A taxing Saturday crossword -- not by chance, Saturday's are engineered to be that way -- but Barbara Lin and Matthew Stock managed to create a very nice bit of work, so nice, in fact, that it has won our JAMCOTWA™️ (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award). it was a difficult decision -- we had many fine puzzles this week -- but this one just took the cake (and hence the award), for all th...

Andy Kravis has produced a most excellent Friday crossword , his 27th!, with some awesomely deceiving clues. For example ... 36A, Jam session?, SLAMDUNKCONTEST (awesome!); 46A, Breed once known as the "Tax Collector's Dog", DOBERMAN (woof!); and 40D, Powers of ______ (landmark documentary about the scale of the universe), TEN (and it deserves a 10, highly recommended!). Show note im...

A tricky Thursday crossword by Damon Gulczynski, one which may (or may not) presage what the NYTimes serves up on Friday and Saturday. For those of you new to crosswords, welcome, and be aware that in the NYTimes puzzles typically increase in difficulty over the course of the week, Monday being easiest, Saturday being the most difficult (sometimes fiendishly so), with Sunday usually characterized...

A debut crossword by Shaun Phillips, with a theme that's sure to grab you, among a captivating coterie of clever clues. A few worthy of note include the enlightening 41D, Possessive that's often confused with a contraction, WHOSE; the pithy 34A, 3/14, PIDAY; and one of our favorite phrases, 7D, "Cool _______!", BEANS. Show note imagery: A Wisconsin ICEHUT in situ, and if you ha...

Something to sing about, a nice, not TOOCUTE Tuesday crossword by Sarah Sinclair and Amie Walker that has a musical theme, the second in two days! Is Joel Fagliano trying to tell us something? Regardless, we got a good VIBE from this puzzle, and would PREFER to see more from these constructors in the weeks/months/years to come! Show note imagery: Some GENOVIA swag We love feedback! Send us a text....

Today's crossword won't put you INASPOT, nor drive you UPATREE, thanks to Laura Dershewitz's cruciverbally MADSKILLS. What this crossword will do is put you in a good mood, at least it did for us, for reasons that are spelled out in today's episode. Show note imagery: A scene from AIDA We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, cros...

For those of you who've forgotten your philosophy class, you  might want to bone up on the subject before tackling today's crossword , for reasons that will become apparent ... as soon as you've tackled today's crossword! We enjoyed the theme, as well as the cracklingly good clues that accompanied it, that goodness courtesy of today's author, John Ewbank, with editorial as...

Today's puzzle , courtesy of Ricky J. Sirois, was a definite challenge for one of our cohosts, whereas the other had to verify that it was indeed a Saturday crossword, so quickly did they tear through the grid. But both did enjoy the solve, as some of the clues were absolutely inspired. For all the deets, as well as the announcement of this week's JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The...

An educational Friday crossword , with not too much razzle-dazzle, rather, just the right amount. Educationally, we had clues like 20A, River traveled by passenger boats known as dahabeahs, NILE; 17A, Setting of a date for Edward and Vivian in "Pretty Woman", OPERA; and 15A, Strait of ___, narrowest part of the English Channel, DOVER. Besides the crossword, we also have a terrific Fun Fa...

An astronomy-themed crossword popped up this Thursday, a theme so near and dear to Mike's heart that he spent ... an inordinate amount of time contemplating the clues. Jean, on the other hand, solved the puzzle at nearly the speed of light, which explains why she looked like a strand of spaghetti as she was finishing up. Besides the ingenious theme, there were quite a few clues worthy of note...

A slightly crunchier than usual Wednesday crossword , unsurprising when Alex Eaton-Salners is at the helm (and editor Joel Fagliano's on the crows nest). We had some literary clues, such as 3D, _______ Gawande, author of the 2014 best seller "Being Mortal", ATUL; and 4D, Poet Pablo, NERUDA. We had product placement clues, such as 17A, Nail polish brand with colors like "Berry F...

A delicious Tuesday crossword by Kelly Richardson, notable for a suggestive and quite apropos grid, a lot of fun clues, and the unexpected appearance of LAYETTE in the grid (not a debut, but certainly new to us).  A few clues caught our eye but didn't make it into the podcast, including 27A, Tenet, PRECEPT; 48A, Smart society, MENSA (admission to which requires you to be able to spell PRECEPT...

Today's crossword , by Tarun Krishnamurthy, was a perfect Monday offering, not too difficult, but with our favorite kind of theme, the LOL kind. This was Tarun's debut NYTimes Crossword, and he's also the first crossword constructor we've ever interviewed, so check it out, and, as always, let us know what you think. Show note imagery: A BOCABURGER, yum! We love feedback! Send u...

Jeff Chen is a master cruciverbalist, and he is in fine form today with an amazing theme. The theme idea is simple, but constructing it must've been a major challenge. Confused? Check out today's episode, and all will become clear! Show note imagery: Beware the REDTIDES, algal blooms that are, apparently, on the rise . We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener ma...

A fine Saturday crossword by Eli Cotham, a relatively smooth solve but with a lot of fine verbal baubles to enjoy along the way. We have all the deets inside, as well as our JAMCOTWA -- Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award -- winner, so we humbly implore you to download, listen up and ... enjoy! Show note imagery: One of many WPAMURALS, this one in the Cohen Building, in Washington, D.C. We l...

A nice Friday crossword by Malaika Handa, with some fun cluing, a few singers worth listening to, and a whopping 6 debut entries, including 17A, It has many twists and turns, CRAZYSTRAW, and the splendid 5D, "Get with the program, will you?", TRYTOKEEPUP. Definitely worth 5 squares on the JAMCR scale! Show note imagery: HELLOKITTY, Japan's tourism ambassador We love feedback! Send u...

Don't bother looking for rebuses (rebusae)? in t oday's grid - there aren't any. But the theme that we have instead is still tricky and amusing, and we doff our hats in what we imagine to be the general direction of Mat Shelden, the author of today's fine work, a debut in the NYTimes.  Show note imagery: PEETA, who, according to 21A, is Katniss's partner in "The Hunge...

Today's crossword, Hal Moore's 10th for the NYTimes, was a little bit novel, a tad quirky, but here at JAMDTNYTC HQ we adore novel and quirky. It helps that the supporting cast of entries populating the rest of the grid were also quite well done. Our collective judgement, therefore, is that Hal Moore should immediately start to work on his 11th NYTimes crossword, we look forward to seein...

There was GLEE In the grid, literally, in this Tuesday crossword by Gary Larson and Amy Ensz. A few recent answers made reappearances - we just saw 68A, Ensemble of eight, OCTET, and it's been less than a month since 9D, Unit of butter, PAT, melted into view. One answer that hasn't been clued as such in aeons also arose, that being 14A, Thrice repeated words in one of Gertrude Stein&apos...

Quality control at the NYTimes crossword desk is remarkable, week after week they crank out great, great, puzzles -- and today's is just a fine example, a theme that is light and airy -- if it were a food stuff, it'd definitely be a meringue pie. Deets inside, so have a listen, and, as always, we'd deeply appreciate a 5 star review wherever you're listening to this podcast. Sho...

A magnificent start to our crossword-solving week, courtesy of David Karp. The theme is inspired, the rest of the puzzle just as well crafted, definitely 5 squares on the JAMCR scale, and certain a contenda, as they like to say, for this week's JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award). Show note imagery: Light Blue Nursery, one of many great works by artist ALMA Thomas Side note:...

Today's crossword pegged the meter as far as difficulty was concerned, each clue only wanting to begrudgingly give up its secrets, and some not at all! We have the whole blow-by-blow (by-blow-by-blow-by ...), so download today's podcast to hear about our epic struggle. While you're listening, feel free to applaud the deserving winner of this week's JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Cross...

A very nice bit of work by Trent H. Evans, his 11th crossword for the NYTimes. Jean found it a piece o'cake, Mike found it more of a bowl of CRANACHAN (see our Tuesday, July 2 episode if your knowledge of CRANACHAN is wanting, after which you'll probably be wanting some CRANACHAN 😀). Beyond the clues mentioned in today's podcast, we'd also like to give a shoutout to 2D, Billin...

Today's firecracker of a crossword was really two puzzles in one - a crossword, that was not particularly difficult, and an ingenious, completely different puzzle embedded within. Jean cracked both, but Mike was a tad wobbly when it came to the second, as you will hear in today's episode. Happy 4th of July, everyone! Show note imagery: Alhambra, a fine example of MOORISH architecture We...