Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

A themeless Sunday crossword , but all in a good cause: the least number of clues, and the most number of debuts, in a Sunday! Only an accomplished constructor like Sam Ezersky could pull this off, and to hear how he did it, as well as our take on this cruciverbal marvel, subscribe, download, listen up, and enjoy. Finally,  be sure and tune in tomorrow for another exciting episode of our award win...

John Hawksley pulls out all the stops on this one : no theme (typical for Saturday), but some jaw-droppingly difficult clues that will leave you awed, agog, and amazed (which also sounds like a great name for a law firm 😀). We have all the deets inside, as well as this week's JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award), so for all that goodness, subscribe, download, listen up, and e...

A fabulous, fun  Friday crossword by a reliably great crossword constructor, Robin Weintraub. It has such pleasing clues as 57A, Contronym that means moving quickly or not moving at all, FAST 😀 ; 56A, Alternative to an elbow, PSST 😀 😀 ; and 29A, Take the edge off, say, ERODE 😀 😀 😀. Yes, the entire grid is just like that, sparkling clues that make you want to stand up and applaud. Bravo, Robi...

It's not clear that the phrase "come for the theme, stay for the clues" has ever been applied to a crossword before -- ChatGPT denied knowledge -- but it really does apply to this one. It has an attention-grabbing theme (thanks to multiple gray and embedded-circle squares), but the clues are 😘 (the closest that we could come to a chef's kiss Emoji). We cover most of them in to...

A very pleasing crossword by Jennifer Lee and Victor Galson, who managed to sneakily embed a chyron into the grid. They also seemed to have included a mini-French theme, with 36A, "Ta-da!", ETVOILA, and 18D, Belle's counterpart, BETE. [We momentarily entertained the notion that the answer to 2D, AMI, would also fit the bill, but, alas, the clue, was "Are you telling this story...

You might want to have a pillow handy while working on today's crossword , so when you figure out the theme and your jaw drops, no serious injury results. Yes, the crossword is that good. For all the deets ( we do  not want to spoil things here), subscribe, download, listen up, and enjoy! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast...

A fine Monday crossword by Eric Rollfing, with one of those memorable Monday themes that makes one ponder the incredible ingenuity of the many NYTimes Crossword constructors. There were a few sneakier clues in the grid, including 59D, Poached component of the dish shakshuka, EGG, and (especially since clued without any reference to churches ) 53D, Semicircular building recess, APSE, but fortunatel...

In honor of Pride month, the NYTimes Crossword editors have broken out the ol' color palette . They may have previously embedded color (other than gray) in the grid , but not very often - so if this is not a debut, it certainly is a rare event. The colors were put to good use, though, in a theme that was both a celebration of Pride month and the ingenuity of the crossword constructor, Rafael...

A superb Saturday crossword by John Westwig, challenging -- as one would expect from the putatively hardest crossword of the week! -- but fair, with a merciful (from Mike's perspective) dearth of pop culture references (44A, Actress Sink of "Stranger Things", SADIE, being one of the rare exceptions; we'll give 10A, Winner of three Emmys for Outstanding Game Show Host, SAJAK a p...

A much easier crossword than Thursday's, both cohosts were able to get through it without too much difficulty - a fact which Jean attributes to a (for her) novel solving technique. To find out what that entails, we cordially invite you to subscribe / download / listen up / enjoy. As promised, our poll -- in which you get to pick which should be the JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Wee...

A tricky Thursday crossword (as Thursday crosswords are wont to be), with the sort of highly ingenious theme that suggests the Steinberg CLAN might be involved, as, gasp(!), they were. And that theme was nestled within a constellation of clever clues, a goodly portion of which are discussed in today's episode, so download, listen up, and ... enjoy! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact...

A fine Wednesday crossword by Brandon Koppy, who has been known to crank it up to 11, but here keeps the difficulty level mercifully moderate. The theme was fun, the crosses entertaining and educational, what's not to like? Nothing, as far as we can tell, hence the perfect 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, cr...

If you've ever gone birding and had trouble actually  spotting any birds, then today's crossword will seem familiar; eight of our winged friends, hiding in plain sight. Details within, as well as an epic Triplet Tuesday Contest, so download, listen up, enjoy ... and don't forget to tell all your friends about us, too! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listene...

Any crossword that manages to work the phrase WHATTHEDEUCE into the grid (as this one does, 47A, Quaint cry of surprise), as well as JAMBAJUICE (60A, Smoothie chain founded in 1990) deserves some sort of recognition -- and so, we gladly give it, it being 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. Bravo! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@ic...

One of our dynamic duo found today's crossword to be a major challenge - the other tore through it so quickly that her keyboard was smoking. And if the pronoun didn't give it away, then listening to this episode definitely will -- so do it now! Just a reminder, the NYTimes Crossword is an excellent way to keep your  little gray cells sharp and keep up with the latest pop culture referenc...

Woah, if you thought Friday's crossword was tough, better sit down for this one because it's a wild ride, with 13 debut answers, and the crossword itself is also a debut ... for the constructor, Samuel Smalley, from Ottawa, Canada 🇨🇦. All the deets are inside, so have a listen, and let us know what you think. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop u...

A challenging Friday crossword, especially the dreaded northeast corner,  home to quite a few posers (31A, Tough nut to crack, POSER 😀), and one clue that required a lot of scholarship to suss out (10D, Knowledge, or a means to acquire it, SCHOLARSHIP 😀 😀). In short, this crossword was 14A, "Smart!", VERYCLEVER. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail!...

A clever Thursday crossword, with an inspired theme and virtually no crosswordese to sully its fine grid. We approve, and hereby, by the power vested in us by the state of Wisconsin (ed: that would be absolutely none , nada , nil 😀) we bestow upon it the much vaunted and fully-maxed-out 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us...

If you're a fan of old-timey video games, then this crossword will be right up your alley, so to speak -- the only remaining mystery is, how old is "old-timey", and which particular video game do we have in mind. To find all that out, as well as to hear why the USPS and AP agree to disagree when it comes to state abbreviations, just tap download, tap play, and tap into a fun convo!...

A deftly constructed crossword by Lee Taylor , with a nifty theme and a bevy of supporting clues that elevate it above the merely "good" to that loftier echelon, "good enough to get into the NYTimes".  A few clues of note: 10D, Free, as a seat, UNTAKEN; 12D, Guernica painter, PICASSO; and (in keeping with a 2-day trend of expressing east in a foreign language), 31A, German sunr...

Overall, a pleasing Sunday crossword, although Mike - in his capacity as founding member of the "Don't Drop Your G's Society" - did have a few things to say about the theme. Strike that, he had ATON of things to say about the theme, and to find out what those were, and to get Jean's alternate take on the same, you are cordially invited to download, listen up, and enjoy! We...

A series of lively clues made for a vastly entertaining Saturday crossword . Notables include the debut 32A, Neuropsychological trait in which one might ascribe colors to numbers or tastes to words, SYNESTHESIA (!); the thought-provoking 32D, Capricorn's symbol, SEAGOAT 🐐; and the droll 38A, Don't do it, doc!, HARM 😀  All in all a fine Saturday, and for all the deets - as well as the a...

David Distenfeld is on a role. Last month he had a Monday crossword published, and today has weighed in with a tricky Friday puzzle -- just on the right side of impossible (although as always, YMMV depending on a) how long you've been doing the crossword and b) just how much trivia/lore you've managed to stow away). In today's puzzle, the number of pop culture references were mercif...

A tricky Thursday crossword - with, surprisingly, no rebus, but transformed by the unexpected appearance of the lowly comma. Jean tore through the crossword so quickly that she didn't even recognize that a theme was in play, whereas Mike had much more time to linger lovingly over the grid and savor the care that went into its creation. For those of you wanting to go beyond just the facts, her...

A perfectly balanced mid-week crossword , with a clever theme, and some novel words/phrases -- 12A, Body of water between Sicily and Greece, IONIANSEA; 53D, Popular booth in New York's Times Square, TKTS; and 45D, Stand that a speaker might take, PODIUM 😀. Another plus, there were almost no naticks (notable exception: 62A, San Bernardino suburb whose name means "beautiful hill", LO...