Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

In celebration of the new year, we have a jam-packed episode. First, we have our usual meticulous dissection of today's puzzle; then, the big reveal for the JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award); next, a first, our predictions for the new year in NYTimes Crosswords; a return of "Oh, That's How You Pronounce It!", and last but not least, listener-mail. So please s...

Brendan Emmett Quigley has crafted an elegantly enjoyable Friday crossword -- clues that are brilliant (54A, One who is mean as the Dickens?, SCROOGE), enlightening (15A, Whom the New York Times co-named athlete of the year, with Babe Ruth, in 1920), MANOWAR, and impossible to spell (21A, Missed-the-turn maneuver, UEY). We liked this crossword ATON, THATSFORSURE; and to find out precisely why, jus...

A fine crossword by Claire Rimkus and Rachel Fabi, with a brilliant theme that left us eLATEd, and a few words and phrases to add to the ol' lexicon, including: 64D, Body part affected by heterochromia, EYE (for the record, we knew EYE; it was heterochromia that we were unacquainted with) 40D, Euphemism for a lesbian couple, GALPALS 15D, "I really appreciate it!," in textspeak, TYVM...

An homage to female ROCKANDROLL artists  who have been inducted twice into the HALLOFFAME -- once with collaborators, and once as a solo act. Several other musicians managed to slip into the grid: to find out who they are, as well as some other absolutely fascinating TIL (Today I Learned) areas of the grid, all you need do is subscribe, download, listen and learn! We love feedback! Send us a text....

Lynn Lempel had her first NYTimes crossword published in 1979, and this was her 99th! According to xwordinfo.com, which tracks these sorts of things, most of her crosswords appear on Monday (71), with most of the rest (16) appearing on Tuesday. Jean found today's crossword to be fairly straightforward: Mike found it a bit of a challenge, especially in the vicinity of 9D, White wine named for...

Once again, like CLOCKWORK, the NYTimes has come up with a fine Monday crossword to start our problem-solving week. Apart from a few snags - 1A, Floating ice chunk, BERG (not FLOE); 33A, College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, COE (not UNI);   30D, Bitter part of an orange, PITH (not PEEL or RIND) ; and 61D, A rainbow may be seen as a good one, SIGN (not OMEN) - the crossword was fine: and come to think of...

A challenging but fair Christmas Eve crossword, with 2 full width, and 2 full height answers that were reasonably familiar, although the clues that led to those answers suitably cryptic (e.g., 57A, Symphony originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, BEETHOVENSTHIRD, and 2D, Revenue source for a Girl Scout troop, DOORTODOORSALES). Jean tore through the grid in under 1/3 the time it took Mike, who...

A fine Friday oeuvre by Brandon Koppy, and a timely one too, esp.  11D, Follower of an arctic blast, COLDSPELL,  4D, Character in "Frozen" who says "Some people are worth melting for", OLAF, and when things get really nasty outside, 51D, Relief org., FEMA. We also have a very cool Fun Fact Friday segment, so gather your favorite hot beverage and then subscribe, download, listen...

A dizzying, dazzling, delightful Thursday crossword by David Steinberg that has to be seen to be believed -- and even then you might not! Clearly DS is in a league of his own when it comes to crossword construction, we are in awe, as in, aww, that was great! Can we have an encore? 😀  We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.c...

A highly educational Wednesday crossword, with a slew of TIL (Today I Learned) entries, including the fascinating 9D, Metal next to tungsten on the periodic table, RHENIUM, which neither Jean nor Mike, in spite of having taken several chemistry classes, had ever heard of. It is true that a number of heavier elements have been added to the periodic table, um, periodically, but the lower numbered el...

A clever Tuesday theme, great clues and the opportunity to pronounce the word slivovitz - in short, a perfect crossword, and short is how these show notes will be as well, since everything you need to know about this crossword is in today's podcast - subscribe, download, listen up and enjoy! For today's FB tie-in, let us know on our Facebook page what your favorite EDDIE Rabbit song is. ...

A fine and definitely seasonally-appropriate Monday crossword from Jennifer Nutt, creator of today's puzzle. You didn't need to have a brain the size of an ENIAC, or even an IMAC, for that matter, to succeed, really just a GIFT with language, to solve this GIFT of a crossword. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud...

Today's crossword was themeless, but there was a lot of music in the grid. Between 7D, Pink Floyd co-founder Barrett, SYD, to 87D, Soul singer Thomas, CARLA, there were numerous other references: 31A, All-woman rock band with the 1982 hit "Vacation", GOGOS; the curious 43A, When doubled, a classic Mardis Gras tune, IKO; and finally 52A, 2017 chart-topping hit whose YouTube video was...

A fine Saturday crossword, arguably less challenging then yesterday's slogfest, but with some deftly written clues, such as ... 53A,  Detail-oriented sort, IDOTTER (😀); 54A, Clerical worker?, PRIEST (😀 😀 ); and 18D, "I spilled _______ on my dog, now he's gone": Steven Wright, SPOTREMOVER (too many 😀's to list). We liked this crossword a lot, and we've got the podc...

An exhausting, exhilarating, and, let's just say it, excellent crossword by Kameron Austin Collins, with a grid-full of superb clues and answers, as one would expect when KAC is in charge. All the deets are inside, as well as a Fun Fact Friday exploration of a very popular fish (challenge to the reader: can you guess it before you listen? -- let us know!), so download, listen up, and enjoy. W...

What can we say about a crossword that includes the word VICHYSSOISE? First, that we are in awe of it, and to be more precise its constructor, Bruce Haight, as we are just amazed that he can even spell VICHYSSOISE -- Mike took about 3 running starts to get it sorted out. Second, it reminds us once again of Will Shortz's towering genius, as we now realize it was portended by yesterday's 9...

A delicious Wednesday crossword by Matthew Stock, with references to PANERA, CRONUTS and -- well,  OEUF is a bit, ahem, oeuffy, er, iffy -- but regardless, it was a good crossword, with a delightful theme. We have all the deets inside just waiting for you to sink your teeth into, so subscribe, download, listen up, and enjoy! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail!...

An intriguing Tuesday crossword by Julietta Gervase, who undoubtedly put her soul into today's crossword, but also managed to sneak in her name - at least a part, as in 54D, James in both the Blues and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame, ETTA. Very clever, Julietta, we saw what you did there! There were also a few askew clues, as in 5D, Takes a dive, perhaps, SCUBAS (did not know that it could exist...

At least one of our dynamic duo found this crossword to be woof, er, we mean rough, owing to a highly improbable series of poor word choices, and a loss of situational awareness causing this individual (who will remain nameless, at least until you listen to the episode) to mistake one country for another approximately a hemisphere apart. And, just to be clear, when we say "at least one",...

If you suffer from entomophobia , then whatever you do, don't do today's crossword! But it should be safe to listen to today's podcast, as we only mention insects -- the bane of entomophobia sufferers everywhere -- en passant. Beyond the insect kingdom, the grid had a lot of educational clues and answers: both cohosts were surprised to learn that 33D, Sublime soprano, was a DIVA, ha...

An exceptional Saturday crossword by Sid Sivakumar, who seems to be incapable of writing any other kind. The clues were fabulous (as we explore in depth in today's episode), and even the crossings were praiseworthy - most notably 38A, Rock forming mineral that makes up over half the earth's crust, FELDSPAR intersecting 17A, Meets expectations, in a way, MAKESPAR , while even 19A, Pumped,...

A challenging Friday crossword, although our intrepid co-hosts -- solving, as always, independently -- ran into difficulties in different areas of the grid. Jean got stuck in the center left, remaining INASTUPOR until she wasn't; whereas Mike encountered headwinds in the southwest, almost done in by his unfamiliarity with Spanish and the Italian literati, ENERO and ELENA Ferrante, respectivel...

A fantabulous Thursday crossword by Grant Thackray, with a brilliant theme, great clues all round, and the shocker that the answer to 69A, Misnomer for the character Fritz in the original "Frankenstein", (1931) was ... wait for it ... IGOR (gasp!). There were other equally entertaining and educational clues, of course, and to find out what those were, you are, like thousands before you,...

A fascinating theme by Karen Steinberg, as a consequence of which Europeans  might , for once, have a SKOSH of an advantage. There were a few relatively unfamiliar names in the grid - ________ Achebe, "Things Fall Apart" author, CHINUA; 59D, Little ________, who sang "The Locomotive", EVA; and the very rare, 22A, Six-time MLB All-Star Mookie, BETTS (in its second appearance eve...

Today's crossword almost pegged the pop-culture-reference-meter, but, as you will discover in today's episode, it was for a very good cause (which we will refrain from expounding upon here in the interests of generating just a  frisson of suspense). We will also refrain from defining frisson, because a) we always thought it involved a poor lifestyle choice in the shampoo aisle, and b) Wi...