Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

A slightly crunchier than usual Monday crossword, owing, perhaps, to the delightfully understated theme in honor of which we shall just say ... hey, what happened to the rest of the paragraph?? To fully comprehend that last jest, all you need do is subscribe, download and listen up, and then the scales will fall, comprehension will dawn, etc., etc. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info:...

A punny Sunday crossword, revolving around all the myriad  phrases that people use to describe gossip . We'd talk about those people, but we hate to, well, gossip, so we'll just point out that beyond the theme that were some great clues, including Jean's favorite - 111A, Sneeze guard?, ELBOW, and Mike's decidedly lengthier one - 82A, ___________ Questionnaire, character assessm...

A good crossword educates, entertains, and intrigues, and Kate Hawkins' Saturday opus does all 3 perfectly and in equal measure. Educates - 25A, Brain-tingly feeling that may come from hearing whispering or crinkling, in brief, ASMR (huh!); entertains - 14A, Guilt trip?, APOLOGYTOUR (hah!); and intrigues, 41D, Cheesed off, INAPET (hmmm...). We liked this crossword enough to give it a full 5 s...

Another crossword in which our co-hosts' experiences differed vastly: in a return to form, Jean sped through the puzzle, whereas Mike ... staggered, reeled, and ultimately clawed his way across the finish line. For deets on the epic struggle, as well as a fascinating fact for Fun Fact Friday, do have a listen -- and then let us know what you think, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com We love feedback...

For those of you who reveled in last Thursday's crossword, with the "DOT THE I'S" revealer, and giddy with ANTICIPATION of their return, well, your time has come -- the dots are back!, rounder than ever, and form the basis for today's theme. We have all the dots, er, we mean deets, inside, so download, listen up and enjoy (and don't forget to subscribe!!). A few fun l...

Who knew that the letter K could be lurking in so many words and phrases? Addison Snell, apparently, and he lets us in on the secret in today's fine Wednesday crossword. The grid managed to harbor one of Mike's favorite words, TWANGY, as well as one of Jean's, LUSTY -- and they both yearn for the day when the portmanteau TWUSTY someone slips past Will's keen eye and gets into t...

A crossword with a theme guaranteed to make you feel all atwitter, hatched from the fertile mind of David Rockow and not poached from anyone else.  We'd say more, but that would be talon 🙄, so for all the deets (and almost no other puns, we promise!), download and enjoy! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com. Also...

A scary Monday crossword, partially because of 17A, Pepper measuring over 1 million on the Scoville scale, GHOSTCHILI, and partially because - at least for Mike - the top left corner was bristling with natticks leaving him HOPPINGMAD, and only after a few WELLAIMED guesses was he able to get to the solve. Jean, of course, was able to keep her SANITY well in check, and got to that AHA! moment seren...

After an easier than usual Saturday, along comes today's WHIZBANG of a  puzzle to balance things out, and it does so quite nicely: it took real GRIT to solve, but when (or if!) you did, you could BASK in the glory of it all. Deets are inside, as well as an invite to visit our FaceBook page to vote on your favorite song by one of the artist's mentioned in today's episode.  Oh, that p...

A gentler-than-usual Saturday crossword, possibly a sop to those still wandering about in a tryptophan fog. That's not to say it wasn't a fun experience - you are estopped from saying that about a  grid that manages to work in 4D, Classical orator, RHETOR, 42A, Unfailingly loyal, RIDEORDIE, and 1A, Influential book sellers, BLURBS (nice one!). It's also Saturday, which means it&apos...

A highly amusing Friday crossword by Simon Marotte - no theme, just funny clues and answers, all covered in depth in today's episode. Besides that, we have another in our recurrent segment, Oh, That's How You Pronounce It!, this time featuring the Earl, er, we mean Ural, mountains, as well as a fun fact for Fun Fact Friday™️. And if that's not enough, we are also inviting listeners...

Pao Roy has created some epic crosswords, and he is at the top of his form in today's puzzler, with a remarkable, grin-inducing theme, and great clues all around. All the deets are inside, but for you overachievers who want even more details, here are a few pertinent links ...  A Pale Blue Dot iMacs The Australian Parliament We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener m...

A slightly crunchier than usual Wednesday crossword, aided and abetted by a colorful, circular theme. There were not a lot of cultural references in today's grid, although Mike found much to admire in 59A, ______ mountains, formation made by the collision of the continents Laurasia and Kazakhstania, URAL, and Jean relished 49D, Test taken in a tube, MRI. For our American listeners, tomorrow i...

A GEM of a Tuesday crossword, and we're not LYIN about that! The theme was, ahem, cutting edge (an in-joke that you will be in on as soon as you listen to the podcast), and the cultural references not too obscure: in short, a perfect Tuesday. All the deets are as close as your play button, so click / tap it now and enjoy! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail...

It is - as almost everyone knows - the start of the World Cup, and the NYTimes Crossword is as eager to celebrate as anyone. As proof, we need go no further than  today's grid, which has a number of quite amusing World Cup references to put you in the mood. All THEDEETS are inside, so check it out, and let us know what you think! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love liste...

A GRAND Sunday crossword by Joe Deeney, who seems to be able to crank these out LIKECLOCKWORK (this is his 14th since 2017!) -- while he may like to slip a SLOTH into the grid, he clearly is not one!  He was able to GETOFFONTHERIGHTFOOT with 1A, Tot's rocker, HORSY, and kept it going all the way to 116A, Schnozzes (what a great clue!), SNOOTS (an even greater answer!). We have more to say abo...

A super Saturday crossword by Benji Goldsmith. Jean was on fire (figuratively: the fire brigade was not required), tearing through the grid in near record time, whereas Mike, well, let's just say that he coulda been a contender (which works better if you can imagine Marlon Brando saying that, or, if you're imagination's on the fritz, you can  hear Marlon Brando saying that). For all...

A great Friday crossword by that great crossword constructor Robyn Weintraub, known for creating joyous puzzles - the kind that when you finish (whether successfully or not) leave a smile on your face and a song in your heart, and that's exactly what she's produced today. For all the deets, as well as today's fun fact for Fun Fact Friday™️, we cordially invite you to subscribe, down...

A tiMEly Thursday crossword, with a dozen (!) of theMEd clues which, if you haven't already sussed it, revolved around ME -- or, to be precise, what happens when ME is excised. If that seemed a little cryptic, fear not, as all will be revealed in today's exciting episode! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com....

Logophilia, as you may be able to deduce if your Greek is up to snuff, is the love of words, and if you are reading these, you probably "suffer" from it. The author of today's crossword, John Hawksley, clearly has got a bad case of it, which is good for us -- and for all the deets, subscribe, download, listen to and enjoy today's episode. We love feedback! Send us a text... Con...

A fabulous Tuesday crossword by Sandy Ganzell - the theme a delight, the rest of the clues nothing to SNEEze about! We have all the deets inside, so a) subscribe, b) download, c) enjoy, d) tell all your friends! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com. Also, we're on FaceBook , so feel free to drop by there and strik...

A delicious Monday crossword, and that's not just because of the theme. The inclusion of a Star Trek reference (3D, Warp drive power source on "Star Trek", ANTIMATTER (not DILITHIUMCRYSTALS!)),  two of our favorite authors (31D, Bronte and Dickinson, for two (EMILYS), and, finally, our favorite OS (33D, Image captured with Shift+Command+3 on a Mac), SCREENSHOT, also contributed to u...

If you feel a bit peckish after working on this crossword, that's perfectly normal - a natural reaction to a grid that's just full of (colliding) foods. Besides the very interesting theme, valiantly explained by Jean, the puzzle is chock-full of great clues, and we cover the best of them right here. Speaking of foods, here at Jean And Mike Do The New York Times Crossword HQ we are always...

A KINDASORTA easy Saturday crossword, although we will  never  complain about a crossword that manages to fit 18D, One growing up in a cave?, STALAGMITE, into the grid (after all, those STALAGMITES are huge 😀), as well as slip in a trio of delicious snacks - 10D, Certain cookie spinoff, OREOTHIN; 21D, Ice cream of the future, DIPPINDOTS 😁, and one of the great inventions of the last century,  31...

A Brooke Husic and Erik Agard crossword is always cause for celebration, and this particular puzzle just sizzles. Both cohosts were able to get through it, although Mike got hung up in the northwest and then again in the southeast, fortunately running out of corners to get hung up in before running out of answers. Choosing the best clues in this grid is like picking one's favorite Marvel hero...