Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

Matthew Stock, who seems to have a knack for quality crosswords, proves that assertion in today's puzzle, with an LOL theme, some fun clues and answers (2D, Jaunty words upon departing, IMOFF; 41A (which we mentioned in the podcast but just have to highlight here ), No, ____, Bob!, PROB; and 23D, Entertain, AMUSE (which this crossword does from 1A to 58D and every clue in between!). Five squa...

An educational Tuesday crossword, at least for certainly  one of our dynamic duo, with the other playing the role of educator on such diverse topics as the difference between octet and OCTAD, the ABC Islands, and a CHOWCHOW. And that's just a handful of the many fun factoids that we acquired as we spelunked through today's grid, so for all the deets, download, listen up, and don't f...

A fun Monday crossword by Leslie Young and Andrea Carla Michaels - it's hard to resist a puzzle that slips both HAIR and HARE into the grid, and hard not to laugh out loud (we failed!) at clues like 25A, Make-up specialist?, LIAR. So, 5 squares on the JAMCR scale, and for a more detailed discussion of exactly why it has achieved that exalted score, download, listen up, and discover! We love f...

Remember all those mild threats that your parents might've used on you? Well, Katie Hale found all of them and squeezed them into today's grid (a Sunday, because phrases like DONTUSETHATTONEWITHME definitely need most if not all of those 21 square swathes). The crossword was not  too  difficult, but we'll take it - and give it a well-deserved 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. We love fe...

A tougher Saturday crossword, although eminently fair and with some  great  clues. Consider, par exemple (as the French would say), 14D, The most well-known one is named for a Greek hero, TENDON (nice!); 26A, Red or green lights, maybe AURORA (ooh!), and 16A, Inventor played by David Bowie in "The Prestige", TESLA (wow!). And those are just a few, we cover the truly greats in today'...

A fine Friday crossword by Juliana Tringali Golden, with arguably the most interesting clue of the month, 53D, Country where almost half the world's zippers are made, JAPAN (wow!). Of course, there were many other worth pondering -- 25D, Yawl pole, MAST (say what?), 59A, Immediate threat to capture in a game of Go, ATARI (OK, if you say so), and 55A, "Platoon" but not "Dunkirk&...

There are Thursday crosswords, and then there are Thursday crosswords . This is one of the latter, a master class in crossword construction, with challenging cluing and a spectacular theme. We have all the deets inside, as well as a small avalanche of listener mail, so hit that big ol' subscribe / download / play button and enjoy. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love list...

A twisty-turny theme by Michael Dewey to help celebrate our midweek crossword. No revealers here (you'll have to listen to the podcast for that), but we will tell you that both DALEEVANS and ROYROGERS managed to meander into today's grid. A few mysteries popped up in the grid -- 45D, Contents of college blue books, ESSAYS (why blue?); 46A, Lost freshness, STALED (wait, is that even a wor...

The wonderful thing about crosswords is -- apart from the sheer joy of solving them (or at least trying) -- all that you can learn from them. Within the course of one 15x15 grid they can introduce you to relatively new singers; currencies that you might otherwise have never known existed; and 14th century philosophers whose name still lives on today. And today's grid, of course, does  all of...

A fun Monday crossword by Michael Lieberman, with an LOL revealer that ... we won't reveal here, but most definitely do discuss in today's episode. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but three of Mike's all-time favorite answers appeared in the grid today - 6D, Trevor of "The Daily Show", NOAH;  30A, Disney+ series in the Marvel Comic Universe, WANDAVISION (best.show.ever.); an...

A very pleasing Sunday crossword by Derrick Niederman, with a terrific theme -- Opposites Attract -- superbly executed. There were a few posers -- 39D, Tom Jones and Anthony Hopkins, by birth, WELSHMEN, 93D, What all companies try to make, PAYROLL (nice!), and a word that we earnestly hope will make a comeback, 87A, Horse-drawn carriage, SHAY.  Just a reminder that the New York Times would love to...

For today's puzzle, the editor's turned to Kameron Austin Collins, which means that the difficulty level was cranked up to 11 (maybe more). Your cohosts had to dig for every clue. Cases in point: 7A, Looks like, MIMICS; 31A, Bad thing to draw when your taking a test, BLANK (woah!!);  7D, Makes fast, MOORS (heh); and the delightfully devilish 56A, Taken care of business, ERRANDS ( yikes!)...

If the main goal of a crossword is to entertain and educate, than today's crossword gets an A, for clues that entertain (47A, French, perhaps, in England, SNOG), educate (Out of nothing, in creation myths, EXNIHILO), and do both (1D, Snit, PET). Today's crossword also had an amazing grid, breaking the usual rules for a very good reason, as you will learn ... all in today's action-pa...

Matthew Stock returns to provide an excellent, geographically-themed crossword, with some intriguing clues throughout the grid to keep us puzzling -- 30D, Press material, GARLIC (😀),  Mike's favorite word in the grid, 25A, Verse, POESY, and  59A, Goo for a batter, PINETAR, are just 3 examples. Definitely 5 squares on the JAMCR scale! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love...

Kudos to Ekua Ewool for a marvelous, 4th-wall-breaking effort that did a great job of capturing the thoughts of newbies (and not-so-newbies) as they work through a week of crosswords puzzles. All the deets are inside, so have a listen and remember that we love feedback - crosswordpodcast@icloud.com. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordp...

A nicely done crossword by Trenton Charlson, with a brilliant theme ... (and no, we weren't just trailing off, that  was the brilliant theme). In addition, we saw plenty of other signs of an superior constructor's craft, including 57A, Galas, APPLES; the truly sublime 41D, Not doing things the rite way?, ELOPING; and Mike's favorite (he might be just a tad biased), 63D, Sch. whose m...

A great debut crossword by Adam Simpson, with a theme that has a definite "awwwwww" factor to it. The rest of the grid is not too shabby either, so here's hoping that we'll see more of Adam's work in the future! Want more detail? We know you do, so download, listen up, and we'll do the rest! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop...

Solving today's crossword involved a lot of ups and downs - literally, thanks to a theme that gave the grid a Chutes-and-Ladders feel to it. The author of today's crossword, Tracy Gray, has had 33+ puzzles published in the NYTimes ... you could kinda tell from the grid that this was not their first rodeo! We have all the deets inside, so take some time on this Labor Day weekend (or, if y...

A gentler than usual Saturday, with some excellent cluing and at least one debut answer, 2D, Temporarily banished from a dorm room, say, SEXILED (!). which ran into another thematically related clue, 29A, Giving a sexual interpretation to almost any statement, say, DIRTYMINDED (not DOUBLEENTENDRE, because no matter how much fun it is to say, it simply wouldn't fit). In another news, it's...

A fabulous Friday crossword by Claire Rimkus: both Jean and Mike started off slowly, but eventually managed to persevere, Jean by dint of knowing a lot, Mike by dint of lucky guesses (many, many lucky guesses). We have all the deets inside, as well as a Fun Fact Friday that we know you're jonesing to listen to, so subscribe / download / listen up and enjoy! We love feedback! Send us a text......

There was, as is oft the case, vast differences in our co-hosts' solving journeys as they worked on today's puzzle. One of them (Jean), had no problem, and the other (not Jean) had almost exactly the same lexiconic failure that he had yesterday, except this time it was the northeast, rather than southwest, that almost did him in. The smart money says that for tomorrow's crossword, J...

A brilliant Wednesday crossword by Joe Deeney, with a genuinely LOL theme. There were at least two debut answers -- the revealer, 35A, Dubious food-eating guide, or a hint to the answers to this puzzle's starred clues, and one of the themed-answers, 57A, Federal tax incentive for buying a Tesla, say, EVCREDIT. A nice bit of work, definitely 5 squares on the JAMCR scale! We love feedback! Send...

A fine Tuesday crossword by Emily Carroll, with an amusing theme and some wry clues that will bring a smile to your lips. And if that doesn't do it, then our Triplet Tuesday spectacular is guaranteed to make those lips part. All the deets are inside, as well as references to IHOP that are not nearly as gratuitous as they might seem once you've grokked the theme. So, to take advantage of...

Today's crossword had plenty of heart, and thanks to 32D, James who sung "Tell Mama", ETTA, also plenty of soul! For those of you who don't remember Reader's Digest " I am Joe's Heart ", today's crossword is just what the doctor ordered. In other news, we had listener mail explaining how tonic water worked, and this article from McGill University is def...

Jean, as seems to be her MO nowadays (even if she is living in WI), tore through today's crossword in about half an hour. Mike ... did not, primarily due to some tragic misspellings in languages with which he has only a passing acquaintance. Deets inside, so download, listen up, and enjoy! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcas...