Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

A fabulous Saturday crossword by Andrew Linzer, who pulled out all the stops to come up with a cornucopia, or possibly a piñata, of great, great clues. We'd go over them here, but basically it's ... all of them! Pick a clue, any clue, and be prepared to be amazed. Naturally, of course, you'd think that this would be the JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award) winner, an...

A terrific Friday crossword by Robert Logan, as folksy as all get out, and that's not a complaint! It included many interesting factoids, such as 39A, Largest of the society islands, TAHITI; 53A, Snack item since 1912, OREO; and 42D, Scottish sheepdog, informally, SHELTIE. The structure of the puzzle was also intriguing -- as revealed by 64A, A 50/50 chance ... or a description of the lengths...

An ingenious Thursday crossword by Olivia Mitra Framke and Andrea Carla Michaels, who discovered how to amusingly squeeze US states together, to great effect, in this 5-square-on-the-JAMCR-scale-worthy puzzle. We have all the deets inside, just waiting for  you to discover.  Remember that if you haven't done the crossword, and want to be able to follow along, just wander over to xwordinfo.com...

There were SCADS of good clues in this crossword, and AUGHT bad ones - thanks to the efforts of constructor Colin Ernst (aided and abetted, undoubtedly, by Will Shortz). A few old friends dropped in - 63A, Indian tea region, ASSAM; 22A, Shakespearean schemer, IAGO. who, blessed with 3 vowels and a G, has managed to worm his way into a NYTimes crossword  grid a total of 408 times,  including 5 this...

A splendid Tuesday crossword by Trey Mendez, with multiple LOL clues and an ingenious theme. This was Trey's debut crossword, and we can't wait for his next one! In other news, it's Triplet Tuesday: does Jean tear through it? Or does she tear through it?  [There was a homograph there, honestly!] To find out, you are cordially invited to subscribe, download, listen up and savor! We l...

A somewhat folksy start to our crossword solving week, as well as a hidden theme -- especially apropos since the theme itself was, well, underground. If you want to dig up the dirt on that, you'll have to do a bit of spadework first, i.e., subscribe, download, listen up, and enjoy! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud...

A (gasp!) themeless Sunday crossword, with  very few black squares - so if you're looking for a challenge, constructors Brooke Husic and Will Nediger are happy to oblige! And we're happy that they made this crossword: to find out precisely why, you know what to do -- subscribe, download, listen up and enjoy! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us...

A tough Saturday crossword, Jean had a spot of difficulty in the top-left, Mike forgot that the musical syllable LA was not an abbreviation; but other than that it was a fine ending to an incredible week of crosswords - the New York Times Crossword quality was cranked up to an 11, and our agonizing decision as to which deserved the JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award) reflects that...

An absolutely  brilliant  Friday crossword by Patrick John Duggan, hopefully he got paid extra for this tour de force / masterclass in clever cluing: we simply cannot say enough good things about it, although we tried. So to hear all of that, as well as to learn lots in today's Fun Fact Friday segment, subscribe, download, and listen up. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We lo...

One of those epic Thursday crosswords that makes you want to shout "huzzah", or words to that effect -- thanks to a clever, rebusian  (if that's a word, if not, we're inventing it here and now!) theme that will leave you gasping in amazement. At least that's the effect it had here at Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword HQ. We have all the deets inside, so we hu...

Today's crossword was a real TREAT. Jean found it a cake walk. Mike found it more of a treacle pudding walk, thanks to a natick at the corner of 41D, Supermodel Wee, ALEK (not ALEC), and 48A, Video game franchise featuring Sub-Zero and Sonya-Blade, MORTALKOMBAT (and not, as  we're sure you saw this coming, MORTALCOMBAT). But live and learn, that's our MOTTO, and besides, it's h...

A fine Tuesday crossword by Sue Fracker, with a well-done and clever "bendy" theme ( deets are in the podcast). Both Jean and Mike were slightly taken aback by at least two clues, Jean by 23A, Motorboat's trail, WAKE, and Mike by 14D, Sport with a coxswain, CREW (not ROWING: but the two are synonymous).  In other news, Mike almost faints when he discovers that there is a 3-letter mu...

A lively enough Monday crossword (esp. considering the presence of NAP and MICROSLEEP in the grid), with a few celebs (SELA Ward, Justin TRUDEAU, and NEYO) to give it that extra PEP!  In other news, our NY Times Crossword Subscription Contest has drawn to a close, and we have winner!! Was it you?? There's only one way to tell: subscribe, download, and listen up! We love feedback! Send us a te...

Today's crossword is by the founders of xwordinfo.com, Jeff Chen and Jim Horne, and today's high-quality puzzle reflects that: the theme is ingenious, multilayered and ... well, we'd say more, but we want to keep you in some (mild) suspense before you hit the ol' download button! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordp...

Opinions on the difficulty of today's crossword were mixed: Jean finished it in 19 minutes, Mike finished it in slightly less than forever. What the dynamic duo do agree on is that this was a fantabulous crossword, we are both METAFANs, and that it deserves (along with Thursday's, for the first time we have a tie) the JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award)!! We also have li...

A relatively straightforward Friday crossword, with some elegant subtleties in the grid that need to be seen to be appreciated. For instance, let us draw your attention to the intersection of 54A, Response to someone who got the answer instantly, YOUNAILEDIT, and 36D, Crushed a test, ACEDIT. [That was apparently the section of the grid devoted to smarties.] We also had 21A, _____ blanc, VIN, and 4...

An absolutely ingenious theme deftly implemented by David Tuffs, rounded off with some great clues -- 8D, Pasta named for quills, PENNE (huh!), 55A, Phone-y document, FAX, (ha, ha!), and 4D, Title monster in an H.P. Lovecraft story, CTHULHU, (heh, heh, heh! ). All the deets, as well as a reminder about our current contest, are as close as a click or a tap, so click (or tap), listen, and enjoy. We...

A definitely easier-than-yesterday crossword, Jean got through it expeditiously; Mike mysteriously forgot how to spell AUTO, opting for OTTO, hence hilarity and longer-than-normal-solve-times ensued. Still, you have to like a crossword with clues like 55D -- One of six in this clue, WORD -- and we did!   We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, cross...

A definitely tougher than usual Tuesday offering -- probably because Bruce Haight's at the helm -- but a fun solve, with LOTSA challenges and curiosities in every corner of the grid. From 33A, 1st-yr law students, ONELS (obvious in hindsight), to 37A, What "C" faucets are in Italy, confusingly, HOT (huh, who knew?). Even though we were ONEDGE while working through this puzzle, we FE...

A nice start to our crossword solving week courtesy of Kathy Lowden, with several answers definitely worth remembering because they might show up later in the week, but with several orders-of-magnitude more difficult cluing: we're looking at you, IAMB, PHO and BRASSY.  Just a reminder, we're running a contest this week -- a year's subscription to the NYT Crossword. If you want to en...

We are back after a week's hiatus, and welcoming us back is a superb crossword by Tina Labadie, her debut -- but you wouldn't know it from the finely crafted clues! We have all the deets inside plus ... a new contest! All emails (to crosswordpodcast@icloud.com) between now and next Sunday will be entered in a drawing for a year's subscription to the New York Times crossword! One ent...

A middle-of-the-road Sunday crossword, appropriate considering all the road references lurking in today's grid -- 108D, Inits. on the road, MPH; 109D, Inits. on the road, (yes, again ) AAA; 27D, Fwy. or expy., RTE; 64A, Flagship vehicle line for Mercedes-Benz, SCLASS -- and there might've been more , it's a big grid! Just a head's up, we are taking the week off to recoup and re...

A tricky Saturday crossword (as one would expect!), with vast swathes of white squares and just a few oases of black to break up the monotony. The cluing was suitably obfuscatory -- 51D, Supervisory challenges, EGOS; 26D, Location designed to attract whales, HOTELCASINOS (!); and 56D, Suffix for a rank, DOM (!!!) are just 3 examples, we explore more in today's episode, as well as pick our JAM...

A nice Friday crossword by a veteran constructor, Robyn Weintraub. Jean found the puzzle to be a piece of cake, Mike found it to be almost impossible, until the crossword deities smiled benevolently upon him, and reminded him that a better answer for 21A, Employment history, would be CAREER, rather than RESUME or CRVITA. Robyn is known for her great clues, and today's puzzle is exemplary.  In...

A curious Thursday crossword by Bill Pipal and Jeff Chen (always a good OMEN to see M. Chen in the masthead), that asks you to do what we generally try and AVOID, i.e., CUT CORNERS.  The result is a crossword about which we have no choice but to wax RHAPSODIC, for reasons that will become clear in today's installment. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Dr...