Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

Have you ever considered how many phrases involve articles of clothing? Fortunately Enrique Henestroza Anguiano has, and this witty Wednesday crossword is a result. Jean had no trouble with the grid. Mike didn't so much forget how to spell 48D, Traditional garment in West Africa, as discover that he never even  knew how to spell it -- for the record, it's CAFTAN (as in today's grid)...

A fine Tuesday crossword by Lillian Simpson, with a debut entry for 25A, Certain spousal state (which we will  not  state right here, you'll either have to be a good guesser or listen to the podcast to find out), a jaw-dropper as far as Mike's concerned with 46D, Leaf (through) (and again, download / listen up to get the 411 on that); and finally 50A, More eye-roll inducing, maybe, CHEES...

A marvelous Monday crossword, with a grid that just sings -- thanks in no small part to some great musical references - from LIL Jon (and Wayne), to Yoko ONO, to one of those discoveries that make you want to shout with joy, DRU Hill (definitely check them out if you are unfamiliar ... or even if you are, their music  clearly will abide many, many listenings). For more on them and the rest of this...

A shout-out to today's constructors, Jessie Trudeau and Ross Trudeau, who got married this very weekend. Whether the placement of today's crossword on this particular Sunday was just a coincidence, or possibly a wedding present from the NYTimes, doesn't really matter, because the crossword was certainly a present to its solvers - a fun romp with a diverting theme. We have all the de...

A majorly difficult Saturday crossword, with a fair number of rarely mentioned celebrities (at least here in 2022). Even the most recent,  18A, Defense secretary under Obama, PANETTA, is not exactly a household name; 31A, First person to fly solo around the world (1933), WILEYPOST, probably also isn't a frequent topic at the kitchen table; and 27A, Marion ________, Best actress winner for &qu...

Well, to be precise, today's crossword is a work of David Steinberg , but it definitely is also a WORK_OF_ART. There were so many great answers, it's hard to single them out, but we certainly appreciated the artistry in working both BLUR and SLUR into the grid, as well as the tactical deployment of WHAMO!. The clues were also nicely done: 24D, Bolt for the finish line?, USAIN; 43D, Put d...

You'll need to be flexible to solve today's crossword, because that's what some of the answers are - they flex when you least expect it (which would be ... all of the time, because answers tend to either go across, or down, not  both ). Jean, following her usual MO, cottoned onto the trick quite quickly, Mike, following his, did not. There were some intriguing clues in today's...

A crunchier than usual Wednesday crossword, not because of the presence of OREOs in the grid, but rather because today's constructor, Josh Kindler, is so adept at his craft. The clues ranged from sorta-kinda obvious, e.g., 53D, It's rigged!, SAIL, to somewhat more obscure, e.g., 45D, King of the Titans, in Greek mythology, KRONOS, to the we never saw  that coming, e.g., 38A, Part of a bo...

A fun Tuesday crossword by Andy Kravis, with some great clues like 52D, "Performer" in a tiny circus, FLEAS (😄); 2D, "What did the _____ do when it was still hungry? Go back for seconds" (dad joke), CLOCK (🙄); and 48A, Bum around London, ARSE (😏). We would also be remiss if we didn't point out a reference to what appears now to be the  preferred font of the New York Tim...

A HEAP of cruciverbal goodness in today's grid, easier than yesterday's  BYLEAPSANDBOUNDS, and very unlikely to leave one ATSIXESANDSEVENS, or, for that matter, ONPINSANDNEEDLES. In short, the perfect start to our crossword solving week, we give it a cheery 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodc...

Considering how frequently ANTE shows up in the grid, perhaps it's not surprising that an entire crossword devoted to Texas Hold 'Em ought to eventually make it into the New York Times, and ... today's the day, thanks to a fabulous  debut puzzle by Greg Slovaceck. This crossword caused a wee bit o' controversy because it involved rebuses, which some solvers always seem to have...

Another tough Saturday crossword (hmm... there seems to be a trend here), with a particularly diabolical southwest corner, with clues like 31D, California city in the Mojave Desert, BARSTOW, 32D, Emergency device in DC, BATPHONE (oh,  that DC) and 29D, Buttercup relatives, ANEMONES, ready to trap the unwary. In other news, we've found a highly deserving crossword for our JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mi...

Any crossword that works PRIM and PRAM into the grid, and niminy-piminy into the clues, deserves recognition, and we doff our hats in honor of Matthew Stock and Nam Jin Yoon's fabulous Friday puzzle. The mere presence of 33A, Drink with an onomatopoeic name, SLURPEE, and 54A, Utter disasters, TIREFIRES, tells you that you're probably going to be in for a good time, and the rest of the pu...

Jean found today's crossword to be a piece o' cake, Mike found it to be more like molasses ... apt considering how long it took him to solve this! When you take a close look at the clues, however, you'll quickly discover that there are a lot  of gems. To see what we mean, check out 8D, It often comes in 60-, 72- and 84-month lengths, CARLOAN; 9A, Penguins and Sharks are found in it,...

Another slightly crunchier than usual crossword - that's two in a row for those of you keeping track. What makes a crossword crunchy, you ask? Clues like 9D, Classic beer of there Pacific Northwest, familiarly, OLY; 29A, Primary place to park?, MAINLOT; and even 27D, Grp. for women who drive, LPGA, are splendid examples: not  horribly hard (especially with gentle crosses), but not  too easy -...

A crunchier than usual Tuesday crossword, although it did start with a fan favorite in 1A, Alan of "Marriage Story", ALDA.  For examples of said crunchiness, we need look no further than 19A, Movie co. with a presence at Sundance, IFC; 54A, Long ways to go?, LIMOS (cute!); and the subtle 42A, That's not true, LIE.  A great puzzle, we give it a cheery 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. It...

A colorful Monday grid, with GREEN, WHITE and BLUE making an appearance, all in the aid of ... nope, no spoiler alerts here. Also, Jean set a PB (Personal Best) for a Monday crossword, but did she break the 5 minute barrier?? Again, no spoiler alerts - to get the full 411,  you know what to do:  download, listen up, and enjoy! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail...

A super Sunday crossword, with an ingenious theme, deft cluing, and while a challenge, about 1,000,000,000 times easier than yesterday's Mt. Everest of a puzzle. From clever clues like 120A, Tipsy trips, BARCRAWLS; to treats like 9A, Reward for sitting, say, TREAT; and TIL's such as 27D, New York  resting place for Mark Twain, ELMIRA, and the artful 23A, Where some stable relationships f...

A true test of cruciverbal mettle and stamina, with some awesomely difficult clues. They aren't hard to find, either: just point randomly  anywhere on the grid and you'll be likely to find one. For instance, 33D, Mozart's "Voi, che sapete", and others, ARIETTAS  (egads!); 39D, Pool side, SOLIDS (oh, that kind of pool 😀); and 16A, What a snake or dragon can represent, LUNA...

A superb. Friday puzzle by Kyle Dolan: Jean found it straightforward, Mike had to dig deeply for clues like 4D, Representative, TOTEMIC (which definitely was not , as far as Friday clues go); 10D, Mission Santa ____ (National Historic Landmark in California), INES (now officially on our bucket lists);  14D, Question at a press conference, maybe, WHOSNEXT (no, WHOSONFIRST 😀). The topper was 22A, P...

If today's crossword makes you fear you are seeing double, do not adjust your, er, eyes, because you are -- thanks to Philip Wolfe's cleverly constructed theme. We have all the deets inside, as well as a slight addendum to a discussion of yesterday's theme, just waiting for you to download, subscribe, and enjoy! A friendly reminder: the New York Times Crossword would love to have yo...

Sam Koperas and Jeff Chen provide a master class in crisp crossword clues, with numerous LOL examples. There are too many to list here, but trust us (better yet, download the podcast and listen to us!) -- the grid is bursting to the seams with 'em. It definitely pegs the scale on the JAMCRmeter (that's Jean And Mike Crossword Rating meter), kudos to both constructors (and Will Shortz, it...

Today's crossword is an homage to Taylor SWIFT, but even if you can't hum FEARLESS or SHAKEITOFF, fear not - the clues are   straightforward (respectively 20A, Like daredevils, informally, and 41A, Get over a minor injury, say) and the crosses gentle. Beyond that, we have to pause in admiration of the inclusion of YOINK, which Mike originally took to be YOIK, as immortalized by Daffy Duc...

Jean's favorite team -- the Kansas City ROYALS -- gets into the grid, as did Mike's favorite DC (and MARVEL!) supervillain -- ARCLIGHT -- so that's yet another cause for celebration, beyond, of course, the fact that, it's the 4th of July. Speaking of which, today's crossword was Bruce Haight's 59th, so while he hasn't had  quite  as many crosswords published as t...

Today's fine crossword by Tom McCoy featured grammargrams , a concept so rare that even Google couldn't find it, but thanks to WordPlay (the NYTimes Crossword column) we know that it's a real thing . You didn't need to know what a grammargram was to solve the puzzle - Mike is living proof of that - but it did help - and Jean (of course) is living proof of that . In other news,...