Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

A tough-ish Saturday crossword by Evan Kalish, with clues like 51A, Verb whose past tense form is an anagram of its present tense, EAT ( that took a while!); 60A, Assign new keyboard shortcuts to, REMAP (yay, one for the nerds!);  and 53D, Plant that symbolized purity in ancient Egypt, FLAX (not FLAN, which while delicious is not necessarily pure), all giving a taste (especially the latter 😀) of...

A fine Friday effort by Christina Iverson and Caitlin Reid, although both of our dynamic duo (solving, as usual, independently) spent more of their solve time looking for mistakes than filling in the grid. In short the puzzle was relatively straightforward, until -- cue the ominous music -- it wasn't! To hear the deets, as well as (probably) learn a new fact for Fun Fact Friday, all you need...

A brilliant Thursday crossword by Samuel A. Donaldson and Doug Peterson, that starts off -- as all great Thursday crosswords do -- by imbuing the solver with a sense of befuddlement and disbelief. Then, with a little luck, or in this particular case with a lot of luck, the answer emerges from the fog, and the solver can bask in the radiance of a job well done. Forgive us for waxing poetic here, bu...

In today's exciting installment, we go through the 4 stages of Rebus Identification, as today's crossword provides an excellent example of a rebus-festooned-grid. [Full disclosure: we do get a small gratuity every time we use festooned in the show notes, thanks to the generosity of the Society For the Promotion and Preservation of Festooning*]. As you can tell, we had oodles of fun doing...

A brilliant crossword by Scott Graham, all revolving around the twentieth letter of the English alphabet. Jean loved the implicit theme. Mike missed most of it, but in today's episode Jean sets him straight, as also puts him through the wringer, it being Triplet Tuesday™️. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com. Als...

You might want to wear shades when solving this crossword, and RUBIN a dollop of SPF -- for reasons that will become abundantly clear once you've done so (solved the crossword, with or without the sunglasses and lotion). Apart from the brilliant theme, the grid had a few gems --  the rarely seen HOYAS making its 11th appearance in the NYTimes crossword,  the slightly rarer SELFIE (10 times),...

If you like movies, and you like puns, you'll  love today's puzzle, which is teeming with them. Who can resist simultaneously giggling and groaning at 61A, Staunch dedication to one's upper leg exercise routine?, THIGHFIDELITY, or 94A, Tire-puncturing way across a river, BRIDGEOFSPIKES? And even if you don't like those, there is still a lot to admire in today's grid. All t...

A fine Saturday crossword by Adam Aaronson. Jean tore through it so quickly that her keyboard melted, whereas Mike's keyboard was in no danger whatsoever, except from a mild fist pounding from time to time. We have all the deets inside, as well as the always suspenseful bestowing of the JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award), so hit subscribe, click download, and do enjoy! We lo...

A great Friday crossword by Sophia Maymudes and Margaret Seikel: the clues were crisp, the answers rare if not unique, and the crosswordese meter was reading just about 0. A grid with the likes of SORORITYSQUAT, BURRATA, NOODLEBAR and TINYHOUSE is one to admire and savor, and we do exactly that in today's episode. It's also Fun Fact Friday, and if you were wondering, so, what  were  ELIA...

An ingenious theme in today's crossword, an anti-rebus -- instead of multiple letters scrunched into one square, we have two letters expanding out of ... nothing, just like the Big Bang (although not quite as noisy). Today's crossword was by Jeff Chen, and that means quality. Clues like 38A, One of two in 2/22/22, SLASH, and the amazing (and debut word)  21A, Carnivorous : meat :: carpop...

A nice Wednesday crossword, with a really crisp set of answers (and no, that's not a reference to 3D, Jobs creation, APPLE, nor 12D, Pie nut, PECAN). But from 1D, Q preceder in Song, SUZIE (great!), to 55D, Very corpulent, OBESE (probably from eating all those PECANS and AFFOGATOS!), the answers were relatively fresh (like the BUTTONMUSHROOMS). In short, this puzzle was delicious ... and now...

Alex Eaton-Salners has been known to cause normally intrepid crossword solvers to quake in their crossword-solving boots. He's mercifully dialed it down a notch for this Tuesday puzzle, which still has a fascinating theme, and includes, among the many gems in today's grid, the mysterious ALETTE -- which will be slightly less mysterious once you've listened to today's episode. W...

Today's crossword features a homophonic-based theme (homophonic meaning two words with the same sound, like POLLS and POLES), for which we are grateful because a) it made for a fun puzzle, and b)  the opportunities to use homophonic in a sentence are surprisingly scarce. We have more delightful deets for you to digest, devour and dissect, so subscribe, download and enjoy! We love feedback! Se...

Only a very confident crossword constructor would start off with the first answer, to 1A, "In a word ... awful", ITSBAD. But Jeremy Newton  is  a confident crossword constructor, and a glance at the rest of this puzzle will reveal exactly why that confidence is well deserved. We do more than just glance at it in today's puzzle, we pour over the grid and serve up the more interesting...

A somewhat gentler than usual Saturday crossword, although lurking in the grid was perhaps the greatest spelling challenge known to human kind, specifically 16A, Star of "12 Years a Slave", CHIWETELEJIOFOR. But beyond that jaw-dropper are a number of other fascinating clues and answers, the deets of which are here for you to enjoy. Also, it's Saturday, meaning it's time for JAM...

A crunchy Friday, as crossword solvers are wont to say - a plethora of tricky (and amusing) clues, such as 5D, One out of 10, TOE 😀, 39A, Spread some dirt, SPILLTHETEA, and 46A, Theater props?, OBIES (cute!), to name just 3.  In other news, it's Fun Fact Friday, and we have ... listener mail!  Remember, this podcast is best enjoyed once you've either a) solved the crossword, or b) gone...

Parker Higgins and Ross Trudeau have teamed up for a  brilliant  crossword, we just can't say enough good things about it -- but that won't stop us from trying, as evidenced in today's episode. Download, listen up, and enjoy! 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 fr...

A punny Wednesday puzzle by Rob Baker, with a great twist at the end that has to be seen -- or listened to as in, say, this podcast -- to be believed. There are other cruciverbial wonders to behold in today's grid, and we've got the full 411 just waiting for you to enjoy. Oh, yes, we also have listener mail! Remember if you want to join in the festivities, drop us a line at crosswordpodc...

A fine Tuesday effort by Robert Won, with a theme that really rocks -- and rolls, built around the  ROCKANDROLL revealer. Nice touches abounded: e.g., ROCKANDROLL crossing 38D, Late singer with a food name, MEATLOAF (RIP), and 54D,  Motley _____, CRUE. And we would be remiss if we didn't mention 36D, Flappers in a gaggle, which sounds like it might be pre-ROCKANDROLL, but the answer was in fa...

A gem of a Monday crossword, with a great, great theme involving cards, an excellent debut answer involving precision driving, and the adorably meta 3D, You're reading this right now, CLUE. Kudos to the constructors, Hwang-Kim Vue and Jessica Zetzman for such an excellent OPUS. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com...

Today's crossword might have you seeing double, but do not adjust your set -- it's all part of Will Nediger's super Sunday theme. We have all the deets inside, so we cordially invite you to download, listen up, and enjoy! 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 t...

We do not know that Sid Sivakumar, author of today's crossword, has a career as a standup comedian, but based on today's puzzle we would not be surprised - the grid was chockfull of chuckles,  laden with laughs. And it is therefore with great pride, once we wipe away the tears of laughter, that we award it, and him, the JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award) We love feedbac...

A tough Friday puzzle by Blake Slonecker, one of those where for the first 10 minutes or so (your mileage may vary) you wonder if you'll get any answers whatsoever. The cluing was devilishly clever (and we mean that in the best possible sense). Consider 2D, Parisian sweets?, CHERIE; the deceptively simple 6D, Hypothesized, SAID (ooh!) and 39D, Road runner?, ENGINE (egads, who edited this puzz...

Today's crossword was a CLASSIC, with a TRAP in a few AREAS to catch the unwary, but overall an UTTERLY pleasing puzzle, no RADIOEDITS required, HEHE 😀 . 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 strike up a conversation!

A fun Wednesday crossword by Bruce Haight, with some ingenious and genuinely LOL clues to celebrate hump day. Mike had a tad of trouble, but didn't mind, the grid had that much esprit; and Jean was unfazed, as usual, by a simultaneously novel and yet medieval theme. All the deets are inside, so what are you waiting for? Download, hit play, and enjoy! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contac...