Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

Any crossword that manages to bring the likes of STEVEURKEL, KIMMYGIBBLER, WILSONWILSON, and FREDROGERS into one grid has to be applauded, and we are happy to oblige! For all the deets, just subscribe and/or download and/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 to dro...

A  Sunday crossword that Loki would've approved of, the grid was brimming with tricky word puzzles. Mike somehow got through it, but it was touch-and-go for the longest time, and the longest time was just how much he spent on this crossword! Fortunately, we have prepared a précis just for you (and all the crossword aficionados in your life). We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: W...

A challenging Saturday crossword ... Jean had to dig deeply into her encyclopedic knowledge of, well, everything, to claw her way to victory, and Mike, well, JEEPERSCREEPERS! And to explain what  that's  about, as well as all the other really, really fine clues in today's crossword, all you need to do is subscribe / download / listen up. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info:...

A Robyn Weintraub Friday crossword, it's the equivalent of comfort food for crossword aficionados: not too hard, not too easy, and always amusing. We have the deets, as well as a fabulous fun fact for Fun Fact Friday, in our hot-off-the-presses episode. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com. Also, we're on Fac...

A solid effort by John Westwig: Jean liked it slightly more than Mike, who was disappointed in the presence of HOSER and the absence of PASTEYMAN as a DC Comics supervillain. Still, it's hard to stay mad at any crossword that manages to work SCHWA into the grid: we give it a 4.5 squares on the JAMCR scale. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line...

Perhaps not the most New York Times Crossword ever, but the theme definitely puts it in the running, as a celebration of a certain punctuation mark (that we will refrain from mentioning here to build suspense and wonder as you prepare to listen to the podcast). Just a reminder that while the New York Times Crossword is definitely not easy, subscribing to it is: visit nytimes.com/crosswords and tel...

Today's crossword is a tribute to International Women's Day, with a noble salute to salutary women, in particular, those who have won the Nobel Prize. While not all of those listed may be household names, they deserve to be, for all that they have done to change the world. In other news, it's Triplet Tuesday, and Jean again demonstrates her uncanny familiarity with rappers, of both...

A middle-of-the-road Monday crossword, and as is always the case we have to ask: did Jean break the 5-minute barrier, or did her keyboard melt under the strain of her rapid typing? To find out, you'll have to do what multitudes have done before ye: download and listen up! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com. Also...

A very busy Sunday crossword, with a tradition-breaking grid, a whole slew of OOOOOOOOOOOOO's, and an arcade / gambling game of Japanese origin. There's definitely a lot to unpack, so grab your favorite beverage and podcast app and gather round ... we have a story to tell! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com...

A tough Saturday crossword. Jean got waylaid in the bottom right corner, while Mike basically did the crossword twice, replacing his instinctive and usually fabulously incorrect first guess with something that oft times tended to be somewhat closer to the correct answer.  In other news, we've combed through the week's crosswords to find the very best, and to find out who won this week&ap...

Opinions were divided on today's crossword. Jean, abetted by her vast Wikipedia-like knowledge of everything, breezed through it, whereas Mike, impeded by his lack of knowledge of just about everything except the phrase "I before E, except after C" -- which turned out to be of only limited assistance -- had to dig deeply to get to the finish line. Still, we both liked the crossword...

An unusual and highly entertaining Thursday crossword with a most noteworthy theme (and we're not just talking about the FRENCRNS). Incidentally, if you  thought that there was a typo in that last sentence, then this would be an  excellent  time to download today's episode so you can be disabused of that notion! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Dro...

A nice Wednesday puzzler by Dylan Schiff, with an amusing theme, crisp cluing, and an opportunity to use TROPE in a sentence - who could ask for more? For all the deets on what surely must be 5 squares on the JAMCR scale, may we recommend that you 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. Al...

This crossword was clearly a celebration of MARDIGRAS and the BIGEASY, albeit with some answers that were neither particular big (e.g., 11D, St. Charles or Esplanade, AVENUE) nor easy (e.g., 37D, Cajun shellfish-over-rice dish, ETOUFFEE). Even 34A, Celebration with king cakes, MARDIGRAS, eluded Mike for a time, as MARRIAGES looked so promising ... until it didn't. In other news, it's Tri...

Another crunchier-than-usual Monday crossword, with a few words and phrases that might send CHINCHILLAs, er, we mean chills, up one's spine -- we're looking at you, OKEFENOKEE (if that's your real name).  Still, the intrepid duo persevered, and to hear about all their derring-do, do dare to download and listen up to today's podcast. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact I...

A stupendous Sunday solve, with some of the most superb anagram answers in recent memory. This puzzle definitely pegged the JAMCR-meter, and to find out precisely why, merely download and listen up. 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 conver...

A slightly easier-than-usual Saturday crossword -- still with plenty of bite, but both Jean and Mike concurred that they'd seen harder crosswords earlier in the week. There was some great clueing - 11D, Person you're in with, CELLMATE (and its counterpart, 35D, Was in prison, DIDTIME); 35A, End of a waiting list?, DESSERTMENU; 34D, It makes waves, SEAWATER; and much, much more.  In other...

A fine fun-filled Friday effort by Demon Gulczynski that deftly  threads that fine line between too easy and mind-bogglingly difficult. This puzzle had something for everyone: 16A, One leader of the Army of the Potomac, MEADE, for fans of American history; 53A, Dugout, e.g., CANOE, for fans of watercraft; 5D, Chief inspiration for the Mannerist style of art, MICHAELANGELO, for fans of fine art. We...

Jean tore through today's crossword like nobody's business, while Mike ran into a spot of botheration in the top-left corner, having convinced himself that AABBQS was a real thing. There is a perfectly good reason for this, of course, and to find out what that was, and how he eventually unconvinced himself, may we recommend that you tap the big ol' download button and then the bigge...

A straightforward Wednesday crossword,  a very nice debut by constructor Rose Conlon. Jean had just one minor sticking point and it was Mike's best time of the week. For all the deets, all you need to do is download 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 to dro...

TWO is often cited as the loneliest number, but not in this crossword, which is teeming with them. The crossword was a little crunchier than normal, with you-should-have-paid-more-attention-in-school clues like 26A, ___________ Ghiberti, sculptor of Florence's Gates of Paradise, LORENZO, and 42A, Beowulf's first combatant, GRENDEL. A nice crossword overall, we give it a 5 squares on the...

The reviews were mixed on this one. Jean thought it a typical Monday, but Mike encountered an ocean of natticks (ok, two, although it seemed like more) in the top-left corner. On the plus side he did set a record for longest indoor Mac Book Pro throw (25' 4"), so there is that. Remember that we love  to get listener feedback - just drop us a line at crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.  We love...

A bilingual crossword! OK, perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration, but French words do pop up even more than usual in today's grid, and for a good cause. The entire grid, come to think of it, was well done, with lots of fun cluing, and it did manage to hit that sweet spot, being not too hard, nor too easy, but juuuuust right. We approve, and give it an enthusiastic cinq squares on the J...

Although GENIUSLEVEL shows up in the crossword, by Saturday NYTimes Crossword standards this was more of an EXTREMELYBRIGHTLEVEL crossword, with some great clueing, a cool looking grid design, and a reference to Mike's favorite band. To find out who that is, and more significantly, who was the winner of this week's JAMCOTWA, you know the drill -- download and listen up! We love feedback!...

A slightly tricky Friday crossword: Jean was, ALAS,  temporarily mired in the bottom-left corner, and Mike got slightly HUFFY when he couldn't figure out the answer to 9A, Irritated, HUFFY. But both rallied, and emerged from the struggle, if not unscathed, just slightly scathed. For all the deets, or perhaps we should say, for all the TEA, download and listen up! We love feedback! Send us a t...