Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

Today's subtly themed  crossword  took us on a tour of the Earth's interior. It began with 17A, Pizza feature for a specialized diet, GLUTENFREECRUST, through 34A, Take on a position, along with its responsibilities, ASSUMETHEMANTLE, ending up at 52A, Lacking any moral compass, ROTTENTOTHECORE, the antithesis of this fine work by Pao Roy. There were a few other interesting clues, such as...

Sometimes, what you need when solving a crossword is a FRESHSETOFEYES. Well, good news, because in today's crossword, they're already there , as in the answer to 116A, New look provider ... or a homophonic hint to this puzzle's theme.  Specifically, there are multiple answers with an extra set of I's and whose removal leads to a completely different answer. For instance, 23A, M...

A challenging Saturday crossword (but aren't they all?). Jean had trouble in the bottom half, unfamiliar with 40A, Upgrade for a train passenger, PARLORCAR, and 34D, Humans, in sci-fi slang, MEATBAGS (ugh!), while Mike had an IMPASSE at 21D, Merle Haggard tune, "_____ From Muskogee", oscillating between ABIE and OBIE, instead of the correct OKIE (which is now burned into his conscio...

In today's episode, we learn about the story behind 28A, Comedian Notaro, TIG, savor the awesome clue, 32A, Ground shaking stuff?, PEPPER, and for Fun Fact Friday learn why the answer to 55A, Cheese whose name is a semordnilap, is EDAM. All this is just waiting for you, so download now, and listen up! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, cro...

A relatively straightforward Thursday crossword - look, ma, no rebuses! -- with gentle but amusing cluing, and a clever theme involving SILVERLINING. Each answer around the periphery of the grid worked if prefaced with the word SILVER, as in SILVERSURFER, SILVERBELLS, etc. There was one groaner pun - 35D, Ice place to go?, RINK, and a few biochemically trending clues - 34D, Prefix with genetics, E...

For those of you still recovering from yesterday's jammed-to-the-rafters-with-pop-culture-references grid, the NYTimes proudly presents as an antidote today's puzzle -- with barely a pop culture reference in sight -- thereby keeping the average number of PCRs close to the officially prescribed 3.5 PCRs per grid ... a regulation and a number that we just invented.  The theme was cute, inv...

Today's crossword was tough, for a Tuesday - with a bevy of popular culture references that covered a wide swathe of time. There was almost 130 years, for instance, between, 60A, Lord High Executioner in "The Mikado", KOKO and the revealer at 57A, 2013 Best Musical Tony winner ... with a hint to this puzzle's theme, KINKYBOOTS. There were also quite a few popular references, su...

Mondays are traditionally the easiest crossword of the week: last week's had a bit more crunch to it than usual, so this may be Will's way of balancing the ledger. Today's puzzle did have a few TIL (Today I Learned) clues, most notably 33A, State whose flag, with eight gold stars in the shape of the Big Dipper, was designed by a 13 year old, ALASKA, and 6A, Face ______ (app that cre...

Today's puzzle ought to put a smile on your face ... because there's a smile in the grid! A winking smile, to be precise, the emoticon ;-). Rather than using PUNCTUATIONMARKS, however, the ;-) is ingeniously spelled out (SEMI, COLON, HYPHEN and PARENTHESIS, all arranged in the appropriate shape in the grid), and it must've taken forever to get this right. We salute the author, Alex...

An amazing oeuvre by Sid Sivakumar. Just consider 1A, Cause for alarm?, BURGLAR (ha!)), 3A, Acts like a nudnik to, PESTERS (huh?), and 45A, Smartphone screen displays, ALERTS (wow!). Now imagine an entire puzzle with clues like that, well ... you don't have to imagine, because the entire puzzle  is  like that, a serious mental workout worthy of a Saturday New York Times crossword. A 5 squares...

A challenging Friday crossword (but easier than last week's!). There were a few novel entries in today's grid, including 17A, Hybrid citrus fruit native to China, MEYERLEMON, the very 21st century 3D, "G2G", TTYL, and 35D, Marshal under Napoleon, NEY. Jean leveraged her familiarity with 12D, ________ the 25-Down, founder of the kingdom of Hawaii, KAMEHAMEHA, to get a good leg u...

A fascinating puzzle, with several TIL (Today I Learned) moments. Most notably, the astonishing 30A, Animal whose teeth are the strongest substance in the natural world, SNAIL. For those of us who never even knew that SNAILs had teeth, this was indeed a revelation! Also, the fact that RADIAN is part of the SI (metric system) was also a bit of a stunner. The theme involved standard to metric conver...

A great Wednesday crossword by Lee Taylor, a punny homage to speed that manages to walk that fine line between punny and painful. Consider 16A, "Hurry up", to a dancer, SHAKEALEG, or 50A, "Hurry up", to a zombie, LOOKALIVE. And the rest of the themed answers are even better. All the details of this clearly 5-square puzzle are inside, so download and listen up! We love feedback!...

A fine Tuesday crossword by Zhouqin Burnikel, with a cute theme involving currencies, and several noteworthy  clues. It's also Triplet Tuesday, and Jean aces it! For all the details, 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 strik...

There were a  lot of famous names in today's crossword --but even if you don't know 61A, Atlanta rapper featured on Lizzo's Grammy-nominated "Exactly How I Feel", GUCCIMANE, or 24A, Runway model famous for her work as a Victoria's Secret model, CHANELIMAN, the crosses were merciful. Mike, as always, had a few hiccups - he incorrectly guessed 13A _____ milk (nondairy c...

The trifecta of tough crosswords to wrap up our crossword-solving week, today's puzzle had 5 answers that started off running across, but ended rising vertically, with the remainder of the horizontal answer forming a  different  phrase that ended in ASH. There was some foreshadowing, 123A, Within arm's reach, ATONESELBOW, and 100A, What a button an armrest may control, SEATANGLE, as well...

It's a Saturday New York Times crossword, and that can only mean one thing: tough cluing ahead! Both Jean & Mike ran into heavy seas in the top-right. Jean ran aground on SHOAL, and Mike nearly went mad trying to figure out ASYLA (but came this close).  All in all, not a  bad  puzzle, we give it a 4 squares on the JAMCR scale. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love list...

A brutal Friday crossword, Brendan Emmett Quigley and Paolo Pasco do not ease up for a moment, with clues like 3D, Role for Malcom-Jamal Warner on "The People v. O.J. Simpson", ALCOWLINGS (who?),  13A, Home to Waianuenue Falls, HILO (where?), and 4D, "Gah!", DOH (huh?). These made the top-left corner extremely difficult, especially if one did  not know the answer to 1D, Pants m...

A twofer by David W. Tuffs: the regular crossword (of course), plus a second puzzle involving hiding answers in other words/phrases. For instance, 18A, Fencer's cry, ENGARDE, appeared in the puzzle as ZENGARDEN. 51A, Roadside restaurant sign, EATHERE, appeared as WEATHERED. So, good job, Avi (er, we mean David), this clearly deserves a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. We love feedback! Send us a...

Today's grid was unique - a giant IF in the center of it, and in between the I and F ran the amusing answer to, 19D, Exclamation upon seeing this puzzle, THATSABIGIF, which got (at least here at JAMDTNYTC HQ, a  big laugh). Jean made short order of today's crossword, Mike had to struggle with his old nemesis, food -- in particular, the spelling of 20A, Carmichael who composed "Heart...

A tasty Tuesday puzzle, with some delicious clues from Eric Bornstein, including 18A, Good snack for a pilot?, WINGNUTS, and Jean's favorite, 24A, Good snack for a gangster?, TOUGHCOOKIES. Between WINGNUTS, SENECA, COMET, RADAR and ETA, one could also make the argument that besides food, there was a hidden aviation theme ... but only the crossword constructor knows for sure. In other news, it...

A perfect Wednesday crossword has traveled back through time, and imperfectly impersonated a Monday crossword, which never would include such clearly Wednesday-level clues as  7D, Right-hand page of a book, RECTO, 14A, Plagued, ATEAT (um, OK), and 53A, Jose _______ (tequila brand), CUERVO. So, welcome, future crossword puzzle, we hope you brought the sports page back with you (cf. Back to the Futu...

A punderful Sunday crossword, with a suuuuubtle theme: and to unpack and decode all of that, download and listen up to today's podcast! 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!

Julian Lim has published 25 crosswords in the New York Times, and just one glance at this puzzle will tell you why: the clues are masterpieces of misdirection (with maybe one or two gimmes thrown in for mercy's sake). Right from the get-go, with 1A Divine instrument?, TAROTCARD, Mr. Lim lets you know that you're in for a fun ride. Definitely a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale, and for a full...

A  straightforward Friday oeuvre from the pen of Robyn Weintraub - Mike was reminded of Joe Friday's catchphrase, "Just the facts, ma'am", as most of the clues seemed to be quite literal. To be sure, there were a few verbal sparklers, including 1A. What takes a ticking and keeps on sticking?, STAMP (not TIMEX!), and 6D, Stuck-up couples at weddings?, CAKETOPPERS. We like it, a...