Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

Today's crossword was simultaneously exciting (as New York Times crosswords usually are), but also a LOWKEY affair, as several keys appeared in the lower half of the themed answers (running vertically), FIRE ESCAPE , STORAGE SPACE , BIRTH CONTROL , FIRST SHIFT and OPEN TAB . Both Jean and Mike, solving independently as always, finished up at the exact same square -- the intersection of 26A, T...

In today's episode, Jean STEMS the urge to put PITS in as the answer for 67A, Cherry throwaways, while Mike knows that he OTTO rethink 34D, The _______- is falling [Chicken Little], because his answer, SCE, doesn't make any sense. To hear the details, and -- bonus -- learn who on the team loathes BEETS, download and listen up. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love lis...

Happy Mother's Day from those of us at Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword HQ, as well as the editors of the New York Times Crossword. The latter brought you a Mother's Day Concert, with songs that could be interpreted as referencing the miracle of childbirth. For example, 24A, Mom's comment to her child during prenatal bonding? [Frank Sinatra, 1954], IGETAKICKOUTOFYOU,...

Ah, a David Steinberg puzzle, that means quality! And the maestro does not disappoint. with a DELUGE of  ingenious and deliciously deceiving clues (35D, Composition test, ASSAY (not, as probably 90% of  solvers  initially thought, ESSAY); 50A, The old you?, THOU; and 56A, Camper's gear chain, REI, just to name three).  Basically everywhere you look in the puzzle -- from 1A, Supreme Court memb...

A somewhat challenging crossword, with some answers that were OUTOFLEFTFIELD -- but it's a Friday, so headwinds are par for the course. Jean had to dig for 2D, Home of many a tech startup, PALOALTO, while Mike had to talk himself out of RENTS as the answer to 44A (the correct answer being, as all good tennis players know, REDOS). Today's winner of the Most Interesting Clue Award (MICA) g...

If you saw RED in today's crossword, DONTPANIC -- there *was* RED in today's crossword -- 4 RED squares, in fact, where you had to turn right and keep going in order to solve the clues. Jean hit a rough patch in the bottom right, while Mike, solving 11D, Nickname for tap-dancing legend Bill Robinson, BOJANGLES, got the Sammy Davis Jr. song stuck in his head, where it remains lodged even...

A fun crossword if you like NUMBERS, this one name dropped those in the PRIME and FIBONACCI realms, managing to arrange the answers so that they included numbered squares that were, of course, respectively PRIME (2 and 23) and FIBONACCI (34 and 55). Impressive! They also managed to slip 18A, Expand to 800%, OCTUPLE, into the grid, and we would be remiss if we did not point out our favorite, 16A, P...

Not that we believe in product placement, but this was a JUUL of a crossword, as the constructor, Nina Sloan, provided a bevy of insulting candy names, from GOOBERS to DUMDUMS, leaving out, presumably because of space, the delicious YOURMOTHERWEARSARMYBOOTS bar. One clue stood out in particular -- 5D, Fit on a hard drive?, ROADRAGE -- brilliant! For that alone we give this a perfect 5 squares on t...

It's a gigantic crossword! No, not really, it is just 15x15, but it did manage to fit a giant's trademark FEEFIFOFUM into the answers. It also slipped in one of our favorite shows, 25D, Discovery Channel program that debunked popular beliefs, MYTHBUSTERS, and therefore EARN our respect. We were glad to see a shoutout to 26A, Island nation in the western Pacific, PALAU, as well as one of...

After the Herculean efforts  yesterday's crossword demanded, today's was a much kinder solve, although it did have its moments -- 2D, Classical poem form, EPODE, and 5D, Floral archway, PERGOLA (well, one of us had troubles with it, at any rate). There was a charming segue between yesterday's puzzle and today's Yesterday offered the clue, Pickup line, NEEDARIDE, and today we ha...

Mayday, Mayday! And, no, we're not just referring to the date. This was a tough crossword, with some delightful verbal misdirection. Exhibit A, 6A, One whose business is home-based?, UMP, and 22A, Popular camp assemblies, SMORES. Jean momentarily got stuck in the top right, convinced that 26A, Passes, was ELAPSED, rather than ENACTS; Mike got mired in the middle of the grid for what felt like...

A nice crossword to round out the work week, with a lot of long answers that can be challenging, although the modern culture references were down to a minimum, giving Mike a leg up. There were definitely a few tricky clues, such as 5A, Brogues, e.g., DRESSSHOES(!), and the amusing 27A, Ones getting you down?, GEESE 😀. We definitely appreciated this crossword, and give it a 5 squares on the JAMCR...

Attention, haiku lovers, your time has come! Well, almost ... there is a haiku in today's crossword, but it is just ONESYLLABLETOOLONG. Today's puzzle was a challenge: almost by definition embedded poems, quotes, etc., require you lean on the crosses, and there were a few toughies, especially 3D, "... not to mention everything that could go wrong!", ORWORSE, and the question of...

It's an OPENANDSHUTCASE -- the crossword was great, with a very clever and intricate theme:  it was NOACCIDENT that the author was Hal Moore, who has had 7 crosswords accepted in the New York Times in the last 4 years, not too shabby! As is often the case, there were a few words here that rewarded frequent solvers -- 16A, Man with morals, AESOP, had just shown up a few days ago, and 12D, Idea...

Today's crossword is a MINTCONDITION Tuesday effort, with lots to like. First, it has 22D,  ______ Lee, longtime head of Marvel comics, STAN; 6D, Bigwig, NABOB (fun to say, and fun to drink); and 66A, Dubious sightings in the Himalayas, YETIS (aka official Nepalese monsters of the New York Times crossword). For Tip Tuesday, Jean recommends diving through the archives for practice, starting wi...

Today's crossword paid  homage to the pillars of the FOODCOURT -- DAIRYQUEEN, WHITECASTLE, and BURGERKING (although Mike still wants to know why LADYOLIVEGARDEN was slighted). And that pillar reference was intentional -- both DQ and BK ran vertically, the horizontal answers tending to be shorter than is the norm. A few recent crossword answers made repeat performances -- 61A, Tennis score aft...

In Saturday's crossword we had 35A, Implausible argument, say, STRETCH, a fine example of foreshadowing, because today's puzzle, titled Stretching Exercises, revolved around stretching various muscle groups (nice scheduling, Mr. Shortz).  Besides the rather intricate theme -- listen to Jean's splendid explanation herein -- the Slang meter was pretty much pegged today,  between 61A,...

Everywhere you look in this crossword you'll find a superb example of the clue-writer's craft. In the top-left, 13A, Rockies you won't find in Colorado?, AWAYTEAM. In the center left, 22D, Stocking stuffer, KRISKRINGLE. In the bottom center, 50D, Hardly a man without morals, AESOP, and in the top center, 20D, Real posers?, YOGIS. Clearly, Kristian House and Mike Dockins know what th...

A Robyn Weintraub Friday crossword, woot! Jean had to dig deeply for this one, but Mike was able to fare quite well, abetted by an almost complete dearth of cultural references — but for both it left a good AFTERTASTE. Download and listen up to get the whole story. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com. Also, we're...

The name's Burch, Jem Burch, and she turns in a gem of a crossword starring the most British of spies, Bond, James Bond. The theme involves 7 OO rebuses, forming a large number 7 that extends the height of the grid, as well as 3 actors who have played James Bond - Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig.  The clues were also extraordinarily well done. Consider as exhibit A 5D, It quits...

Jean found today's crossword to be a SLICK, SWEETRIDE, while Mike thought it might BURY his streak in an avalanche of cultural references that were  not in his wheelhouse -- including but astoundingly by no means limited to , 20A, Star of the "Deadpool" films, RYANREYNOLDS, 34A, Postmodern novelist who wrote "White Noise", DONDELILLO, and 3D, Likely inspiration for Meryl S...

No, the New York Times crossword is not going to the dogs, although a skosh of them had cameos in today's puzzle. If there is indeed a New York Times crossword Clue-Hall-of-Fame, then we would like to nominate 13D, Awesome, in surfer speak, GNARLY, simply to give us an excuse to write the word GNARLY. There were several artful juxtapositions in today's grid, including 33A, Jack who pione...

Was this a fun crossword? YOUBETYOURLIFE -- because of that, and 2 other CLASSICGAMESHOW references that formed the theme for today's puzzle. It also had the clue 9A, Wee bit, SKOSH, which was COOL. It was pretty easy, some might say a SNAP, but based on the law of conservation of crossword difficulty (tm), the rest of the week is likely to be ATEST -- we'll report back, as always, and l...

NEEDLESSTOSAY, today's crossword is not MISSIONIMPOSSIBLE; indeed, some veteran crossword solvers have maintained that it is a tad TOOEASY. But we found it to be a Goldilocks of a puzzle, just right. It had some interesting factoids -- 6D.Mnemosyne's daughters THEMUSES, and 41A, Site of Hercules' first labor, NEMEA -- as well as some amusing clues, such as 89A, Block where Sesame St...

A FUNFETTI of a Saturday crossword, albeit with a potential natick in the top-right corner for those who do not use compasses on a daily basis -- 26A, 270°, WEST, crossing 14D, On the ________, SCENT.  Mike enjoyed 7D, Mathematical puzzle with movable disks, TOWEROFHANOI, and Jean appreciated 49D, "The perfume of heroic deeds", to Socrates, FAME.  Both savored 38A, Zoom participants?, DR...