Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

Both Jean and Mike ran into headwinds  in the top-right corner, specifically 22A, Agree(with), JIBE -- as opposed to their (independently derived at) answers, JIVE. That one errant letter crossed 13D, Seaport derived from the Arabic for "obstacle", AQABA -- quite apropos in this case! There were some delightful new(ish) clues -- 38A, Football tactic to prevent a long return, SQUIBKICK, a...

Happy tax day! And we're not just saying that because of 17A, City transport, redundantly, TAXICAB. Jean found today's crossword easy-ish, Mike had a MACABRE problem in the top right, done in by his unfamiliarity with apparently the most famous singer of the 20th century, in her most famous role... that would be 12D, Streisand role in Funny Girl, BRICE. HARSH! We love feedback! Send us a...

A "smooth solve", as they like to say in the crossword-solving-biz, with just a few potholes and lots of fun clues -- 27D, Spring recreation?, TRAMPOLINE, being the bounciest of them, and 47A, Start of a giant's chant, FEE, being -- ironically for a giant, but mandated because of the NYTimes rules about answer length -- shortest, answer. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact I...

Neither Jean nor Mike got off to a ROCKYSTART with this crossword, ironic since all of the themed answers benefited from having, well, a ROCKYSTART. For example, 18A, Coyote outfoxed in cartoons, ROADRUNNER, maps to ROCKYROAD; 24A, "Get Out", for one, HORRORFILM, maps to ROCKYHORROR; and so on. A few old favorites dropped by -- 65A, Cookie in the shape of its first and last letters, OREO...

AWGEE, it's AWEEBIT of an INSIDEBASEBALL theme. Jean, of course was enthralled, but Mike was too busy searching for the missing G from 46D, Doin' nothin', CHILLIN, to take much notice. Fortunately he did find that missing G in the puzzle, and for all the details, have a listen! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@...

A punderful Sunday crossword, based on the notion of running two companies together at high speeds in the hope that they will produce something interesting ... oh, wait, we've just been told that that's what nuclear physicists do. In any event, this was a fun crossword, with clever cluing throughout, from 42D, Little sounds, INLETS, to 103A, Shot across the bow, ARROW, to 58A, Rulers&apo...

One of us (that would be Jean)  found today's crossword to be a walk in the park, the other (that would be Mike) less of a SHOOIN and more like a POLARBEARPLUNGE (to borrow an answer from yesterday's crossword), his experience ably summarized in the clue, 25A, "Heavens to Murgatroyd!".  Just a friendly reminder that if you want to subscribe to the New York Times crossword, nyti...

In today's episode, Mike learns how to pronounce MEME and LOLCATS; Jean teaches Mike how to pronounce MEME and LOLCATS; and we have a Fun Fact about an answer that appeared earlier in the week, ECOTONE. 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 drop by...

Apparently Pun Prison had a breakout today, but fear not -- the escapees got stuck in today's crossword, where they are waiting for your ... enjoyment? Here's just one, to give you the idea: 27A, Cry on arriving for a boating trip?, WHATSUPDOCK. Alas, they don't get any better (or is that worse)? All kidding aside, it was a pleasurable and not too difficult puzzle from the clearly p...

A nice Wednesday crossword. Jean got through it lickety-split and tickety-boo. Mike got through the first top 2/3 fairly expeditiously but then went into tai-chi mode, due to his lack of knowledge of 37D, Native Caribbean plant whose fruit grows in clusters,  the delicious SEAGRAPE, and his belief that  64A, A giant one rises in Citi Field after ever Mets homer. was somehow a reference to ADELE (a...

HEAVENSTOBETSY it's been a long time since we've heard anyone say HEAVENSTOBETSY, but it popped up today, along with several other phrases from some bygone era, courtesy of Amanda Chung and Karl Ni. There were several loooong clues, long enough that the grid needed to be stretched to 14x16: so for those of you who calculate your subscription on a per square basis, the New York Times owes...

A more difficult than usual Monday crossword, but filled with sparkling clues like 34A, Hairstyle popularized by Lucille Ball, POODLECUT,  40D, Nonsense, MALARKEY,  44A, Cheap neighborhood bar, LOCALDIVE, and 38A, For two, in music, ADUE. Today's episode covers all that and more, so download and be prepared to be uplifted! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mai...

Today's crossword was clearly a LABOROFGLOVE, and if you think that there's a typo in this sentence, listen to today's episode to be disabused of that notion. Jean got through today's crossword in her usual expeditious manner, while Mike-- puzzled by the fact that the answer to 31A, Emergency room concern, was TRAUMA rather than PROOFOFINSURANCE -- had to go EXTRAINNINGS before...

A NEATO crossword from the pen of Peter A. Collins, rife with amusing clues (32A, "Squee!", IMSOEXCITED, 37D, Worn down apparel?, PARKAS (awesome!), and 20A, Part of a driver's manual, CLUTCH). There were a few clues that might make respectively, spelling-challenged and Anglophobes blanch -- 36A, Former name of Kazakhstan's largest city, ALMAATA, and 26A, Crown Jewels' qua...

After yesterday's quagmire, today's crossword is (relatively) straightforward -- not easy by any stretch of the imagination, but there were enough toeholds in every area of the puzzle to give one hope. Jean, for instance, knew 27D, Figure skater Lipinski, TARA, in the center left of the crossword; 21D, Tony-winning musical written by Lin-Manuel Miranda during his second year of college,...

An epically challenging Thursday opus from the fertile mind of Sam Ezersky, today's puzzle was ESSENTIALLY half cryptic crossword, half QUIZ. Jean took a shade longer than usual to figure things out, Mike was lucky to get out with his streak alive. Download and listen up for all the gory details. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswor...

Happy Pre-April-Fool's Day!. And in honor of the occasion, Trenton Carlson has produced a crossword that fooled, well, one of us, with a  virtual-natick at the corner of 48A, Dance move that went from trendy to cringe in the 2010s, DAB, and 50D, Mayim who played Amy Farrah Fowler on "the Big Bang Theory", BIALIK. Said cohost also had  problems in the middle of the puzzle, briefly co...

While a MONONYM might sound like a one-note Gregorian chant, it is, in fact, a term for a person with a single name, and forms the basis for today's crossword, featuring BONO, PINK, ENYA and EMINEM. What a great concert  that would be! It's Tip Tuesday: Jean lists common tests that tend to pop up in the crossword, while Mike reminds listeners to explore the cultural references -- if it&a...

The EPITOME of what a Monday crossword should be -- not  too difficult, with a GLOB of humor (6D, Try, try again?, REHEAR, and 25D, Shelters for shelties, KENNELS), and a few novel words (41D, Theatergoer's break, ENTRACTE, and the slightly more common but even more difficult to spell word, 67A, Garlicky sauce, AIOLI). Jean was able to get through all of this with her usual APLOMB, while Mike...

A perfect puzzle for a perfect day (28 is a perfect number, we kid you not ). The puzzle was not too tough, especially if you knew your planetary moons (ARIEL, DEIMOS, and the like). There were several smile-inducing clues, but we have to give a shoutout to one of the funniest, genuinely LOL clues that we've seen in a while -- 60A, Hit movie released as "Vaselina" in Mexico, GREASE....

The toughest crossword of the week lives up to its billing, with a bottom right corner that was a real HAIRRAISER. Both Jean and Mike had to dig for 39D, Rogues, PICAROS (not (Jean thought) GIGOLOS, or (Mike thought) PIRATES). That ran into another poser, 53A, Entry point in the walls of Babylon, ISHTARGATE.  Meanwhile in other parts of the puzzle, the author didn't ease off,  FARFROMIT, but...

A loooong crossword, at least the answers were: but the clues were  relatively merciful for a Friday, which means (based on the Law of Conservation of Crossword Difficulty) that tomorrow's puzzle is going to be an ursa, if you'll pardon our Latin. But back to the here-and-now, there were quite a few clever clues, including 2D, Not fast, EAT, and 62A, Place for a hot date?, DESERTOASIS. J...

Opposites attract, but some of the time they just hang around in bigger words, as Alex Eaton-Salners demonstrates in this fine  puzzle. Alex was able to find AMITY in ANIMOSITY, WOEFUL in WONDERFUL, and a few others that we'll not reveal here (but we discuss in the podcast, and you can also see at xwordinfo.com).  Beyond the central theme, there were several clues of note: 12D, Distance betwe...

A crossword for the animation fashionistas in the crowd, where readers were challenged to the question of WHOWOREITBETTER, with sartorial standoffs among PAIRS of fictional characters, including 17A ... Donald Duck orPopeye?, SAILORSUIT, and 24A, Minions or Mario?, DENIMOVERALLS.   Jean immediately picked up on this theme; Mike was left totally AREEL, and had to fight for every square, SOSAD! Oh,...

You'll probably get a charge out of today's puzzle, an electrifying effort by Dan Schoenholz. Jean managed to complete today's crossword within 3 seconds of her Monday time. Mike was too distracted by the appearance of TWEE (48A, Too cute, on the Thames) and ONUS (35D, Albatross) to turn in a good time. It's Tip Tuesday. Jean explains the architectural terms OGEE and ORIEL, whi...