Tuesday, April 6, 2021

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 day and a half, having convinced himself that 43A, Motif in much Christian art, was ACORNTREE (rath...

2 Touko 202116min

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 scale. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, cr...

1 Touko 202112min

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 spelling 31A, Pepper between jalapeño and cayenne on the Scoville heat scale, SERRANO. Not a bad crossword, we give ...

30 Huhti 202110min

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, Ideal condition for collectors, MINT, had appeared (in a different guise) just yesterday. On th...

29 Huhti 20218min

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 with Mondays; and Mike suggests not confusing DIES IRAE, the hymn, with ISSA RAE, the her. We love ...

28 Huhti 202112min

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 after deuce, ADIN, and 66A, Lady _________, first female member of Parliament, ASTOR. But most of t...

27 Huhti 20216min

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, "Oh, hell yes!", ABSOFREAKINGLUTELY; 68D, Visibly scornful, SNEERY;, and 77A, Racy selfie posted for ...

26 Huhti 202119min

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 they're doing, and what they're doing is providing great entertainment. Nicely done, 5 squares on the JAMCR scale....

25 Huhti 202116min