Wednesday, February 10, 2021
AND by for a UPENDOUS crossword by Kate Hawkins, and in case you haven't guessed by now, the theme involved STOUT, as in getting the ST OUT of various clues. Mike's favorite was 37A, The main characters of "Brokeback Mountain", e.g.?, RANGEBEDFELLOWS, while Jean was partial to 57A, Gross messages?, ICKYNOTES. Jean just had a small typo that slowed her down --RANGEBEDPELLOWS sounds like something you might buy at Bed, Bath and Beyond (not a sponsor, but here's hoping), while Mike proved ...
11 Helmi 20219min
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
There's a lot of clothing in today's crossword, and we are advised to hold onto it, with clues that, in a fairly straightforward manner (it is a Tuesday), resolve to KEEPYOURSHIRTON, HANGONTOYOURHAT, and TIGHTENYOURBELT. There were a few interesting juxtapositions - 13D, Understanding, KEN, was followed by 18D, What a "Y" with a pair of horizontal lines through it is the symbol of, YEN; and while this is a bit of a stretch, 58D, Clumsy boat, TUB, near 60D, Drinking game?, GIN, might be a refe...
10 Helmi 20219min
Monday, February 8, 2021
A stylish Monday crossword starts our puzzle-solving week. Jean got momentarily got hung up on 5A, The five weekdays, for short, writing MTWRF, rather than the NYTimes officially sanctioned MTWTF, begging the question, what day is T, and how would you interpret TGIT. Mike got hung up on culture -- 1A Actress / TV host _______- Pinkett Smith offered no help, so he turned to 1D, Liz's best friend on "30 Rock", and realized that he would have to let the crosses do the talking (JADA and JEN...
9 Helmi 20219min
Sunday, February 7, 2021
A weally gweat cwossword, with an intewesting theme -- Toddler Talk, to be precise. Jean made short order of this puzzle, as usual; Mike was surprised to discover the existence of SCHWAS, in 107A, Beginning and end of "America"; stunned to discover that KLEES was a real word; and disappointed that his bones didn't come with labels, so that he could've figured out 103D, Hip bone (ILIAC) more quickly. A nice Sunday crossword, we give it a 5 squares on the world-famous (?) JAMCR scale. We love f...
8 Helmi 202110min
Saturday, February 6, 2021
A fairly gentle crossword (for a Saturday): Jean tore through it so quickly her keyboard melted! Some of the clues were quite straightforward (14A, Princess of Monaco, STEPHANIE, and 21D, Give it some time, BEPATIENT). Others were humorous -- 41A, Government program?, THEWESTWING, and 24A, A real tour de force?, STARWARS. Still others required some very specific knowledge, e.g., 16A, ______ Hufflepuff, one of the co-founders of Hogwarts, HELGA, and the novel 50A, Music genre that includes "ge...
7 Helmi 20218min
Friday, February 5, 2021
Uh, oh, it's an Erik Agard Friday puzzle - red alert! Dictionaries and thesauri up! Jean was highly impressed with the look of the grid (and you can see it, as usual, at xwordinfo.com). Mike was more impressed with the difficulty: he had to scan so far down the list of clues to find one that he could answer that he inadvertently rolled into Thursday! There were a few outre clues - 38A, Product from Bevel or Oui the People, RAZOR; 31D, Language in which you might be greeted "Hullo, hoo are ye?...
6 Helmi 202117min
Thursday, February 4, 2021
A very colorful and melodic Thursday crossword, with rebuses containing Green, Yellow, Black, and White, all parts of song titles. There were oldies -- like 32A. 1966 hit by the Rolling Stones, PAINTITBLACK, 61A, 1966 hit by the Beatles, YELLOWSUBMARINE, and much more modern fare, like 38D, 2017 hit by Cardi B, BODAKYELLOW. Jean worked expeditiously through the puzzle, while Mike, despite momentarily confusing JOHNDEERE with JOHNDENVER, and KODAK with BODAK, managed to turn in a v...
5 Helmi 20219min
Wednesday, February 3, 2021
A crossword in honor of 35A, Civil rights icon who led a historic march from Selma to Montgomery on 3/7/1965, JOHNLEWIS. Four clues celebrated the great man's life, including a truly iconic phrase, 58A, Oxymoronic coinage of 35-Across, GOODTROUBLE. There were some amusing non-theme related clues of note, including 14A, Unit of courage?, OUNCE, and the somewhat curiously clued 41D, Utters a sound, informally, SAYSBOO: to which we will not say BOOHOO, because this crossword made us smile. We lo...
4 Helmi 20217min
