Tuesday, December 10, 2024 - The answer might be UGLI, but the clue is beautiful 😀

Today's crossword was the ideal middle-of-the-week puzzle; a fun but accessible theme, a smattering of debut answers and a host of intriguing clues. We have -- of course! -- all the deets inside, so do have a listen, and, as usual, let us know what you think! Show notes imagery: OSLO, showing just a few of its 40 islands and 350 lakes 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...

14 Maalis 202415min

Andrew Kingsley and Garret Chalfin have teamed up to produce a fine Tuesday crossword, with some good clues, some great clues, and some awesome clues. In the latter category we have 35D, Show stoppers?, ADS 😀; 51A, Liquid-ATE, MELT 🙄; and 50D, Anonymous creator of a painting sold at auction that subsequently shredded itself, BANKSY 😀 😀 . An admirable crossword, we hereby declare it to be worth a full 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. Show note imagery: BANKSY's work of art, destroying its...

13 Maalis 202417min

Today's crossword is by award winning (!) crossword constructor Rebecca Goldstein and Rachel Fabi, and the two have constructed a wonderful puzzle that is sure to whet your appetite for more of their work. The theme -- which will also whet your appetite -- is fine, but there were some other clues worth cheering. Allow us to point out, for example, 30A, One nickname for Elizabeth, ELLY; 9D, Genre for Da Brat or DaBaby, RAP; and 2D, US Soccer star, RAPINOE, to which we can only say 34D, C...

12 Maalis 202414min

Enrique Henestroza Anguiano and Matthew Stock have teamed up to rack 'em up, with a clever Scrabble-based theme. It briefly looked like today might been a four leaf clover of a crossword, a Sunday puzzle with a rebus: but in this case, the trick was to construct the rebus mentally, while writing only a single letter in the grid itself. It's complicated, but we've got the 411 on all of it, so dig into today's episode, and, as always, let us know what you think. Show note imagery: Sekhme...

11 Maalis 202415min

A fine Saturday crossword by John Guzzetta -- and if that name seems familiar, that's perhaps because he has had 40 NYTimes crosswords published since 2012. Of those, 50% of them were Friday or Saturday puzzles, so he's definitely in his element here. Though themeless (as is tradition for a Saturday NYTimes crossword), there were of course many fine clues, which we dive into in today's episode. Beyond those, however, we would be remiss if we did not at least mention 27D, Concupiscent o...

10 Maalis 202416min

There were challenges galore in today's crossword, with the rockiest of rocky shoals cropping up in the southwest portion of the grid. There were so many great clues that it would take, oh, a 15x15 grid to list all of them, but here are a few (that didn't make it into the podcast): 13D, Butt of a joke?, WHOOPEECUSHION (ha!); 9D, Like the homes of roughly one in six Americans, rural (huh!); 45A, In, in the past, HEP (har!); and there were many, many more. In other news, we have a listen...

9 Maalis 202417min

This is Joe O'Neill's very first NYTimes crossword, and it's a doozie, with the theme revolving around one of Robert Frost's most famous poems. Now "famous" is relative: while Jean had a casual acquaintance with the poem, Mike was, as usual, clueless -- and therefore answerless -- so he had to rely exclusively on the not -always-easy crosses, and serendipity, to see him through. There were some great clues throughout the grid that deserve some air time. There was the euphonious 53A, Wa...

8 Maalis 202416min

Brad Wiegmann has produced a fabulous Wednesday crossword, and for those keeping track this is the second crossword this week where the theme was on the subtle and cerebral side. We loved it for a number of reasons, detailed inside -- as well as some exciting listener mail that will be of special interest to residents of PARAMUS, NJ. Deets within, so dive in (as long as it's been at least an hour since you ate 😀) and enjoy! Show note imagery: Machu Picchu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and on...

7 Maalis 202414min