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

Depending on your upbringing and life experiences, you have found this crossword to be a breeze (Jean), or a quagmire of naticks (Mike). Both agree that it was a fine crossword, for reasons that are spelled out in today's Super Sunday podcast. Check it out! Show note imagery: Thomas Edison, on the cover of Time magazine, 1925 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 ...

12 Helmi 202415min

An elegant Saturday crossword by Zhouquin Burnikel, her 79th! It was a perfectly timed reminder that today is the Chinese New Year, the YEAROFTHEDRAGON, so GONGXIFACAI, everyone! The crossword was relatively straightforward for a Saturday, although there were some great gotchas throughout the grid. For example, have a gander at 7A, "Ah, got it now", OKISEE (not, as both Jean and Mike, solving independently as always, had speculated, OHISEE); 37D, Badly off-base, GONEAWOL (ha!); and 11D, Carri...

11 Helmi 202417min

A fine Friday crossword by Christina Iverson, who is, at least based on her NYTimes record, unable to write any other kind. Jean tore through this like nobody's business, Mike almost met his Waterloo in the southwest corner, but somehow managed to scrape by, ending in ALLSMILES rather than SOBS. All the deets are inside, as well as a Generally Excellent Comment about the NBC chimes, so please download, listen up, and enjoy! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener ma...

10 Helmi 202417min

Samuel A. Donaldson, having completed his 39th NYTimes crossword, demonstrates that practice makes perfect. Let's run through the list, shall we? Sly, wry, and occasionally totally deceptive theme? ✅Entertaining and educational clues? ✅Pedestrian, phone-it-in clues ❌So Sam checks all the right boxes, and you should definitely check out a) his crossword, and b) our take on it. Enjoy! Show note imagery: King Lear, upon a HEATH, exposed to the fury of the storm in a dark night We lo...

9 Helmi 202416min

Today's crossword was (mainly) a blast from the past, featuring a series of diverse musical hits with one common lyrical feature. Can you tell what LOLA, POKERFACE, MYGENERATION and CHANGES all have in common? If not (or even if you can), have a listen to today's podcast, where we answer that poser, and have our usual erudite, witty, and chances-of-winning-the-lottery-enhancing analysis of today's puzzle. Show note imagery: LUCID Air, capable of going from 0 to 60 in under 2 seconds, a...

8 Helmi 202414min

A terrific Tuesday crossword by Victor Barocas. We found the answer to 59D, Lacking clutter", NEAT, to be ... NEAT. We judged the answer to 44A, Perfect, IDEAL, to be ... IDEAL. Finally we found the answer to 61A, Positive Instagram responses, LIKES to be worthy of a lot of ... ok, you know how this ends 😀 . In addition to our hopefully cogent crossword analysis, we also have a nail-biting Triplet Tuesday segment, so listen in, play along, and ... enjoy! Show note imagery: ...

7 Helmi 202419min

A fun Monday crossword by Desirée Penner and Jeff Sinnock, who are about as persistent a crossword constructing duo as you'll ever meet: their first crossword (this is their second) took 123 tries before they got it published in the NYTimes. Talk about grit! Today's crossword is quite colorful, and, once you solve the crossword, we mean that literally: the themed answers get redrawn in the style of a comic book, with fonts and colors that look like they came right off of a DC or MARVEL artist...

6 Helmi 202415min

The puns fly thick-and-fast in a grid that is filled with panache, pizzazz, and other classy words that start with the letter p. Just consider 99D, School name that sounds like a Canadian territory, UCONN (brilliant!!); or 77D, What might lead to a bridge?, VERSE (bravo!); and 44A, Anatomical stabilizer, TOE (bodacious!). We've got all the deets in today's exciting episode, so download, have a listen, and then impress your neighbors with your (possibly) newly acquired knowledge of AXOLOTLYs a...

5 Helmi 202420min