Tuesday, December 31, 2024 - Our New Year's Eve Spectacular (fireworks, champagne, this episode's got it all!)

Today's puzzle ought to put a smile on your face ... because there's a smile in the grid! A winking smile, to be precise, the emoticon ;-). Rather than using PUNCTUATIONMARKS, however, the ;-) is ingeniously spelled out (SEMI, COLON, HYPHEN and PARENTHESIS, all arranged in the appropriate shape in the grid), and it must've taken forever to get this right. We salute the author, Alex Rosen, for a job well done - 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. Besides the PUNCTUATIONMARK artistry, there was some ...

13 Syys 202112min

An amazing oeuvre by Sid Sivakumar. Just consider 1A, Cause for alarm?, BURGLAR (ha!)), 3A, Acts like a nudnik to, PESTERS (huh?), and 45A, Smartphone screen displays, ALERTS (wow!). Now imagine an entire puzzle with clues like that, well ... you don't have to imagine, because the entire puzzle is like that, a serious mental workout worthy of a Saturday New York Times crossword. A 5 squares on the JAMCR scale if ever a puzzle deserved one! For all the deets, download and enjoy today...

12 Syys 202116min

A challenging Friday crossword (but easier than last week's!). There were a few novel entries in today's grid, including 17A, Hybrid citrus fruit native to China, MEYERLEMON, the very 21st century 3D, "G2G", TTYL, and 35D, Marshal under Napoleon, NEY. Jean leveraged her familiarity with 12D, ________ the 25-Down, founder of the kingdom of Hawaii, KAMEHAMEHA, to get a good leg up in the top right corner, whereas Mike leveraged his familiarity with computers and his unfamiliarity with gerunds t...

11 Syys 202112min

A fascinating puzzle, with several TIL (Today I Learned) moments. Most notably, the astonishing 30A, Animal whose teeth are the strongest substance in the natural world, SNAIL. For those of us who never even knew that SNAILs had teeth, this was indeed a revelation! Also, the fact that RADIAN is part of the SI (metric system) was also a bit of a stunner. The theme involved standard to metric conversions, so for instance, 16A, "In a Silent Way" trumpeter, [~3:5], KILOMETERSDAVIS (as opposed to ...

10 Syys 202114min

A great Wednesday crossword by Lee Taylor, a punny homage to speed that manages to walk that fine line between punny and painful. Consider 16A, "Hurry up", to a dancer, SHAKEALEG, or 50A, "Hurry up", to a zombie, LOOKALIVE. And the rest of the themed answers are even better. All the details of this clearly 5-square puzzle are inside, so download and listen up! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com. Also, we're on ...

9 Syys 20216min

A fine Tuesday crossword by Zhouqin Burnikel, with a cute theme involving currencies, and several noteworthy clues. It's also Triplet Tuesday, and Jean aces it! For all the details, download and listen up!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 there and strike up a conversation!

8 Syys 202113min

There were a lot of famous names in today's crossword --but even if you don't know 61A, Atlanta rapper featured on Lizzo's Grammy-nominated "Exactly How I Feel", GUCCIMANE, or 24A, Runway model famous for her work as a Victoria's Secret model, CHANELIMAN, the crosses were merciful. Mike, as always, had a few hiccups - he incorrectly guessed 13A _____ milk (nondairy choice), OAT (SOY VEI!), and ironically got 56D, All wound up, TENSE, correct, but then inexplicably failed to get the TENSE...

7 Syys 202110min

The trifecta of tough crosswords to wrap up our crossword-solving week, today's puzzle had 5 answers that started off running across, but ended rising vertically, with the remainder of the horizontal answer forming a different phrase that ended in ASH. There was some foreshadowing, 123A, Within arm's reach, ATONESELBOW, and 100A, What a button an armrest may control, SEATANGLE, as well as the blatant revealer, the combination of 50A and 97A, RISEFROMTHEASHES. Coincidentally, that's ...

6 Syys 202110min