Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

Today's crossword was a shocker! Traditionally, the New York Times grids are designed so that answers can be no shorter than 3 letters and as a corollary no letter can be like, well, like the Z's at the end of 21A, Bolivian capital, LAPAZ, and beginning of 48A, Spaces (out), ZONES -- surrounded on 3 sides by black squares. Yet (gasp!), there they are. It's all in a good cause, however, because the entire grid is marked by a large Z in the center -- and there were multiple words with multiple ...

22 Heinä 202111min

A terrific Tuesday crossword, a paean to 6D, Olympic sport whose all-round competition is composed of the last parts of 19-, 26-, 44- and 52- across, WOMENSGYMNASTICS. Interspersed among all the sports were some other gently amusing clues, such as 28D, Cheery sort?, FAN, 5D, Uranus but not Neptune, GREEKGOD (nice!), and 46D, Aid in scrolling to the top, UPKEY. Now, will Will Shortz & co., continue in this vein, honoring other sports as the Olympics unfurl? Stay tuned to find out! We love ...

21 Heinä 202111min

A fairly straightforward Monday, although it did contain one of Jean's banes, a quote, but thanks to gentle crosses (it's a Monday) she was still able to complete the crossword in a blazing 6:12! Mike, meanwhile, was able to ... complete the crossword. For all the details, download and listen up to today's episode. 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 st...

20 Heinä 20218min

A delicious Sunday crossword, with LOL answers courtesy of Julia Child (as curated and transcribed by today's constructor, Jesse Goldberg). How could you not like such bon mots as 38A, "A party without cake is ________", REALLYJUSTAMEETING, or the rather brazen 65A, "If you're alone in the kitchen and you drop the lamb, you can always just pick it up. __________?", WHOSGOINGTOKNOW. Jean cruised through the crossword in 54 minutes, only getting hung up in the vicinity of 87A, ________ o'clock ...

19 Heinä 202114min

It's a Saturday New York Times crossword, which means that the glove are off, the gauntlet's been thrown down, in short, the puzzle was tough -- amusing, but tough. The grid itself was built to challenge, divided into 4 largely isolated quadrants. Jean had trouble keeping her footing in the center of the crossword, with 26A, Break down for closer analysis, as data, SLICEANDDICE, not immediately clicking, and 30A, Iconic iPhone addition of 2011, EMOJIKEYBOARD, also causing grief. Mike, meanwhi...

18 Heinä 202115min

A Fun Friday crossword, challenging but with not too many tripping hazards (aka proper nouns, such as 40A, Big name in pizza rolls, TOTINOS, and 15D, Short-story writer Bret, HARTE). 19A Thin in tone, TINNY, was tricky because we had almost an identical clue the day before, the answer to which was REEDY. Very tricky, Mr. Shortz! A few "today-I-learned" moments arose courtesy of 29A, When doubled, a 2010s hip-hop fad, NAE, and 54A, She's the responsible one in the group, colloquially...

17 Heinä 202114min

A delicious Thursday crossword, with TOMYUMSOUP as an appetizer, plenty of tasty rebuses to chew on, and some COKES to wash it down. It did have a few of those cultural references that usually cause Mike to break out in a cold sweat, but fortunately 52D, Actress Birch, THORA, and 59A, Genre for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, SKA, had (relatively) easy crossings. A great crossword (did we mention that it included the Mighty Mighty Bosstones?), we give it a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. We love f...

16 Heinä 20219min

Today's Wednesday crossword was on the harder side of the spectrum, but it included some fascinating facts. For example, did you know 10D, Creatures that have the densest fur of any mammal (up to 1 million hairs per square inch), SEAOTTERS? Or 21A, One of 20 on the Titanic, LIFEBOAT? The main theme, however, revolved around authors, whose names were ordinary words with E's attached, inserted into appropriate phrases, e.g., 17A, Clamoring for "The Bonfire of the Vanities", CRYINGWOLFE. A...

15 Heinä 202112min