Thursday, December 11, 2020

Saturdays are supposed to be the toughest crosswords of the week, and Rafael Musa definitely got the memo: the amount of misdirection in today's puzzle would have David Copperfield nodding approvingly. We've covered most of Mr. Musa's masterpieces in today's episode, but a few others worthy of note are the fabulous 8D, Gag order?, TMI (hah!); 35A, Time to give up, LENT (magnifico!); and the cryptic 23A, Human Geography and Calculus BC, for short, APS (we didn't realize that Calculus was...

5 Apr 15min

There were a lot of long answers in this crossword, but fortunately they were also very common phrases. Otherwise, this would've been a Saturday or perhaps an Impossiday™️ crossword. As it stands, this puzzle was a terrific Friday, and the reason why is no mystery: Karen Steinberg wrote it and Will Shortz edited it. Show note imagery: JETHRO Tull (the band, not the agriculturalist We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud....

5 Apr 15min

Today's crossword was by Hanh Huynh. His Thursday crossword themes have always been brilliant, and we are pleased to announce that with today's puzzle his streak remains intact: may it live long and prosper! Show note imagery: BARQS Rootbeer 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!

4 Apr 14min

This was a highly pleasing mid-week crossword by Daniel Bodily. There were some NEAT clues (including 15A, "Sweet!", NEAT); clues with a lot of HEART (25A, Trick-taking card game, HEARTS); and clues that we got right away (51D, "Pronto!", STAT 😀). All told, a fine puzzle, and it is therefore with great pleasure that we award it a full 5 squares, on the JAMCR scale. Show note imagery: The Civilian Conservation Corp official (and very spiffy) logo We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Inf...

3 Apr 12min

Today's crossword was the perfect April 1st crossword -- as a Tuesday, it was not too difficult, but it was very meta, and very relatable, making for a great solve. We have Sande Milton (supervised, of course, by Will Shortz) to thank for this, his third crossword for the NYTimes. Beyond the crossword, we have our heavily trademarked and patented Triplet Tuesday™️ segment, so have a listen, and let us know how you did! Show note imagery: A Commodore AMIGA, with a whopping 256K of RAM! W...

2 Apr 16min

OK, perhaps "obsessed" is a little over the top, because technically ZEST itself only showed up once, as per custom; but the clues and answers were still quite snappy. Our particular favorite? 46D, Producers of six-packs, SITUPS (nice!). We were also delighted to see 15A, King of the gods, in Egyptian myth, AMON. And while AMON may not translate as "God of Aliases", since AMON is aka AMUN, AMUNRA, AMONRA and AMUNRE, we would not be surprised if it did. For the deets, and some interestin...

1 Apr 11min

Simeon Seigel tends to write crosswords just like this one - filled with clever and novel clues. We present, as exhibit A, ... 105A, Its southernmost point, Pamana Island, is more than 750 miles below the Equator, ASIA (amazing!)106A, Group in "a pension fund", AEIOU (outstanding!)40A, Returns a call, in a way, ECHOES (wow, wow, wo, wo, w, w, ...)In short, a fine crossword, we approve: 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. Show note imagery: Dr. SEUSS (or, phonetically as he originally wanted i...

31 Mar 15min

We have returned after a brief, unplanned hiatus, and welcoming us back were Christina Iverson and Jacob McDermott, who have prepared a delightful, and notably not-soul-crushingly-difficult Saturday crossword for us to inspect, dissect and discuss. Deets inside, so have a listen, and, as always, please tell others about us on social media. Show note imagery: A TUXEDOCAT, prowling about in search of its cape and top hat. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! ...

30 Mar 11min