Tuesday, April 1, 2025 - We're fools for today's crossword 🙄
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
Monday, March 31, 2025 - A grid that is obsessed with ZEST
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
Sunday, March 30, 2025 - Happy April Fool's Day Eve Eve 🤣🎉
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
Saturday, March 29, 2025 - We're baaaaaack!
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
Tuesday, March 25, 2025 - So Long, and Thanks for All the Fishes
We'd give this crossword an APLUS, for no other reason than that it gave us an APLUS, as in 54D, Highest grade. But lest we be accused of grade inflation, we would like to submit as evidence 29A, "Old Man ___ at Cloud" (bit from "The Simpsons" that became an internet meme), YELLS (Will must really like The Simpsons 😀); 35D, X-ray ___ (novelty goggles), SPEX (we really, really want a pair of these); 58D, Whopper server? LIAR (😀 😀)Show note imagery: A who's who of old time comed...
26 Mar 16min
Monday, March 24, 2025 - No ERRANT words in today's grid ... except for ERRANT 🙄
This was a nice debut by Victor Schmitt, yet another "cute n' clever" theme that definitely lives up to its name. (We note parenthetically that "Cute n' Clever" would be an awesome name for a pet store for Mensa cats, and if one ever comes into being, we hope to add it as an advertiser immediately 😀). Apart from the clues mentioned in today's episode, we'd like to note 55A, Arctic abodes, IGLOOS (following yesterday's huts and yurts, Will seems to be promoting a native-abode-arc of some sort)...
25 Mar 16min
Sunday, March 23, 2025 - This crossword will DONICELY!
Jean made short work of today's crossword, armed as she was with a PANOPLY of answers, whereas Mike, for whom PANOPLY was the only gimme in the grid, had to toil a wee bit longer -- and by a "wee bit", we really mean weeeeeeeeeeeee bit -- before he managed to get to the happy music. Show note imagery: TERRA Nova National Park, in Newfoundland, Canada We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com. Also, we're on Face...
24 Mar 24min
Saturday, March 22, 2025 - In the grid, and in the nightmares of spelling bee-ers everywhere, PSILOCYBIN!
This was an excellent Saturday crossword -- with clue difficulty mostly ranging from scarily difficult to "you must be joking, Ms. Hoody". These sorts of puzzles make for a deeply satisfying solve (if you can), and no loss of face (if you cannot). Also, any crossword that manages to quietly work ICEPALACE, ICET, and SAMOVAR into the same grid clearly deserves some sort of praise, and here it is: a full 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. Bravo! Also in today's episode: our choice for JAMCOTWA...
23 Mar 16min
