Monday, January 11, 2021
A gentle Monday puzzle, perfect for the newer crossword solvers in the audience. It had a rather rye, um, no, make that wry, theme involving DELI food, but other than that the HQ (Humor Quotient) was relatively low, with just one real knee-slapper -- 5D, Without exception ... as in dry countries?, BARNONE. A few old favorites made a reappearance -- 23A, Olive ___ (Popeye's sweetie), OYL, and 67A, Popular vodka brand, for short, STOLI, safely positioned on the opposite side of the crossword fr...
12 Jan 20218min
Sunday, January 10, 2021
Yesterday we ran into ANUBIS, and today we have 40A, Supreme Egyptian deity, AMONRA -- so tomorrow's forecast is for OSIRIS, with a chance of ISIS later in the week. Speaking of AMONRA, apparently there are multiple spellings -- AMONRA, AMENRA and AMUNRA are all acceptable variants. That caused Mike no end of grief, as it naticked with 36D, Base of an arch, which he took to be an arcane architectural term, SELE, rather than, as Jean readily discovered, SOLE. There were some interesting ...
11 Jan 202112min
Saturday, January 9, 2021
Today's crossword was a tad easier than yesterday's -- Jean did it somewhat more quickly, and Mike cleaved an astonishing 2h30m off of his Friday time 😎. While not as difficult as some Saturdays, the clues were still quite interesting -- 17A, Marked by stately beauty, JUNOESQUE, 19A, Accessory that might have a netsuke attached, OBI, and the possibly contractually-obligated Simpsons reference, 46D, __________ Hayden, actress who voices Milihouse on "The Simpsons", PAMELA. [If they start aski...
10 Jan 202115min
Friday, January 8, 2021
We kickoff our second season -- well, to be precise, the second episode of our second season -- with a challenging (of course!) Friday crossword. Jean got through it relatively easily, aided and abetted by her encyclopedic knowledge of women's cosmetic products. It's fun-fact Friday, and in today's episode we take an in-depth look at the (un)official cookie of the New York Times crossword, the Oreo -- first sold (and presumably eaten) on March 6, 1912, in Hoboken, New Jersey. We ...
9 Jan 202113min
Thursday, January 7, 2021
This was a crossword WITHATWIST, or as the crossword constructors would have it, WIXXXXWIST, that made for a very exciting Thursday solve. Jean tore through it blazingly quickly, as usual, whereasMike took forever, no, STRIKETHAT, a tad longer. 1D seemed to be a bit of a stretch -- Sunburn cause, for short, UVWAVE -- but considering the virtuoso-performance everywhere else, we'll cut Matthew Stock and Sid Sivakumar a break. Definitely a 5 squares on the JAMCR scAle. We love feedback! Send us ...
8 Jan 20219min
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
Today's crossword WASA SWEET one. Jean learned about FOMO - Fear Of Missing Out - while that ROGUE Mike was delighted that his last Tip Tuesday tip -- memorize television networks -- applied to 59A, "Impractical Jokers" channel, TRUTV. We give it a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.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!
7 Jan 202110min
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Multiple celebs - singers, writers and actors - made it into today's crossword and thence this podcast. Two dogs (1A, Petite pooch, familiarly, POM, and 15A, Lassie, for one, COLLIE) also made an appearance in today's crossword, ironically in the same grid as 4D, Condo restriction, NODOGS. We appreciated 44D, Trial stages, BETAS, adjacent to 46D, Trial stages, TESTS, that was a BIGHIT as far as we're concerned. For Tip Tuesday, Jean suggests enjoying a beverage to keep those neurons we...
6 Jan 202113min
Monday, January 4, 2021
A surprisingly crunchy Monday crossword, it took both Jean & Mike a little while to find traction. There were lots of DCCOMICS references, involving WONDERWOMAN / DIANAPRINCE (played in the movies by GALGADOT and on television by LYNDACARTER). There were two new-to-or-possibly-fogotten-by-us words -- 2D, Property recipient, in law, ALIENEE, and 39D, Some delivery people, ROUTEMEN. Remember, if you wish to comment on anything you hear in this podcast, let us know at crosswordpo...
5 Jan 20217min
