Friday, May 28, 2021

Beyond the clues dissected in today's episode, there were a few surprising answers lurking in the grid: 41A, People credited with discovering mechanoluminescence, using quartz crystals to generate light, UTE (but still no word as who discovered how to spell it); 22A, Big gun, you might say, BICEP (not, as Mike originally hoped, GIANTSPACELASER); and the at first blush perplexing 4D, Schedule listings, FEES, which may (or may not) be an Ebay thing. Regardless, we liked the crossword ...

28 Nov 20219min

A Goldilocks of a Friday crossword - not too easy, not too hard, but just right - thanks to the talents of crossword constructor Kate Hawkins, aided and abetted, no doubt, by editor Will Shortz. Any grid that can include 50A, _______ Yaga (folklore villain), BABA. deserves our respect, and we give it - 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. In other news, it's Fun Fact Friday, and for a refresher on just about everyone's favorite heavy metal band, aka IRONMAIDEN, download and listen up. We love...

27 Nov 202111min

True or false: this was a tricky crossword. True! And false! In fact the grid was littered with true and false answers, an ingenious gimmick courtesy of Chase Dittrich. To get the full 411, just hit the ol' download button and enjoy. On a side note, without giving away the entire store, here's a page that may help with today's crossword: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/crosswords/yes-you-can-write-more-than-one-letter-in-a-square.html We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We l...

26 Nov 202113min

A crunchier than usual Wednesday puzzle, both Jean & Mike had trouble in the north central and southeast parts of the grid. Jean was particularly stymied by her nemesis, the rebus, while Mike was almost done in by his fixation on ELO. For the details of this epic struggle, and how it turned out, 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 f...

25 Nov 202113min

Eric Bornstein simultaneously cashes in his chips and hits one out of the ballpark, with a financially-themed crossword with a baseball sub-theme (if two clues constitute a sub-theme, and we say yes). It's also Triplet Tuesday, so to find out if Mike got a single, double, triple, or just fouled out, you'll have to click on the ol' download button and the even ol'er play button. As usual, feedback is welcome -- drop us a line at crosswordpodcast@icloud.com to let us know what you think. We lo...

24 Nov 202114min

A fine introduction to the problem solving week, Stella Zawistowski turns in a puzzle with some gentle cluing, and a cute theme, a great puzzle for those new to the New York Times crossword scene -- and if that's you, welcome!! 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!

23 Nov 20217min

A gem of a Sunday crossword, one of the finest we've seen in many a moon. A great theme, to be sure, but the rest of the grid was absolutely grade A as well. To hear the rest of the story, you know what to do -- download, and listen up! Just a reminder, the New York Times Crossword folks would love to have you as a subscriber - just go to nytimes.com/crosswords and tell 'em "Jean & Mike sent me". We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, cro...

22 Nov 202117min

An epic Saturday crossword, but with Mary Lou Guizzo and Jeff Chen at the controls how could it be anything but? The clues were like the answer to 1A, FRESH, and the result definitely deserves a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. To hear the blow-by-blow discussion of today's opus, you know what to do ... 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 the...

21 Nov 202110min