Tuesday, December 31, 2024 - Our New Year's Eve Spectacular (fireworks, champagne, this episode's got it all!)

In celebration of the new year, we have a jam-packed episode. First, we have our usual meticulous dissection of today's puzzle; then, the big reveal for the JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The We...

1 Jan 202317min

Brendan Emmett Quigley has crafted an elegantly enjoyable Friday crossword -- clues that are brilliant (54A, One who is mean as the Dickens?, SCROOGE), enlightening (15A, Whom the New York Times co-na...

31 Des 202216min

A fine crossword by Claire Rimkus and Rachel Fabi, with a brilliant theme that left us eLATEd, and a few words and phrases to add to the ol' lexicon, including: 64D, Body part affected by heterochromi...

30 Des 202215min

An homage to female ROCKANDROLL artists who have been inducted twice into the HALLOFFAME -- once with collaborators, and once as a solo act. Several other musicians managed to slip into the grid: to ...

29 Des 202214min

Lynn Lempel had her first NYTimes crossword published in 1979, and this was her 99th! According to xwordinfo.com, which tracks these sorts of things, most of her crosswords appear on Monday (71), with...

28 Des 202211min

Once again, like CLOCKWORK, the NYTimes has come up with a fine Monday crossword to start our problem-solving week. Apart from a few snags - 1A, Floating ice chunk, BERG (not FLOE); 33A, College in Ce...

27 Des 202213min

A challenging but fair Christmas Eve crossword, with 2 full width, and 2 full height answers that were reasonably familiar, although the clues that led to those answers suitably cryptic (e.g., 57A, Sy...

25 Des 202215min

A fine Friday oeuvre by Brandon Koppy, and a timely one too, esp. 11D, Follower of an arctic blast, COLDSPELL, 4D, Character in "Frozen" who says "Some people are worth melting for", OLAF, and when ...

24 Des 202216min