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

Today's subtly themed crossword took us on a tour of the Earth's interior. It began with 17A, Pizza feature for a specialized diet, GLUTENFREECRUST, through 34A, Take on a position, along with its responsibilities, ASSUMETHEMANTLE, ending up at 52A, Lacking any moral compass, ROTTENTOTHECORE, the antithesis of this fine work by Pao Roy. There were a few other interesting clues, such as 9D, Nonbinary pronoun pair, THEYTHEM, and 48D, Rapper J. _______, COLE, apparently one of the "m...

21 Sep 202110min

Sometimes, what you need when solving a crossword is a FRESHSETOFEYES. Well, good news, because in today's crossword, they're already there, as in the answer to 116A, New look provider ... or a homophonic hint to this puzzle's theme. Specifically, there are multiple answers with an extra set of I's and whose removal leads to a completely different answer. For instance, 23A, Meticulous magical beings?, THOROUGHFAIRIES, with the I's excised, becomes THOROUGHFARES. Most ingenious. I...

20 Sep 202114min

A challenging Saturday crossword (but aren't they all?). Jean had trouble in the bottom half, unfamiliar with 40A, Upgrade for a train passenger, PARLORCAR, and 34D, Humans, in sci-fi slang, MEATBAGS (ugh!), while Mike had an IMPASSE at 21D, Merle Haggard tune, "_____ From Muskogee", oscillating between ABIE and OBIE, instead of the correct OKIE (which is now burned into his consciousness). He also WENTOUTONALIMB by coining a new music genre as an answer to 9D, Genre popularized by Limp Bizki...

19 Sep 202112min

In today's episode, we learn about the story behind 28A, Comedian Notaro, TIG, savor the awesome clue, 32A, Ground shaking stuff?, PEPPER, and for Fun Fact Friday learn why the answer to 55A, Cheese whose name is a semordnilap, is EDAM. All this is just waiting for you, so download now, 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 there and strike up a conv...

18 Sep 20219min

A relatively straightforward Thursday crossword - look, ma, no rebuses! -- with gentle but amusing cluing, and a clever theme involving SILVERLINING. Each answer around the periphery of the grid worked if prefaced with the word SILVER, as in SILVERSURFER, SILVERBELLS, etc. There was one groaner pun - 35D, Ice place to go?, RINK, and a few biochemically trending clues - 34D, Prefix with genetics, EPI, and 37A, Something found in strands, DNA - but a dearth of pop culture references helped imme...

17 Sep 20218min

For those of you still recovering from yesterday's jammed-to-the-rafters-with-pop-culture-references grid, the NYTimes proudly presents as an antidote today's puzzle -- with barely a pop culture reference in sight -- thereby keeping the average number of PCRs close to the officially prescribed 3.5 PCRs per grid ... a regulation and a number that we just invented. The theme was cute, involving artificial facial components, and the rest of the clues were equally droll, including such winn...

16 Sep 20218min

Today's crossword was tough, for a Tuesday - with a bevy of popular culture references that covered a wide swathe of time. There was almost 130 years, for instance, between, 60A, Lord High Executioner in "The Mikado", KOKO and the revealer at 57A, 2013 Best Musical Tony winner ... with a hint to this puzzle's theme, KINKYBOOTS. There were also quite a few popular references, such as 20D, One-named singer with the 2010 hit "Dancing on My Own", ROBYN, 8D, DKNY"s Donna, KARAN, and who can forget...

15 Sep 202116min

Mondays are traditionally the easiest crossword of the week: last week's had a bit more crunch to it than usual, so this may be Will's way of balancing the ledger. Today's puzzle did have a few TIL (Today I Learned) clues, most notably 33A, State whose flag, with eight gold stars in the shape of the Big Dipper, was designed by a 13 year old, ALASKA, and 6A, Face ______ (app that creates bizarre photos), SWAP; but most were of the order of 11D, "Eat your _______!" (parent's order), VEGETABLES ...

14 Sep 20216min