Wednesday, February 26, 2025 - We long for more crosswords by Dan Caprera 😁

A themeless Sunday crossword, but all in a good cause: the least number of clues, and the most number of debuts, in a Sunday! Only an accomplished constructor like Sam Ezersky could pull this off, and to hear how he did it, as well as our take on this cruciverbal marvel, subscribe, download, listen up, and enjoy. Finally, be sure and tune in tomorrow for another exciting episode of our award winning segment "Oh, That's How You Pronounce It!" (OTHYP), featuring BILBAO. [Fun fact: ...

12 Jun 202321min

John Hawksley pulls out all the stops on this one: no theme (typical for Saturday), but some jaw-droppingly difficult clues that will leave you awed, agog, and amazed (which also sounds like a great name for a law firm 😀). We have all the deets inside, as well as this week's JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award), so for all that goodness, subscribe, download, listen up, and enjoy! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crossword...

11 Jun 202320min

A fabulous, fun Friday crossword by a reliably great crossword constructor, Robin Weintraub. It has such pleasing clues as 57A, Contronym that means moving quickly or not moving at all, FAST 😀 ; 56A, Alternative to an elbow, PSST 😀 😀 ; and 29A, Take the edge off, say, ERODE 😀 😀 😀. Yes, the entire grid is just like that, sparkling clues that make you want to stand up and applaud. Bravo, Robin! Tomorrow we'll be picking our JAMCOTWA, and if you'd like to weigh in on your favorite crosswo...

10 Jun 202317min

It's not clear that the phrase "come for the theme, stay for the clues" has ever been applied to a crossword before -- ChatGPT denied knowledge -- but it really does apply to this one. It has an attention-grabbing theme (thanks to multiple gray and embedded-circle squares), but the clues are 😘 (the closest that we could come to a chef's kiss Emoji). We cover most of them in today's episode, so for all the deets, subscribe, download, listen up, and enjoy! We love feedback! Send us a text... Co...

9 Jun 202317min

A very pleasing crossword by Jennifer Lee and Victor Galson, who managed to sneakily embed a chyron into the grid. They also seemed to have included a mini-French theme, with 36A, "Ta-da!", ETVOILA, and 18D, Belle's counterpart, BETE. [We momentarily entertained the notion that the answer to 2D, AMI, would also fit the bill, but, alas, the clue, was "Are you telling this story or _______?". Five squares on the JAMCR scale, and to find out why, please subscribe, download, listen up, enjoy aaa...

8 Jun 202315min

You might want to have a pillow handy while working on today's crossword, so when you figure out the theme and your jaw drops, no serious injury results. Yes, the crossword is that good. For all the deets ( we do not want to spoil things here), subscribe, download, listen up, and enjoy!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 Jun 202315min

A fine Monday crossword by Eric Rollfing, with one of those memorable Monday themes that makes one ponder the incredible ingenuity of the many NYTimes Crossword constructors. There were a few sneakier clues in the grid, including 59D, Poached component of the dish shakshuka, EGG, and (especially since clued without any reference to churches ) 53D, Semicircular building recess, APSE, but fortunately the crosses were gentle. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mai...

6 Jun 202312min

In honor of Pride month, the NYTimes Crossword editors have broken out the ol' color palette. They may have previously embedded color (other than gray) in the grid , but not very often - so if this is not a debut, it certainly is a rare event. The colors were put to good use, though, in a theme that was both a celebration of Pride month and the ingenuity of the crossword constructor, Rafael Musa. Kudos on a job well done, a puzzle that definitely warrants 5 squares on the JAMCR scale! We lov...

5 Jun 202319min