Saturday, March 15, 2025 - It was a DARKNSTORMY crossword 🙄

No, the New York Times crossword is not going to the dogs, although a skosh of them had cameos in today's puzzle. If there is indeed a New York Times crossword Clue-Hall-of-Fame, then we would like to nominate 13D, Awesome, in surfer speak, GNARLY, simply to give us an excuse to write the word GNARLY. There were several artful juxtapositions in today's grid, including 33A, Jack who pioneered late-night talk, PAAR, and 34A, Golfer's target, PAR, as well as 62A, Stinky smells, ODORS, and 66A, O...

21 Apr 202111min

Was this a fun crossword? YOUBETYOURLIFE -- because of that, and 2 other CLASSICGAMESHOW references that formed the theme for today's puzzle. It also had the clue 9A, Wee bit, SKOSH, which was COOL. It was pretty easy, some might say a SNAP, but based on the law of conservation of crossword difficulty (tm), the rest of the week is likely to be ATEST -- we'll report back, as always, and let you know. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, cross...

20 Apr 20217min

NEEDLESSTOSAY, today's crossword is not MISSIONIMPOSSIBLE; indeed, some veteran crossword solvers have maintained that it is a tad TOOEASY. But we found it to be a Goldilocks of a puzzle, just right. It had some interesting factoids -- 6D.Mnemosyne's daughters THEMUSES, and 41A, Site of Hercules' first labor, NEMEA -- as well as some amusing clues, such as 89A, Block where Sesame Street can be found, PBSKIDS, and 98D, Bar rooms?, CELLS (nice). We give it the JAMDTNYTC (that's the Jean & M...

19 Apr 202117min

A FUNFETTI of a Saturday crossword, albeit with a potential natick in the top-right corner for those who do not use compasses on a daily basis -- 26A, 270°, WEST, crossing 14D, On the ________, SCENT. Mike enjoyed 7D, Mathematical puzzle with movable disks, TOWEROFHANOI, and Jean appreciated 49D, "The perfume of heroic deeds", to Socrates, FAME. Both savored 38A, Zoom participants?, DRAGRACERS. All-in-all, a fine offering by constructor Leslie Rogers (edited, as always, by...

18 Apr 202110min

Both Jean and Mike ran into headwinds in the top-right corner, specifically 22A, Agree(with), JIBE -- as opposed to their (independently derived at) answers, JIVE. That one errant letter crossed 13D, Seaport derived from the Arabic for "obstacle", AQABA -- quite apropos in this case! There were some delightful new(ish) clues -- 38A, Football tactic to prevent a long return, SQUIBKICK, and 52D, Matches at a table, SEES (or, as Mike continues to insist, despite all the evidence to t...

17 Apr 202112min

Happy tax day! And we're not just saying that because of 17A, City transport, redundantly, TAXICAB. Jean found today's crossword easy-ish, Mike had a MACABRE problem in the top right, done in by his unfamiliarity with apparently the most famous singer of the 20th century, in her most famous role... that would be 12D, Streisand role in Funny Girl, BRICE. HARSH! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com. Also, we'r...

16 Apr 202110min

A "smooth solve", as they like to say in the crossword-solving-biz, with just a few potholes and lots of fun clues -- 27D, Spring recreation?, TRAMPOLINE, being the bounciest of them, and 47A, Start of a giant's chant, FEE, being -- ironically for a giant, but mandated because of the NYTimes rules about answer length -- shortest, answer. 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 ...

15 Apr 20218min

Neither Jean nor Mike got off to a ROCKYSTART with this crossword, ironic since all of the themed answers benefited from having, well, a ROCKYSTART. For example, 18A, Coyote outfoxed in cartoons, ROADRUNNER, maps to ROCKYROAD; 24A, "Get Out", for one, HORRORFILM, maps to ROCKYHORROR; and so on. A few old favorites dropped by -- 65A, Cookie in the shape of its first and last letters, OREO (the official cookie of the NYTimes crossword), and 50A, Mauna ______ (Hawaiian volcano), KEA (the officia...

14 Apr 202113min