Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

You'll probably get a charge out of today's puzzle, an electrifying effort by Dan Schoenholz. Jean managed to complete today's crossword within 3 seconds of her Monday time. Mike was too distracted by the appearance of TWEE (48A, Too cute, on the Thames) and ONUS (35D, Albatross) to turn in a good time. It's Tip Tuesday. Jean explains the architectural terms OGEE and ORIEL, while Mike advises solvers to be wary when reading clues, as there might be puns lurking within. We love feedback! Send...

24 Mar 202115min

Today's crossword creator was on fire -- or at least thinking about fire, witness the three themed answers, MATCHBOX, TINDERPROFILE and FLINTMICHIGAN. Those three looooong answers made this a more strenuous Monday than usual, but that's why crosswords come with crosses. Speaking of fire, COALS (18D, Classic eyes for Frosty) also made an appearance, although the pluralization of what is already a collective noun did sound a bit off. After last week's ULTRAVIOLET, INFRA made an appearan...

23 Mar 202111min

Sunday is punday, at least as far as this crossword is concerned -- with plenty of groaners to make (or break, but probably make) your day. Exempli gratia, 23A, Nod off at a self-serve restaurant, SLEEPINTHEBUFFET, and 88A, "We should stall", LETSMAKEADELAY -- very droll. Jean learned a slew of new words today, including 56D, Piece with a title like "10 Best Places to ...", LISTICLE, and 4D, Brief summary, APERCU. Mike was stunned to learn not so much the answer to 26A, Jupiter, exempl...

22 Mar 202117min

Today's crossword was not quite as difficult as yesterday's -- what is? -- but it still had some tough spots. The author set the tone right out of the gate with 1A, Muhammad Ali was one, famously, TRASHTALKER (not, as both Jean & Mike independently guessed, DRAFTDODGER). Right beneath it was another poser, 15A, Animal that produces eggs once a year, EASTERBUNNY (nice one!). And Mike's favorite, 58A, It flies around Florence, ITALIANFLAG (another gem). That's just a taste -- for the...

21 Mar 202120min

A Saturday-level crossword has lost its way, and accidentally wandered into Friday territory. That's the only explanation for this epic challenge by Kameron Austin Collins, with lots of "crunchy" entries throughout the entire grid. Jean had a spot of bother with 14A, "This has gotta be a trick, but ...", OKAYILLBITE, initially writing OKIWILLBITE. Mike discovered that BURKA can also be spelled as in the answer to 46D, Head-to-toe garment, BURQA, and that supplied the answer to 60A, As, QUA (y...

20 Mar 202116min

A one-for-the-ages crossword -- everyone's going to remember where they were when they solved it (or broke their computer/iPad/iPhone out of frustration because the "solved" crossword wouldn't indicate that they'd succeeded). The revealer was 3 stepped answers -- MUCHADO ABOUT NOTHING The crossword had a series of circled squares, forming circles or ovals: those circles/ovals spelled out various synonyms for ADO -- FRACAS, STIR, RUMPUS, etc.. Inside those ci...

19 Mar 202120min

There seems to be a lot of men hanging around in today's puzzle: 43D, 1967 hit that starts "Well, my pad is very messy and there's whiskers on my chin", IMAMAN; 40A, Only United Nations member whose name starts with "O", OMAN; 46A, Heaven-sent food, MANNA; and 46D, Salvador Dali contemporary, MANRAY. There were also some very clever themed clues, such as 17A, If you think actors have two left feet, you haven't seen ________, TEDDANSON (nice!). and 52A, If you think economists don't lose...

18 Mar 20218min

An errific crossword for an uesday, with an interesting heme that revolved around ICEDTEA. Both Jean and Mike found the hardest of the 4 themed answers to be 51A, Lumberjacks in unsafe working conditions, AXDODGERS; both initially and independently thought it to be AXDANGERS, mistakingly answering 44D, ________ touch, as IPAD, rather than IPOD, and stumbling over 49D, Strong aversions, writing ONIUMS rather than ODIUMS. How odious! For Tip Tuesday, Jean points out the wonders of crosswordese...

17 Mar 202113min