Saturday, December 5, 2020

Today's crossword was by Hanh Huynh. His Thursday crossword themes have always been brilliant, and we are pleased to announce that with today's puzzle his streak remains intact: may it live long and prosper! Show note imagery: BARQS Rootbeer 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!

4 Apr 202514min

This was a highly pleasing mid-week crossword by Daniel Bodily. There were some NEAT clues (including 15A, "Sweet!", NEAT); clues with a lot of HEART (25A, Trick-taking card game, HEARTS); and clues that we got right away (51D, "Pronto!", STAT 😀). All told, a fine puzzle, and it is therefore with great pleasure that we award it a full 5 squares, on the JAMCR scale. Show note imagery: The Civilian Conservation Corp official (and very spiffy) logo We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Inf...

3 Apr 202512min

Today's crossword was the perfect April 1st crossword -- as a Tuesday, it was not too difficult, but it was very meta, and very relatable, making for a great solve. We have Sande Milton (supervised, of course, by Will Shortz) to thank for this, his third crossword for the NYTimes. Beyond the crossword, we have our heavily trademarked and patented Triplet Tuesday™️ segment, so have a listen, and let us know how you did! Show note imagery: A Commodore AMIGA, with a whopping 256K of RAM! W...

2 Apr 202516min

OK, perhaps "obsessed" is a little over the top, because technically ZEST itself only showed up once, as per custom; but the clues and answers were still quite snappy. Our particular favorite? 46D, Producers of six-packs, SITUPS (nice!). We were also delighted to see 15A, King of the gods, in Egyptian myth, AMON. And while AMON may not translate as "God of Aliases", since AMON is aka AMUN, AMUNRA, AMONRA and AMUNRE, we would not be surprised if it did. For the deets, and some interestin...

1 Apr 202511min

Simeon Seigel tends to write crosswords just like this one - filled with clever and novel clues. We present, as exhibit A, ... 105A, Its southernmost point, Pamana Island, is more than 750 miles below the Equator, ASIA (amazing!)106A, Group in "a pension fund", AEIOU (outstanding!)40A, Returns a call, in a way, ECHOES (wow, wow, wo, wo, w, w, ...)In short, a fine crossword, we approve: 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. Show note imagery: Dr. SEUSS (or, phonetically as he originally wanted i...

31 Mars 202515min

We have returned after a brief, unplanned hiatus, and welcoming us back were Christina Iverson and Jacob McDermott, who have prepared a delightful, and notably not-soul-crushingly-difficult Saturday crossword for us to inspect, dissect and discuss. Deets inside, so have a listen, and, as always, please tell others about us on social media. Show note imagery: A TUXEDOCAT, prowling about in search of its cape and top hat. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! ...

30 Mars 202511min

We'd give this crossword an APLUS, for no other reason than that it gave us an APLUS, as in 54D, Highest grade. But lest we be accused of grade inflation, we would like to submit as evidence 29A, "Old Man ___ at Cloud" (bit from "The Simpsons" that became an internet meme), YELLS (Will must really like The Simpsons 😀); 35D, X-ray ___ (novelty goggles), SPEX (we really, really want a pair of these); 58D, Whopper server? LIAR (😀 😀)Show note imagery: A who's who of old time comed...

26 Mars 202516min

This was a nice debut by Victor Schmitt, yet another "cute n' clever" theme that definitely lives up to its name. (We note parenthetically that "Cute n' Clever" would be an awesome name for a pet store for Mensa cats, and if one ever comes into being, we hope to add it as an advertiser immediately 😀). Apart from the clues mentioned in today's episode, we'd like to note 55A, Arctic abodes, IGLOOS (following yesterday's huts and yurts, Will seems to be promoting a native-abode-arc of some sort)...

25 Mars 202516min