Saturday, May 17, 2025 - The "toughest crossword of the week" lives up to its name!
This was an excellent Saturday crossword -- with some Ginsu-knife-sharp cluing, and just a light dusting of pop culture references -- which is precisely the reason why it is now the latest winner of our JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award™️). Deets inside, so have a listen, and then tell all your friends and relations about us on social media. Show note imagery: Parts of a violin, including the (non-amphibious, thankfully) FROG. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info...
18 Maj 15min
Friday, May 16, 2025 - MEGASTORE - when you're running low on MEGAs 🙄
Today's puzzle was a trifle easier than your typical Friday, which means -- by the Law of Conservation of Crossword Difficulty™️ -- you can expect tomorrow's crossword to be a morsel harder (on average, and of course YMMV depending on what you know and if you remember it). Regardless of the difficulty, though, we predict that it will be fun, challenging, and educational: tune in tomorrow to see if our prognostications are on the nose. Show note imagery: The Cornbelt, visualized We love feedba...
17 Maj 17min
Thursday, May 15th, 2025 - Today's puzzle BELIEs the notion that nobody knows what BELIE means 😉
This marks Simeon Siegel's 17th crossword since 2020, and while he might not be OVERPROUD, it is most certainly something to celebrate. The theme was particularly NOteworthy, and, YES, we meant to write NO just NOw. Confused? Today's podcast will bring enlightenment, so we encourage you to step out of the darkness and into the light, so to speak, by listening to this episode. Show note imagery: EVESDIARY, by Mark Twain We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! D...
16 Maj 13min
Wednesday, May 14, 2025 - Featuring potatoes: the origin story!
Today's crossword was by award-winning crossword constructor Rebecca Goldstein and, if not award-winning, deserving-of-award crossword constructor Adam Wagner. Unsurprisingly, the result was ... award-winning, or at least worthy of 5 squares on the JAMCR scale, for reasons that we will let you discover (no spoilers here, nary a one!) by listening to today's episode. Show note imagery: PERU, where the potatoes come from 😀 We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener...
15 Maj 14min
Tuesday, May 13, 2025 - ELATION! A crossword with *ELATION* in the grid 😀 😉🙄
This was a nice Tuesday crossword by Joe Rodini, his second for the NYTimes. He's now been published on Monday and Tuesday, so ... 5 to go, Joe! Today's theme was a bit messy, but that's by design, as you'll discover when you check out today's episode. Of course, it's also Tuesday, and today Jean's in the hot seat for Triplet Tuesday; so keep listening to find out how she did, and see if you can do better (good luck!). Show note imagery: HYDRA, a monster out of Greek mythology with a co...
14 Maj 12min
Monday, May 12, 2025 - 🥳 Celebrating the 500th appearance of the OREO in the NYTimes crossword!!🎉🎈
It is hard to believe that today marks the 500th appearance of OREO in the NYTimes crossword, but that's the word according to xwordinfo.com, and they oughta know! Now that might sound like Nabisco has architected one of the greatest product placement campaigns in the history of advertising. Truth be told, though, from the beginning of the NYTimes crossword up until 1993, OREO was always clued as a prefix for mountain; but it's been cookies or bust ever since Will Shortz took over the reins. ...
13 Maj 7min
Sunday, May 11, 2025 - Danger, Will Robinson! Extremely hard crossword approaching
Brendan Emmett Quigley is famed for writing tough crosswords, and he has the pedal to the metal today. First, the grid: it is the standard 21x21 Sunday, but has only 54 black squares, a record. So, that means more to figure out, i.e., more fun! While clue difficulty is often a YMMV affair, we can say that, in general terms, some of these clues would've felt right at home in a Saturday crossword. In short, if you struggled working through this crossword, that is perfectly normal; and if you su...
12 Maj 13min
Saturday, May 10, 2025 - Happy Mother's Day Eve!!
This was a fine Saturday crossword - tough but fair, as Saturday crosswords were meant to be. Our favorite clue had to be 29A, Some dragonflies, DARNERS (really: apparently people used to believe that dragonflies could sew your lips shut!). We were entranced with 38A, Mediterranean plant named for its brightly colored flowers, SUNROSE. And finally we just loved discovering 27A, George ______________, voted "Coach of the Century" by the International Swimming Hall of Fame, HAINES. ...
11 Maj 14min
