Friday, February 7, 2025 - Have a sip of TEXASTEA 🫖

Don't bother looking for rebuses (rebusae)? in today's grid - there aren't any. But the theme that we have instead is still tricky and amusing, and we doff our hats in what we imagine to be the general direction of Mat Shelden, the author of today's fine work, a debut in the NYTimes. Show note imagery: PEETA, who, according to 21A, is Katniss's partner in "The Hunger Games" We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud....

12 Juli 202417min

Today's crossword, Hal Moore's 10th for the NYTimes, was a little bit novel, a tad quirky, but here at JAMDTNYTC HQ we adore novel and quirky. It helps that the supporting cast of entries populating the rest of the grid were also quite well done. Our collective judgement, therefore, is that Hal Moore should immediately start to work on his 11th NYTimes crossword, we look forward to seeing it sometime soon! Show note imagery: The Duchess of ALBA, courtesy of Francisco Goya We love feedback! S...

11 Juli 202411min

There was GLEE In the grid, literally, in this Tuesday crossword by Gary Larson and Amy Ensz. A few recent answers made reappearances - we just saw 68A, Ensemble of eight, OCTET, and it's been less than a month since 9D, Unit of butter, PAT, melted into view. One answer that hasn't been clued as such in aeons also arose, that being 14A, Thrice repeated words in one of Gertrude Stein's truisms, AROSE (as in AROSE is AROSE is AROSE). In other news, Mike cleared the very low bar of not making a...

10 Juli 202416min

Quality control at the NYTimes crossword desk is remarkable, week after week they crank out great, great, puzzles -- and today's is just a fine example, a theme that is light and airy -- if it were a food stuff, it'd definitely be a meringue pie. Deets inside, so have a listen, and, as always, we'd deeply appreciate a 5 star review wherever you're listening to this podcast. Show note imagery: a COMICCON (yes, with 3 C's) We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listen...

9 Juli 202410min

A magnificent start to our crossword-solving week, courtesy of David Karp. The theme is inspired, the rest of the puzzle just as well crafted, definitely 5 squares on the JAMCR scale, and certain a contenda, as they like to say, for this week's JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award). Show note imagery: Light Blue Nursery, one of many great works by artist ALMA Thomas Side note: this is the last podcast of the season - where a "season" is rather arbitrarily defined to be 100 ep...

8 Juli 202418min

Today's crossword pegged the meter as far as difficulty was concerned, each clue only wanting to begrudgingly give up its secrets, and some not at all! We have the whole blow-by-blow (by-blow-by-blow-by ...), so download today's podcast to hear about our epic struggle. While you're listening, feel free to applaud the deserving winner of this week's JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award™). Show note imagery: An OCTET of Wonder Bread hot dog buns We love feedback! Send us a text....

7 Juli 202419min

A very nice bit of work by Trent H. Evans, his 11th crossword for the NYTimes. Jean found it a piece o'cake, Mike found it more of a bowl of CRANACHAN (see our Tuesday, July 2 episode if your knowledge of CRANACHAN is wanting, after which you'll probably be wanting some CRANACHAN 😀). Beyond the clues mentioned in today's podcast, we'd also like to give a shoutout to 2D, Billing matter, ROLE (not RATE, as Mike had conjectured); 17A, Training announcement, ALLABOARD (heh, heh); and 12D, They'r...

6 Juli 202412min

Today's firecracker of a crossword was really two puzzles in one - a crossword, that was not particularly difficult, and an ingenious, completely different puzzle embedded within. Jean cracked both, but Mike was a tad wobbly when it came to the second, as you will hear in today's episode. Happy 4th of July, everyone! Show note imagery: Alhambra, a fine example of MOORISH architecture We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@ic...

5 Juli 202415min