Thursday, February 20, 2025 - Oh, *so* close

A possibly easier than usual Friday crossword -- which according to the Law of Conservation of Crossword Difficulty™️ means that tomorrow's could be brutal! But we could not possibly complain about a grid that had so much ... ECLAT. And so, as today's podcast will attest, we did not. Five squares on the JAMCR scale, for a job well done! 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 f...

1 Okt 202213min

Another terrific Thursday puzzle from Jeremy Newton, who has published a total of 23 crosswords in the NYTimes, and it shows: a brilliant theme, razor sharp cluing, and an LOL revealer. The JAMCR scale goes up to 5 squares, and he's pegged it! For all the deets, download, listen up, and be prepared to be amused and educated. 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...

30 Sep 202216min

A slightly crunchy Wednesday, both Jean and Mike fell into the "how-do-you-spell-ALFREDNEUMAN" trap, spelling it (as you might suspect) ALFREDNEWMAN. Jean figured it out relatively quickly, Mike had to MULL it over for half a TIC, er, TICK, before he finally saw the light (and heard the music!). 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 conversati...

29 Sep 202212min

A dodecad of themed answers in today's crossword -- something you don't see every day, and a reason for celebration as it made for a very interesting puzzle as well as the opportunity to use dodecad in a sentence! What's a dodecad, you ask? And (once you've got that sussed out), what would be a reasonable theme that involves a dodecad? To answer those burning questions, as well as to hear how Jean did on Triplet Tuesday™️, you are cordially invited to download, listen, learn, and hopefully be...

28 Sep 202212min

A good middle-of-the-road Monday crossword by Margaret Seikel, which included rewards for regular solvers -- 51D, Faces a pitcher, BATS, which had just appeared yesterday; and a highly memorable but challenging- to-pronounce-3-times-quickly hyphenated-phrase that first appeared in a clue last month, 37A, Male equivalent of a she-shed, MANCAVE. Nicely done, we give this a full 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a...

27 Sep 202210min

A definitely harder-than-usual Sunday crossword, it took both intrepid co-hosts a considerable amount of time just to get a toehold in the grid. There were a few easy clues in the puzzle, but for every 37A, Laura of "Big Little Lies", DERN, and ... oops, sorry, that's the only easy clue we could find! There were, however, scores of clues such as 41A, Bird Watcher's Org, once, NBA (ha!), 55A, Complete, ATOZ (obvious -- in retrospect), and 82A, Letters to ____ (rock group), CLEO (um, who?). Sti...

26 Sep 202220min

Jean got through today's crossword in a blistering pace, Mike ... just got blisters, slightly singed as he was in the bottom-left corner by such fiery clues as 34D, Super ___________, TUESDAY, 33D, Tip of a geographic horn, SOMALIA, and 40A, Painter Modigliani, AMEDEO. However, Phoenix that he is, Mike hopes to shortly emerge from the ashes ready to tackle tomorrow's crossword. In other news, it's time for JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award), and while all of last week...

25 Sep 202211min

For longtime crossword solvers, the name Erik Agard can spark a frisson of excitement and/or dread, usually both 😀 And in today's grid Erik is in fine form, with some awesome clues that make you want to stand up and applaud. Beyond the very best (covered, of course, in the podcast), we have others that are still ... among the very best, such as 31D, Bit of whistle-blowing, maybe, LEAK (😀), 43A, Gives an edge, WHETS, and 54D, Bagel, NIL (hint: think tennis). Brilliant, kudos all round, definit...

24 Sep 202213min