Wednesday, February 26, 2025 - We long for more crosswords by Dan Caprera 😁

After Friday's grueling workout, today's crossword, even though it was a Saturday, seemed relatively straightforward. We are not complaining, though, because the clues were entertaining, the answers educational, and the overall effect soothing. A few examples of the constructors' craft: 55A, They change colors, DYERS; 33D, Where pizza is said to have been invented, NAPLES (what, not Chicago?? 😀); and 44A, A symptom of "man's failure as a thinking animal", according to John Steinbeck, WAR (pro...

7 Jan 202414min

A tough, tough Friday crossword by David P. Williams -- his third, and his third to use the exact same grid pattern! The grid was daunting, with many a long answer, and there were almost no "gimme" clues to get a foothold. Mercifully (at least from Mike's perspective) there were relatively few pop culture references, just a lot of joyous word play. Deets inside, as well as a very fine fact for Fun Fact Friday, so download, listen up, and enjoy! Show note imagery: an early bread slicing machi...

6 Jan 202420min

An excellent Thursday crossword, marred by an unfortunate technical glitch. The themed clues contained underlined letters, but the underscores did not appear in the app (they appeared as expected in a web browser). Needless to say this caused much consternation and gnashing of teeth, and the NYTimes crossword editorial team leapt into action, quickly replacing underscores with parentheses: but some early solvers were a tad ticked. Still, once you look past the underscore fiasco, you can see a...

5 Jan 202416min

Any crossword that works both FIE and IRONHORSE into the grid deserves our respect and gratitude, and we give it freely to this fine opus by Jared Goudsmit, his second to be published in the NYTimes. The theme/gimmick is a delight, and bolstered by a fine supporting cast of clues, from 24D, Bring up, REAR and 68A, Bring up, CITE (nice combo!); to 27D, Tours de force, COUPS (ha!); and a clue that P.G. Wodehouse would've picked up on in a jiff, 34D, Good _______ (kind soul), EGG. S...

4 Jan 202413min

We are back, after a brief holiday on the Riviera (or it might've been Green Bay, there seemed to be an inordinate amount of ice for the Riviera), and we are being welcomed back by an excellent Tuesday crossword. We tackle that in depth, as well as run our first Triplet Tuesday segment of the year, so for all that and more, please subscribe, download, listen up, and enjoy! We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com. Al...

3 Jan 202414min

We are taking a break between now (aka December 21, 2023) and the new year (partially because we've been displaced from our recording studio by a gang of ravenous marauders, aka our family), but rest assured we'll be back in January, raring to go, and in the meantime hope that all of you enjoy the very best of the season. 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...

22 Dec 20231min

A fine Tuesday crossword by Seth Weinberg, with an LOL theme that will make you, well, LOL. As usual, deets inside! This marks our last episode of the year -- we're taking time off to recharge the little gray cells -- and want to wish you and yours a fantastic Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/New Year. We'll see you again, in 2024! Show note image: Baba Ghanouj (a variant (and apparently rarer) spelling of Baba Ganoush) We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love li...

20 Dec 202316min

There's a queue-full of Q's in today's crossword, but it's all in a good quase, er, we mean cause, to wit, a delightfulful theme that revolves around that ubiquitous symbol of 21st century tech, the QRCODE. Deets inside, as well as a brief announcement about an even briefer hiatus in honor of the holidays, so we humbly beseech thee to, in this order, subscribe (so you don't miss an episode), download, listen up, enjoy, and leave us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on whatever platform you heard this podca...

19 Dec 202311min