Tuesday, August 12, 2025 - The planet with the most moons? Give us a ring, we'll tell you 🙄

In keeping with the nursery rhyme, we would argue that today's crossword was full of grace ... or at least some very cool clues. Mike's favorite was 10D, Certain parent overseeing a child's career, in showbiz lingo, MOMAGER; Jean's was 66A, "This decision is hard!", IMTORN. Both agreed that they would love to do a podcast from 37A, Caribbean hot spot, ARUBA. Besides the crossword, we have a Triplet Tuesday segment, in which Mike, well, let's just say that he tried to swing for the fenc...

3 Sep 14min

Today's crossword marks Lynn Lempel's 103rd for the NYTimes, and was a great way to usher in September. While there were no debut answers, quite a few of the clues caught our fancy, including 64A, Flexible Flyer, for one, SLED; the almost onomatopoetic 4D, Smooth-talking, GLIB; and what sounds like it ought to be delicious (and surely is), 21D, Russian pancake, BLINI. Bravo, Lynn! Show note imagery: An absolutely stunning view of LAPAZ, the capital of Bolivia We love feedback! Sen...

2 Sep 11min

Michael Lieberman was definitely playing against type when he dreamed up this crossword, because he spends his days at his law firm fighting corporate mergers, but his nights -- apparently -- trying to encourage them. You'll see what we mean when you have a listen to today's episode, or wander over to (warning: it's spoiler city if you click that link!) the solution at xwordinfo.com. In addition to the crossword, we have identified our JAMCOTWA™️ (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award) fo...

25 Aug 19min

The fifth NYTimes crossword by Ryan Judge made for a very nice Saturday; not a walk in the park, by any stretch, but more straightforward than last Saturday's "let's scale Mt Everest barefoot" uber-challenge. There were some great clues in today's grid. Jean in particular was fond of 35A, Drew Carey once called it "crossword puzzle cheese" on "Whose Line Is It Anyway?", EDAM. Mike was glad to learn about 32D, It's formed in Pittsburgh, OHIORIVER, and even gladder to discover the na...

24 Aug 11min

Our cohosts were surprised and delighted to learn, thanks to today's crossword, that there are four countries whose national anthems have no lyrics, and so people instead hum, or sing something along the lines of "na, na, na". The four countries in question are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, San Marino, and Spain. One of those appears in today's grid, and to preserve an air of suspense and mystery, we will defer identifying that country here in the show notes. We will say, though, that the c...

23 Aug 18min

Once again, the NYTimes crossword has delivered the perfect blend of joy and education in one neat bundle. The joy comes from, primarily, the theme -- which we will say no more about here, but we have plenty to say about it in the podcast. The education comes from clues like 69A, Yani ___, youngest pro golfer to win five major championships, TSENG), and our absolute favorite, something that sounds like it came from the pen of Douglas Adams, 57A, Early PC game whose nonsense working title stuc...

22 Aug 18min

One of our favorite foods is SEITAN - healthy, delicious, and, up until now, never mentioned in the NYTimes crossword. Ah, but the times they are a changin', as evidenced by today's 50D, Wheat-based meat alternative, SEITAN. There were many other clues worthy of admiration in today's grid. There was the somewhat sardonic 25A, "I had something come up," maybe, FIB; the (to us) surprising 32A, Custom in Japanese food service, NOTIPS; and the good-to-know 20D, January and November have the...

21 Aug 7min

This was a fine Tuesday crossword by Eric Rollfing, marking his fourth overall in the NYTimes, and his Tuesday debut. There were a bevy of TWL (Today We Learned) clues in today's puzzle. Most notably, we had 7D, Color whose name comes from the Greek word for "cuttlefish", SEPIA; the interestingly named 36A, Reptile that can reach up to 10 feet in length, MONITORLIZARD; and finally we went with the only loch we knew in 65A, Largest loch in Scotland by volume, NESS. In other news, it's Triplet ...

20 Aug 17min