Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

A thoroughly pleasurable Saturday crossword. Jean got through it fairly expeditiously, never thinking that she'd hit a brick wall anywhere in the grid. Mike flailed around for a time in the lower left corner before MNEMOSYNE heard his prayers and reminded him that, among other things, there never was and never will be any such game as CORNDART. A fine crossword, we give it a happy 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. Just a reminder - to enjoy these podcasts to their fullest, we recommend trying th...

3 Okt 202112min

A fun Friday crossword, tough but fair, with just a few potential natick sites -- all of which Mike managed to find, and details in this week's episode. Today's Fun Fact (it is, of course, Fun Fact Friday) was about ambigrams, those wonderful works of art that look the same after being rotated / reflected. 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 ...

2 Okt 202116min

A very sound Thursday crossword -- and sounds are at its heart, with a number of clues that require you mash sounds together to get an answer. Jean's favorite was 26A, [Lightsaber] + [Impatient fingers] = Boring, HUMDRUM, while Mike was partial to 48A, [Cow] + [Thunder] = Snake eyes, e.g., LOWROLL, not only for the humor but because that was where he cottoned on to the gimmick. A fun solve, we give it a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. We love feedback! Send us a text... Contact Info: We love li...

1 Okt 20218min

It's always a good sign when Alex Eaton-Salners' name is on the puzzle, and he does not disappoint today, with a puzzle built to AMUSE. There are multiple answers that when deprived of the circled letter in their midst become their opposite, e.g., 13A, Stay in power, RESIGN (with the S circled), becomes REIGN; and 23A, Hold on to, HEAVE (with the E circled), becomes HAVE. Very cute! There were some other examples of Alex's word-play-prowess at work: 32D, Perfumes with a thurible, CENSES (oh m...

30 Sep 202110min

A geometrically themed crossword, with various ANGLEs making an appearance, at, as one might expect, an angle. Jean solved the crossword in almost record time, but Mike, alas, fixated on the name DEBDUBOIS for considerably longer than he ought to have before finding the correct answer to 7D, Co-founder of the NAACP and author of "The Souls of Black Folk", WEBDUBOIS. A few other noteworthy grid entries include the occurrence of both ALBA (1D, Actress Jessica), and ELBA (12D, Actor Idris with a...

29 Sep 202113min

A fun Monday, with a droll theme, revolving around 61A, Guaranteed ... or where you can find the ends to 17A (POLEVAULT), 23A (PENNANDTELLER), 37A (DAYLIGHTSAVINGS), and 50A (BOTTLEDEPOSIT), INTHEBANK. One of the more interesting clues was 51D, River of forgetfulness, in myth, LETHE, interesting because just two days ago we had a reference to the Greek goddess of memory, MNEMOSYNE. Coincidence? Ha! More likely the work of clever and indefatigable editor Will Shortz. Thank you, Will! We ...

28 Sep 20218min

Most crossword answers are black-and-white - but today's grid had a slew of them in gray, as part of an intricate theme involving cut classes (listen to Jean's stellar explanation for all the deets). There seemed to be a plethora of people populating the grid, such as 117A, Michael _______ of "Ugly Betty", URIE, 125A, "Spy Kids" actress Hatcher, TERI, 115D, Children's book author Blyton, ENID, 16D, Thompson of "Sorry to Bother You", TESSA, 51D, Muralist Riviera, DIEGO, 94D, Human rights lawye...

27 Sep 202112min

If spelling is not your forte, then perhaps you might want to brace yourself before trying today's crossword. Between 33A, Site of the impact of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago, CHICXULUBCRATER, 18A, Greek goddess of memory, MNEMOSYNE, and 33D, Mexican dish named after a small boat, CHALUPA, there were a lot of serious spelling challenges. Jean had issues all over the grid, whereas Mike's were focused in the top-right, having temporarily confused 11D, W.W. II...

26 Sep 202113min