Saturday, January 16, 2021
It's a Saturday Sam Ezersky puzzle, with 6 LETHALLY long answers, but lots of fun clues to keep you entertained. It starts off brilliantly with 1A, Be in charge ... as a doctor?, CALLTHESHOTS, and 13A, Remains to be seen, MUSEUMEXHIBIT:. The rest of the crossword does not disappoint, either. There are some educational clues -- 22A, Small hybrid instrument with 6 strings, GUITALELE, 43D, Historic town NW of London where some of the Harry Potter series was filmed, BUSHEY, and the terrific 35D, ...
17 Jan 202112min
Friday, January 15, 2021
A great Friday crossword, with lots of punny clues and fun facts (appropriate, since it's Fun Fact Friday). Jean's favorite was 41D, Frost accumulation, POEMS. Mike was fond of 35A, Shower heads, perhaps, MAIDSOFHONOR. Apparently 48A, Complete loss of identity, EGODEATH, is a thing, as is 34D, Fashion designer's portfolio, LOOKBOOK (which Mike had temporarily had as LOOTBOOK, but that turns out to be a Thief's portfolio). This week's fun fact was the origin of UNCLE, which showed up in Wedne...
16 Jan 202113min
Thursday, January 14, 2021
We are INLOVE with this AONE crossword, ITSSAFE to say that it was one of the best puzzles out this year. The theme, SPINTHEBOTTLE, fed into a series of rebuses (rebusi?) that needs to be seen (as it can be, at xwordinfo.com) to be believed. The rest of the crossword was of the same awesome quality, with tight cluing and some interesting new words (we're looking at you, 23D, Relevance of text, in librarian's lingo, ABOUTNESS). All in all, a fabulous piece of work by Aimee Lucido and Ella Der...
15 Jan 202112min
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
What do you get when you cross a film title with a basketball player? Today's crossword, evidently. Now for those of you who might not be basketball fans, you might want to cry UNCLE, but JUST stick with it, put in a TEENIE bit of effort, and you'll succeed, we do not JEST! We give this a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. 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 an...
14 Jan 20219min
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Ross Trudeau, creator of the New York Times mini-crosswords, scales it up to author today's puzzle. Jean did it effortlessly, Mike stumbled because 24A, They aren't what they appear to be, was not only a good clue, it also characterized his answer -- SCAMS -- as opposed to the correct answer, SHAMS. Still, he took comfort in knowing that THISTOOSHALLPASS. It was Tip Tuesday, and we had a plethora of them, so be sure and listen to get the skinny. We love feedback! Send us a text.....
13 Jan 202111min
Monday, January 11, 2021
A gentle Monday puzzle, perfect for the newer crossword solvers in the audience. It had a rather rye, um, no, make that wry, theme involving DELI food, but other than that the HQ (Humor Quotient) was relatively low, with just one real knee-slapper -- 5D, Without exception ... as in dry countries?, BARNONE. A few old favorites made a reappearance -- 23A, Olive ___ (Popeye's sweetie), OYL, and 67A, Popular vodka brand, for short, STOLI, safely positioned on the opposite side of the crossword fr...
12 Jan 20218min
Sunday, January 10, 2021
Yesterday we ran into ANUBIS, and today we have 40A, Supreme Egyptian deity, AMONRA -- so tomorrow's forecast is for OSIRIS, with a chance of ISIS later in the week. Speaking of AMONRA, apparently there are multiple spellings -- AMONRA, AMENRA and AMUNRA are all acceptable variants. That caused Mike no end of grief, as it naticked with 36D, Base of an arch, which he took to be an arcane architectural term, SELE, rather than, as Jean readily discovered, SOLE. There were some interesting ...
11 Jan 202112min
Saturday, January 9, 2021
Today's crossword was a tad easier than yesterday's -- Jean did it somewhat more quickly, and Mike cleaved an astonishing 2h30m off of his Friday time 😎. While not as difficult as some Saturdays, the clues were still quite interesting -- 17A, Marked by stately beauty, JUNOESQUE, 19A, Accessory that might have a netsuke attached, OBI, and the possibly contractually-obligated Simpsons reference, 46D, __________ Hayden, actress who voices Milihouse on "The Simpsons", PAMELA. [If they start aski...
10 Jan 202115min
