There was cause for much celebration at JAMDTNYTC HQ, as the J of the aforementioned podcast made her triumphant return to the studio. She  chose an auspicious day to do so, because the crossword was awash with theme clues, which she spotted with unnerving accuracy.

We also have a Triplet Tuesday™️ segment for your enjoyment.

Show note imagery: Ah, yes, we remember the dreaded EDITWARS of aught-six, 

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Today's crossword — a joint effort by Andrea Carla Michaels and Dena R. Verkuil — had a lot of appeal, and if that generates peals of laughter, then this sentence will have done its job! 

Being a Monday, the puzzle was straightforward: its mission was to entertain and entice, not (as sometimes happens later in the week) confound and confuse. As today's episode can attest, it succeeded on all fronts.

Show note imagery: SHEL Silverstein and Johnny Cash, writer and singer, respectively, of "A Boy Named Sue".

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Today's crossword — a very nice piece of work by Henry Lin-David and Frank S. David — featured an adorable, tiny escape room! You can't miss it — it's right in the center of the grid — and you also can't escape it, because the room is entirely walled off from the rest of the grid by black squares. This is only the 31st time, in the entire history of the NYTimes crossword, that the puzzle has included a disconnected region (it's hard to have crosswords if words don't cross!), but it is all for a very good cause. Check out today's episode for all the deets.

Show note imagery: On the left, a cake topped with STREUSEL; on the right, an apple strudel

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It's not often that we get to haul "effervescent" out of long-term storage, dust it off, and plant it where it needs planting, but today is one of those days, for the crossword, by Adam Wagner and Michael Lieberman, was terrific. The puzzle was not the hardest Saturday we've seen — in part because the Pop Culture Meter was close to 0 — but the clues were just delights, every one of them an intricate work of a master crossword constructor / punster. Deets inside.

Show note imagery: MOTHRA and Godzilla, in such a frightening battle that they scared all the colors away 😱

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Considering that this is Robyn Weintraub's 37th Friday crossword(!),  she has certainly earned the sobriquet, the Queen of Fridays. We hope she wears her crown at a jaunty angle, in honor of the many jaunty clues in today's puzzle. We enjoyed the bait-and-switch of 6D, Sounds of fall?, THUDS; the spirited defiance implied in 13D, "Keep Commerce Human" website, ETSY; and the somewhat esoteric (at least from Mike's perspective), 23D, Fabric related to chambray, DENIM.

TLDR; Another fine Robyn Weintraub puzzle, worth every one of the 5 squares, on the JAMCR scale, that we hereby bestow upon it.

Show note imagery: Pretty much every 10th building in major Canadian cities, Tim Hortons (no apostrophe!)

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Today's crossword, by Simeon Seigel, featured another "puzzle-within-a-puzzle", and we loved it, from 1A, TikTok stars, to many, IDOLS, all the way down to 61A, Filler akin to "like ..." or "I mean ...", YKNOW — and everything in between. 

A few non-themed clues stood out, among them 6A, Locale for an old flame?, WICK (very nice!); 53D, Completely savage, PAN (we were not ready for that one!); and the "duh, of course"-inducing 27A, New Year's date, concisely, ONEONE. There were more, and they are in today's episode, so check it out and then let us know what you think!

Show note image: Golf club taxonomy

Show note videography: a WAVETANK, in motion: 

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Our cohosts had very different experiences, solving today's puzzle. Jean cruised through it like the QE2 on a serene summer's day; Mike's journey was more reminiscent of the Vasa's, thanks to a series of stupefying own goals, although he did eventually emerge from the depths, sputtering and muttering oaths like "what the deuce!". Details of the full saga are one click away, so download, listen up, and ... enjoy!

Show note imagery: The Vasa, a 17th century Swedish warship that sank in Stockholm harbor just as it was beginning its maiden voyage.

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We are pleased to report that Sunny Maharjan has joined the elite pantheon of NYTimes crossword constructors. This, his debut, is a gem. It was a quick solve (especially for Jean), but the theme was a hoot and a half (which we conjecture is a well-known adage, somewhere — we just don't know where). What we do know is that the rest of the grid had some abfab clues, such as 67A, College, to Aussies, UNIS; 15D, Shape of conchiglie pasta, SHELL (ok, now we know); and 1D, Jaguar's home, JUNGLE (not, as Mike originally theorized, GARAGE).

Beyond the crossword analysis, we have a Triplet Tuesday™️ segment for your enjoyment, and another listener-inspired edition of So, That's How You Pronounce It!. Enjoy!!

Show note imagery: Dame Judi DENCH, playing M alongside a person who definitely likes their MARTINI shaken, not stirred.

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For the of you who are feeling nostalgic for Muzak, you have two choices: this crossword, or Urgent Care 😀. We recommend the former, because Jeff Chen and Stephan Prock have put together a wonderful Monday offering, as we discuss in today's episode.

We are also pleased to announce our JAMCOTWA™️ (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award) for this week, namely [REDACTED: SEE PODCAST FOR ALL THE DEETS].

Show note imagery: Regardless of how you spell it, ODES(S)A is one cool city!

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John Kugelman has written 24 crosswords for the NYTimes, including an impressive 17 Sundays. Today's was novel, in that for the first time it featured color illustrations — Gray Lady indeed! 

Both cohosts found the puzzle to be a challenge, definitely crunchier than usual for a Sunday — filled with fascinating clues and quite a few bedeviling naticks*. We loved it, and thereby bestow upon it 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

Show note imagery: Aww, it's a SHIHPOO ❤️

*A natick consists of two clues whose answers cross and are both unknown to the solver.

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