Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

Ah, the NYTimes Crossword at its best -- slippery clues, devious double-entendres, all designed to trip up the unwary solver. Both our co-hosts had to dig deeply, and the whole story -- as well as a Fun Fact based on 8D, Annual competition that starts on the first Saturday in March, IDITAROD -- is revealed on today's episode.

A reminder that this Tuesday we're running our second Triplet Tuesday Contest - you'll play along with the hosts, email how many clues it took you to find each of the 3 answers, and whoever gets the lowest score will take home a cornucopia of awesome swag. So, start practicing now, and may the best solver win!

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The presence of 32D, Symbol of sharp wit, RAPIER, seems appropriate, because this crossword was brimming with the stuff (sharp wit, not RAPIERs), and the theme was also noteworthy. For both our co-hosts, though, the highlight of the crossword had to be 73A, __________ Midas Wolf (Disney's "Three Little Pigs" antagonist), ZEKE. Who knew that the Wolf had a first name? And a middle one? We are awed and agog, and we owe it all to today's constructor, Alex Rosen, whose work clearly deserves a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale!

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Chase Dittrich turns in a stellar performance, with a puzzle-full of joyous clues and an ingenious theme, the joie de vivre just bubbles off the page (or screen, as the case may be). Definitely 5 squares on the JAMCR scale, and certainly in the running for this week's JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award).

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A charming Tuesday crossword, with a theme that wasn't too difficult to SUSS out, and any grid that manages to work both LOOKSUPTO (2D, Admires) and STANDTALL (36D, Act confidently) into the same grid deserves some sort of HONOR, and we give it here: 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

On a side note, next Tuesday we are going to be hosting our *second* Triplet Tuesday Contest, so for training purposes, we recommend you listen all week, to ensure you'll be in peak form!

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Not to namedrop ancient Greeks and their deities, but one of our Achilles heels' is our infatuation with the Apollo program, just one of the reasons why we found this to be such a great crossword. The theme is ingenious, the clues a tad crunchier than usual -- in particular 9D, Ancient tool for hunters or warriors, SPEARTHROWER, and 23A, Dogs with curly tails, AKITAS -- and we are not complaining one bit!

In other news, we've had some great suggestions for titles for our new Fact Checking segment. Check them out in today's episode (and if you have suggestions, send 'em our way!).

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If you're into movies, you'll love today's crossword, a punny homage to the Oscars, with a theme that Jean loved, and Mike ... is still trying to wrap his head around. There were some excellent (non-theme-related) clues in the grid, such as 33D, Historic builders of rope bridges, INCAS (huh!); 79D, Things pandas have 20 of, TOES (yikes!!); and  Jean & Mike's personal favorite, 48A, Therein lies the rubbed, SPA (😀 😀 ). All the deets are inside, so subscribe / download / listen and enjoy!

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A marvelous Saturday crossword by Kate Hawkins, with tough, fair, and entertaining clues everywhere you look in the grid. Among our favorites, 8D, Didn't go fast?, ATE (heh, heh); 40A, Floors, AWES (awwww... 😀); and the twin clues 2D and 12D, Booty, the answers to which were respectively, HAUL and SEAT (nice!). 

Since today's Saturday, that  means it's time for JAMCOTWA -- the Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award -- so to find out who walked off with that prestigious prize, all you need to do is download, listen, and enjoy!

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A delightful Friday crossword by Barbara Lin, with a bevy of very twee clues. Jean's favorite was 1A, Finishing-line cry?, BINGO, and Mike's was 47D, Edges of a diamond?, DEES: but both found gems -- and not just SARD* -- throughout the grid.

*as discussed in yesterday and today's episodes!

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Today's crossword is a victory for STEM education, as the NYTimes crossword managed to get millions (?) of its solvers thinking about the problem of DARKMATTER. There were a few notable clues, the most prominent of which is the aforementioned 51A, Orangish-brown gem, SARD. That almost sounds like a debut, but in fact it has appeared a whopping 154 times in the NYTimes crossword, albeit the last time (before today) was in 2015, and its first appearance was on Sunday, May 16, 1943 (!). So, welcome back, SARD, we hope to see you again sometime soon! 😀

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A very TWEE theme in today's crossword, involving TRACTORBEAMS. Both Jean and Mike were primed to see ENTERPRISE in the grid, but the constructor of today's fine piece, Dan Caprera, had other ideas and designs, so there were absolutely no United Federation of Planet vessels anywhere in the grid (unless, of course, they had deployed a cloaking device, hmmm...). What our cohosts did see in the grid were a lot of superb clues, and for the deets on those, as well as some listener mail, 😀 -- so to take all that in, just subscribe / download / play / enjoy!

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