Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

If you suffer from entomophobia, then whatever you do, don't do today's crossword! But it should be safe to listen to today's podcast, as we only mention insects -- the bane of entomophobia sufferers everywhere -- en passant. Beyond the insect kingdom, the grid had a lot of educational clues and answers: both cohosts were surprised to learn that 33D, Sublime soprano, was a DIVA, having labored under the misapprehension that a DIVA was one of those stuck up, hard-to-work with, overly-pampered celebs: but it does indeed have this much more favorable meaning. Both cohosts were also surprised to learn that 47D, Physicist Schrödinger, had a first name, and that it was ERWIN.

For more details on that, as well as many other surprises lurking in the grid, all you need to do is subscribe, download, listen, learn, and enjoy!

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An exceptional Saturday crossword by Sid Sivakumar, who seems to be incapable of writing any other kind. The clues were fabulous (as we explore in depth in today's episode), and even the crossings were praiseworthy - most notably 38A, Rock forming mineral that makes up over half the earth's crust, FELDSPAR intersecting 17A, Meets expectations, in a way, MAKESPAR, while even 19A, Pumped, STOKED versus 4D, Preakness or Belmont, STAKES, had a nice alliterative feel. 

Today being Saturday, we also have selected our JAMCOTWA - Jean And Mike Crossword of The Week Award - and to find out which puzzle won, all you need to do is subscribe/download and listen up.

Bonus Shownotes Feature!
A few links for those who want to dig deeper:

1. Are neopets still a thing? 
2. The Father of Plastics
3. How accurate are iris scans?

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A challenging Friday crossword, although our intrepid co-hosts -- solving, as always, independently -- ran into difficulties in different areas of the grid. Jean got stuck in the center left, remaining INASTUPOR until she wasn't; whereas Mike encountered headwinds in the southwest, almost done in by his unfamiliarity with Spanish and the Italian literati, ENERO and ELENA Ferrante, respectively. 

In other news, it is Fun Fact Friday™️, and Jean weighs in with a striking article on SHRIKES. Enjoy!

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A fantabulous Thursday crossword by Grant Thackray, with a brilliant theme, great clues all round, and the shocker that the answer to 69A, Misnomer for the character Fritz in the original "Frankenstein", (1931) was ... wait for it ... IGOR (gasp!). There were other equally entertaining and educational clues, of course, and to find out what those were, you are, like thousands before you, cordially invited to subscribe, download, listen up and enjoy!

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A fascinating theme by Karen Steinberg, as a consequence of which Europeans might, for once, have a SKOSH of an advantage. There were a few relatively unfamiliar names in the grid - ________ Achebe, "Things Fall Apart" author, CHINUA; 59D, Little ________, who sang "The Locomotive", EVA; and the very rare, 22A, Six-time MLB All-Star Mookie, BETTS (in its second appearance ever in the grid, previously clued as Britain's Crown Princess way back in 1946!). 

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Today's crossword almost pegged the pop-culture-reference-meter, but, as you will discover in today's episode, it was for a very good cause (which we will refrain from expounding upon here in the interests of generating just a frisson of suspense). We will also refrain from defining frisson, because a) we always thought it involved a poor lifestyle choice in the shampoo aisle, and b) Wiktionary has already done so, and done so well.

So, to hear all of the above, plus how Mike fared during Triplet Tuesday, subscribe, download, listen up and enjoy!

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A slightly crunchier than usual Monday crossword, owing, perhaps, to the delightfully understated theme in honor of which we shall just say ...

hey, what happened to the rest of the paragraph??

To fully comprehend that last jest, all you need do is subscribe, download and listen up, and then the scales will fall, comprehension will dawn, etc., etc.

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A punny Sunday crossword, revolving around all the myriad  phrases that people use to describe gossip. We'd talk about those people, but we hate to, well, gossip, so we'll just point out that beyond the theme that were some great clues, including Jean's favorite - 111A, Sneeze guard?, ELBOW, and Mike's decidedly lengthier one - 82A, ___________ Questionnaire, character assessment that might ask "What is your idea of perfect happiness?", PROUST.

In other news, if you're wondering about yesterday's content-free episode, that was an editorial glitch - the new version's up and brimming with our usual sparkling wit, so please download it (as well as this one!) and enjoy.

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A good crossword educates, entertains, and intrigues, and Kate Hawkins' Saturday opus does all 3 perfectly and in equal measure. Educates - 25A, Brain-tingly feeling that may come from hearing whispering or crinkling, in brief, ASMR (huh!); entertains - 14A, Guilt trip?, APOLOGYTOUR (hah!); and intrigues, 41D, Cheesed off, INAPET (hmmm...). We liked this crossword enough to give it a full 5 squares on the JAMCR scale, bravo! Encore, encore!

Update: No APOLOGYTOUR was needed for the crossword, but ironically one is needed for this episode, as someone -- no names -- uploaded the wrong file 🙄. This has since been corrected, and our APOLOGYTOUR starts Sunday.

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Another crossword in which our co-hosts' experiences differed vastly: in a return to form, Jean sped through the puzzle, whereas Mike ... staggered, reeled, and ultimately clawed his way across the finish line. For deets on the epic struggle, as well as a fascinating fact for Fun Fact Friday, do have a listen -- and then let us know what you think, [email protected]

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