Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

A nice Goldilox Sunday puzzle by Kathy Bloomer - not too hard, not too easy, but juuuust right (although, as always, YMMV depending on a number of factors -- how much experience you have solving crosswords, your knowledge of pop culture and assorted arcana, and, occasionally, how much luck you happen to have about your person). 

In today's episode, Jean explores the theme, Mike explains his method of dream solving, and both break into song (but don't worry, only for a few seconds). So, to hear all of that, you know what to do ... download, listen up, and enjoy!

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There are many great reasons for doing the NYTimes Crossword - one is their ability to shine a light on a great talent that you otherwise might not have heard of. Such is the case today, when OCEANVUONG makes their way into the grid (a debut for the crossword constructor, Natan Last) -- so if you get a chance, check out their poetry, it is really amazing.

Beyond that, we have our usual color commentary on today's (ironically, and as usual) black and white grid. So, for all that and more, download, listen up, and prepare to be educated (maybe) and entertained (hopefully!)

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A possibly easier than usual Friday crossword -- which according to the Law of Conservation of Crossword Difficulty™️ means that tomorrow's could be brutal! But we could not possibly complain about a grid that had so much ... ECLAT. And so, as today's podcast will attest, we did not. Five squares on the JAMCR scale, for a job well done!

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Another terrific Thursday puzzle from Jeremy Newton, who has published a total of 23 crosswords in the NYTimes, and it shows: a brilliant theme, razor sharp cluing, and an LOL revealer. The JAMCR scale goes up to 5 squares, and he's pegged it! For all the deets, download, listen up, and be prepared to be amused and educated.

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A slightly crunchy Wednesday, both Jean and Mike fell into the "how-do-you-spell-ALFREDNEUMAN" trap, spelling it (as you might suspect) ALFREDNEWMAN. Jean figured it out relatively quickly, Mike had to MULL it over for half a TIC, er, TICK, before he finally saw the light (and heard the music!).

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A dodecad of themed answers in today's crossword -- something you don't see every day, and a reason for celebration as it made for a very interesting puzzle as well as the opportunity to use dodecad in a sentence! What's a dodecad, you ask? And (once you've got that sussed out), what would be a reasonable theme that involves a dodecad? To answer those burning questions, as well as to hear how Jean did on Triplet Tuesday™️, you are cordially invited to download, listen, learn, and hopefully be entertained!

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A good middle-of-the-road Monday crossword by Margaret Seikel, which included  rewards for regular solvers -- 51D, Faces a pitcher, BATS, which had just appeared yesterday; and a highly memorable but challenging- to-pronounce-3-times-quickly hyphenated-phrase that first appeared in a clue last month, 37A, Male equivalent of a she-shed, MANCAVE. Nicely done, we give this a full 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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A definitely harder-than-usual Sunday crossword, it took both intrepid co-hosts a considerable amount of time just to get a toehold in the grid. There were a few easy clues in the puzzle, but for every 37A, Laura of "Big Little Lies", DERN, and ... oops, sorry, that's the only easy clue we could find! There were, however, scores of clues such as 41A, Bird Watcher's Org, once, NBA (ha!), 55A, Complete, ATOZ (obvious -- in retrospect), and 82A, Letters to ____ (rock group), CLEO (um, who?). Still, the journey is the reward, so we felt like we won the lotto with this fine puzzle.

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Jean got through today's crossword in a blistering pace, Mike ... just got blisters, slightly singed as he was in the bottom-left corner by such fiery clues as 34D, Super ___________, TUESDAY,  33D, Tip of a geographic horn, SOMALIA, and 40A, Painter Modigliani, AMEDEO. However, Phoenix that he is, Mike hopes to shortly emerge from the ashes ready to tackle tomorrow's crossword.

In other news, it's time for JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award), and while all of last week's crosswords were fine, there was one clear winner, and that winner would be ... the subject of minute 8 (or thereabouts) of today's episode, just waiting for you to download and enjoy.

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For longtime crossword solvers, the name Erik Agard can spark a frisson of excitement and/or dread, usually both 😀 And in today's grid Erik is in fine form, with some awesome clues that make you want to stand up and applaud. Beyond the very best (covered, of course, in the podcast), we have others that are still ... among the very best, such as 31D, Bit of whistle-blowing, maybe, LEAK (😀), 43A, Gives an edge, WHETS, and 54D, Bagel, NIL (hint: think tennis). Brilliant, kudos all round, definitely a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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