Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

A fun Monday crossword by Michael Lieberman, with an LOL revealer that ... we won't reveal here, but most definitely do discuss in today's episode. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but three of Mike's all-time favorite answers appeared in the grid today - 6D, Trevor of "The Daily Show", NOAH;  30A, Disney+ series in the Marvel Comic Universe, WANDAVISION (best.show.ever.); and 57D, Ticklish muppet, ELMO 😍

Definitely a superior Monday puzzle, we give it an enthusiastic 5 squares on the ol' JAMCRSCALE.

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A very pleasing Sunday crossword by Derrick Niederman, with a terrific theme -- Opposites Attract -- superbly executed. There were a few posers -- 39D, Tom Jones and Anthony Hopkins, by birth, WELSHMEN, 93D, What all companies try to make, PAYROLL (nice!), and a word that we earnestly hope will make a comeback, 87A, Horse-drawn carriage, SHAY. 

Just a reminder that the New York Times would love to have you subscribe to the crossword, and you can do that at nytimes.com/crosswords. You can also subscribe to this podcast -- and we hope that you do! -- by clicking on wherever you see the big Subscribe button on your podcast listening app of choice.

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For today's puzzle, the editor's turned to Kameron Austin Collins, which means that the difficulty level was cranked up to 11 (maybe more). Your cohosts had to dig for every clue. Cases in point: 7A, Looks like, MIMICS; 31A, Bad thing to draw when your taking a test, BLANK (woah!!);  7D, Makes fast, MOORS (heh); and the delightfully devilish 56A, Taken care of business, ERRANDS ( yikes!). 

A brilliant Saturday crossword, we salute KAC for a job well done!

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If the main goal of a crossword is to entertain and educate, than today's crossword gets an A, for clues that entertain (47A, French, perhaps, in England, SNOG), educate (Out of nothing, in creation myths, EXNIHILO), and do both (1D, Snit, PET). Today's crossword also had an amazing grid, breaking the usual rules for a very good reason, as you will learn ... all in today's action-packed episode!

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Matthew Stock returns to provide an excellent, geographically-themed crossword, with some intriguing clues throughout the grid to keep us puzzling -- 30D, Press material, GARLIC (😀),  Mike's favorite word in the grid, 25A, Verse, POESY, and  59A, Goo for a batter, PINETAR, are just 3 examples. Definitely 5 squares on the JAMCR scale!

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Kudos to Ekua Ewool for a marvelous, 4th-wall-breaking effort that did a great job of capturing the thoughts of newbies (and not-so-newbies) as they work through a week of crosswords puzzles. All the deets are inside, so have a listen and remember that we love feedback - [email protected].

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A nicely done crossword by Trenton Charlson, with a brilliant theme ... (and no, we weren't just trailing off, that was the brilliant theme). In addition, we saw plenty of other signs of an superior constructor's craft, including 57A, Galas, APPLES; the truly sublime 41D, Not doing things the rite way?, ELOPING; and Mike's favorite (he might be just a tad biased), 63D, Sch. whose mascot is Mike the Tiger, LSU.

It's Tuesday, and Jean tries her darnedest, to both win at Triplet Tuesday and spell darnedest. Does she succeed? Download, listen up, and all will be revealed!

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A great debut crossword by Adam Simpson, with a theme that has a definite "awwwwww" factor to it. The rest of the grid is not too shabby either, so here's hoping that we'll see more of Adam's work in the future! Want more detail? We know you do, so download, listen up, and we'll do the rest!

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Solving today's crossword involved a lot of ups and downs - literally, thanks to a theme that gave the grid a Chutes-and-Ladders feel to it. The author of today's crossword, Tracy Gray, has had 33+ puzzles published in the NYTimes ... you could kinda tell from the grid that this was not their first rodeo! We have all the deets inside, so take some time on this Labor Day weekend (or, if you're in Canada, Labour Day weekend; and if you're anywhere else, and have a holiday, drop us a line at [email protected] and tell us about it!) to do the opposite of labor and enjoy today's episode!

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A gentler than usual Saturday, with some excellent cluing and at least one debut answer, 2D, Temporarily banished from a dorm room, say, SEXILED (!). which ran into another thematically related clue, 29A, Giving a sexual interpretation to almost any statement, say, DIRTYMINDED (not DOUBLEENTENDRE, because no matter how much fun it is to say, it simply wouldn't fit).

In another news, it's Saturday, and we have conducted a thorough retrospective of the week's crosswords to pick out the very best (in our humble opinions!). Which one was it? To end the suspense, all you need do is subscribe, download  and listen up.

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