Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

A sly Saturday stumper by veteran crossword constructor Joe DiPietro, with some really tricky corners, and, come to think of it, a grid full of cruciverbal traps. We have all the deets, as well as the winner of this week's JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award) just waiting for you, so hit download then hit play for an episode that we hope hits the spot.  

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Today's crossword, by first-timer Erica Hsiung Wojcik, was a real workout, with some great/humbling clues like 42D, Tonal language family, BANTU,  20A, Romeo and Juliet, e.g., TEENAGERS, and 24D, It's on the road again, USEDVEHICLES, that made you sweat, and when you figured them out (if you did), grin: in short, perfect Friday fare. 

Definitely 5 squares on the JAMCR scale!

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A terrific Thursday crossword, with a fabulous theme the likes of which has never been seen before! At least certainly not in recent memory. We don't want to spoil the surprise, so try the crossword first, and then check back for our analysis. Suffice it to say, this deserves a very enthusiastic 5 squares on the JAMCR scale

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A fine Wednesday crossword by Alex Bajcz, and if you like pinball games, doubly so. There was much to like in today's grid, with fun clues like 1A, One inclined to go in and out, RAMP (nice!); 31D, Drollery, WIT (drollery, truly one of the great words of the ... 17th century?); and of course 21A, County north of the Firth of Forth, FIFE (of course it is). So hat's off to today's constructor, we give this a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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A blast-from-the-past, with a handful of rock bands from the 70s and 80s, deftly woven into the grid with great APLOMB. We liked it ... a lot, and give it 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. In other news, it's Triplet Tuesday, so to find out how Jean fared, hit download, or better yet, subscribe, and start listening ASAP!

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A nice Monday crossword, the perfect palette cleanser after yesterday's epic battle (for one of us, no prize for guessing which). It was a debut for Li Ding, and hopefully we'll see more of him in the future! Today's episode also features the exciting debut of a new  catchphrase -- so if you want the origin story and/or be able to tell your grandchildren you were there when the catchphrase was born -- all you need to do is download and listen up.

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An easy/ludicrously-difficult  crossword, according to Jean/Mike. Also a controversial one, according to the massive number of comments that this generated on Word Play (the NYTimes column for discussing NYTimes Crosswords, highly recommended). We have our own take, and we'd be curious to get your take on it too: [email protected].

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A relatively straightforward Saturday puzzle, at least compared to the Mt. Everest level-of-difficulty of last week. It was by no means easy, but clues like 1D, They might smell fishy, CATTREATS, and 33D, It goes hand to hand, CLAP, were balanced by clues like 8D, Beat, TIRED, and 40A, Peter Pan alternative, JIF. 

In other news, we've picked this week's JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword  Of The Week Award), and we're sure you'll either agree with us ... or not 😀 

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We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

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Friday crosswords are meant to try one's souls, and by that standard today's puzzle by Daniel Sheremeta was a smashing success. Jean loped through it in decent time, whereas Mike, solving in tai-chi mode, took just a tad bit longer.

That's not to take away from this fine puzzle, however - assuredly a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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A very nice Thursday crossword, with a brilliant theme (well, some of the time: at others you can't see it at all). And if that last sentence didn't appear to make sense, fear not, all will be revealed when you download and listen up!

We love feedback! Send us a text...

Contact Info:
We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!