Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

After the fireworks caused by Sunday's crossword, today's crossword is relatively uncontroversial, as convention dictates that Monday crosswords ought to be. It had a gentle enough theme, and the contractually obligated appearance of the OREO. To learn what else was unique about today's crossword, just tune in to today's podcast.

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Today's crossword, by the incredible Alex Eaton-Salners, was awesome on so many levels that we just don't have the space to describe it here. So, other than pointing out the fact that 7D, "Battlestar Galactica" robots, CYLONS, meant that Mike got his Netflix-viewing MARCHINGORDERS and is preparing to binge-watch as we speak, we will merely direct you to download today's podcast to get all the deets.

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What's all the HULLABALOO about? It's in honor of this very COOL crossword by Michael Hawkins, who TRACKEDDOWN the finest clues from all over -- it must've taken him EONS, extracting them from their various HIDEOUTS -- and brought them together in one grid for your enjoyment. We know we did, and to hear precisely why, just download and listen up.

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Today's crossword was a very smooth solve for both Jean & Mike - which means that, according to the (entirely fictitious) law of conservation of crossword difficulty, tomorrow's crossword will probably be impossible. 

Among the clues not discussed in today's crossword were 23D, River in Picardy, SOMME, and a clue that, in this modern age is now mystifying, 65A, Lewis Carroll character who asks "Does your watch tell you what year it is?", MADHATTER.

It's Fun Fact Friday, and it's a doozy, so for all the deets, download and listen up!

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It's a scary Thursday crossword ... but that's due to the theme, not the difficulty level. The cluing was crisp and amusing, and, in addition to many examples discussed on today's podcast, we did enjoy 5D, On the ___ (frequently, in slang), REG, yet more evidence of the remarkable fluidity of the English language. For more deets, download and listen up!

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Live from Northeast Wisconsin, it's ... Jean and Mike Do The New York Times Crossword! Perhaps that's not quite as memorable as 38A, Classic opening line from an NBC sketch show, LIVEFROMNEWYORK, but it's the best we can do. And to hear *more* of the best that we can do, download and listen up to today's episode .

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Among the clues that we didn't get around to discussing in today's podcast was 41A, Treble symbols, GCLEFS, and the rather new-is 18A, Looks for web content about oneself, EGOSURF. But we talked about a whole lot of the puzzle, as well as had another exciting round of Triplet Tuesday -- so for all the deets, download, and listen up.

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Today's crossword wasn't quite EASYPEASY: Mike in particular had a few LAPSES that pushed his THYME to the breaking point. For all the deets, download and listen up!

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Today's crossword was titled "Sports Nuts", and that pretty much sums up the theme - a series of answers that involved some aspect of sports, as suggested by a punny clue. For example, 22A, Your ex's new date whom you just can't stand?, OFFENSIVEREBOUND. Beyond the sporting motif, there were some interesting clues. For example:

• the startlingly difficult to pronounce 30A, There are 24 in a cuboctahedron, EDGES (the unpronounceable word, for the record, being cuboctahedron, not EDGES). 
• the  mysterious 79D. Instrument that's a homophone of 69D, VIOL (the mystery being what's the difference between a homophone and a homonym). 

to name just two. A fine crossword, we give it 4.5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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Saturday is traditionally the toughest crossword of the week, doubly so when Sam Ezersky's the constructor. Both Jean & Mike (solving independently, as is their wont), struggled in the bottom right corner, where a trio of potentially ego-crushing clues awaited --  42D, Charge for some truckers, CARTAGE (not, as Mike surmised, CARRAGE),  43D, Drawing of the body without its skin, from the French, ECORCHE, and 44D, One of the Lesser Antilles, STKITTS. And other parts of the grid were also challenging. Still, Sam managed to thread the needle between "really, really hard", and "nobody in the continental US other than Rex Parker is going to know this" -- no mean feat. For all that, we give this a hearty 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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