Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

Mondays are traditionally the easiest crossword of the week: last week's had a bit more crunch to it than usual, so this may be Will's way of balancing the ledger. Today's puzzle did have a few TIL (Today I Learned) clues, most notably 33A, State whose flag, with eight gold stars in the shape of the Big Dipper, was designed by a 13 year old, ALASKA, and 6A, Face ______ (app that creates bizarre photos), SWAP; but most were of the order of 11D, "Eat your _______!" (parent's order), VEGETABLES and 15A, Leonardo da Vinci's "_____ Lisa", MONA. So, a smooth solve, and honestly, we don't mind one bit!

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Today's puzzle ought to put a smile on your face ... because there's a smile in the grid! A winking smile, to be precise, the emoticon ;-). Rather than using PUNCTUATIONMARKS, however, the ;-) is ingeniously spelled out (SEMI, COLON, HYPHEN and PARENTHESIS, all arranged in the appropriate shape in the grid), and it must've taken forever to get this right. We salute the author, Alex Rosen, for a job well done - 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. Besides the PUNCTUATIONMARK artistry, there was some clues for which a ;-) seems so apropos -- 94D, It may run from an emotional situation, MASCARA, 108A, Like the minotaur legend, CRETAN (notable because this is the 3rd time CRETAN has appeared in as many days), and the EPIC 21A, What can make men swear from menswear, SPACEBAR. Very nice!

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An amazing oeuvre by Sid Sivakumar. Just consider 1A, Cause for alarm?, BURGLAR (ha!)), 3A, Acts like a nudnik to, PESTERS (huh?), and 45A, Smartphone screen displays, ALERTS (wow!). Now imagine an entire puzzle with clues like that, well ... you don't have to imagine, because the entire puzzle is like that, a serious mental workout worthy of a Saturday New York Times crossword. A 5 squares on the JAMCR scale if ever a puzzle deserved one! For all the deets, download and enjoy today's podcast.

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A challenging Friday crossword (but easier than last week's!). There were a few novel entries in today's grid, including 17A, Hybrid citrus fruit native to China, MEYERLEMON, the very 21st century 3D, "G2G", TTYL, and 35D, Marshal under Napoleon, NEY. Jean leveraged her familiarity with 12D, ________ the 25-Down, founder of the kingdom of Hawaii, KAMEHAMEHA, to get a good leg up in the top right corner, whereas Mike leveraged his familiarity with computers and his unfamiliarity with gerunds to initially stray on 7D, Performing tasks according to encoding instructions, as a computer file, EXECUTABLE (not EXECUTING). 

Both Jean & Mike, solving independently as always, ended up at the junction of 41A, Cry of relief, PHEW (not WHEW), and 41D, Jewelry creator Elsa who helped define the Tiffany brand, PERETTI (not WERETTI).

It's Fun Fact Friday and in today's episode we tackle that age old question, is the radian part of the metric system? To find out, download today's episode.

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A fascinating puzzle, with several TIL (Today I Learned) moments. Most notably, the astonishing 30A, Animal whose teeth are the strongest substance in the natural world, SNAIL. For those of us who never even knew that SNAILs had teeth, this was indeed a revelation! Also, the fact that RADIAN is part of the SI (metric system) was also a bit of a stunner. The theme involved standard to metric conversions, so for instance, 16A, "In a Silent Way" trumpeter, [~3:5], KILOMETERSDAVIS (as opposed to MILESDAVIS). Very cute! We liked this puzzle a lot, and give it a 5 squares on the (metric) JAMCR sale.

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A great Wednesday crossword by Lee Taylor, a punny homage to speed that manages to walk that fine line between punny and painful. Consider 16A, "Hurry up", to a dancer, SHAKEALEG, or 50A, "Hurry up", to a zombie, LOOKALIVE. And the rest of the themed answers are even better. All the details of this clearly 5-square puzzle are inside, so download and listen up!

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A fine Tuesday crossword by Zhouqin Burnikel, with a cute theme involving currencies, and several noteworthy  clues. It's also Triplet Tuesday, and Jean aces it! For all the details, download and listen up!

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There were a lot of famous names in today's crossword --but even if you don't know 61A, Atlanta rapper featured on Lizzo's Grammy-nominated "Exactly How I Feel", GUCCIMANE, or 24A, Runway model famous for her work as a Victoria's Secret model, CHANELIMAN, the crosses were merciful. Mike, as always, had a few hiccups - he incorrectly guessed 13A _____ milk (nondairy choice), OAT (SOY VEI!), and ironically got 56D, All wound up, TENSE, correct, but then inexplicably failed to get the TENSE correct for the adjacernt clue, 57D, Got some shut-eye, SLEPT (he wrote SLEEP). Jean, of course, cruised through the crossword in her usual inimitable and expeditious style.

For all the DEETS, download today's episode and listen up!

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The trifecta of tough crosswords to wrap up our crossword-solving week, today's puzzle had 5 answers that started off running across, but ended rising vertically, with the remainder of the horizontal answer forming a different phrase that ended in ASH. There was some foreshadowing, 123A, Within arm's reach, ATONESELBOW, and 100A, What a button an armrest may control, SEATANGLE, as well as the blatant revealer, the combination of 50A and 97A, RISEFROMTHEASHES. Coincidentally, that's what Mike's hoping to do after his weekendus horribilis, crossword-wise, while Jean, as usual, found the going a trifle easier. We give this  4.5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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It's a Saturday New York Times crossword, and that can only mean one thing: tough cluing ahead! Both Jean & Mike ran into heavy seas in the top-right. Jean ran aground on SHOAL, and Mike nearly went mad trying to figure out ASYLA (but came this close).  All in all, not a bad puzzle, we give it a 4 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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