Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

A delicious Sunday crossword, with LOL answers courtesy of Julia Child (as curated and transcribed by today's constructor, Jesse Goldberg). How could you not like such bon mots as 38A, "A party without cake is ________", REALLYJUSTAMEETING, or the rather brazen 65A, "If you're alone in the kitchen and you drop the lamb, you can always just pick it up. __________?", WHOSGOINGTOKNOW. Jean cruised through the crossword in 54 minutes, only getting hung up in the vicinity of 87A, ________ o'clock (when happy hour begins), BEER, whereas Mike seriously misinterpreted 15A, Even once, EVER, parsing it as "Even, once" and trying (unsuccessfully) to imagine the equivalent in days of yore: EVEA? EVEH? EVEL?? Those minor glitches not withstanding, both Jean & Mike agree that this was a fine Sunday effort, and definitely worth 5 squares on the JAM CR scale.

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It's a Saturday New York Times crossword, which means that the glove are off, the gauntlet's been thrown down, in short, the puzzle was tough -- amusing, but tough. The grid itself was built to challenge, divided into 4 largely isolated quadrants. Jean had trouble keeping her footing in the center of the crossword, with 26A, Break down for closer analysis, as data, SLICEANDDICE, not immediately clicking, and 30A, Iconic iPhone addition of 2011, EMOJIKEYBOARD, also causing grief. Mike, meanwhile, simply could not believe his eyes at 10D, Having a gap, HIATAL, and his reaction was best summed up by the adjacent 11D, "Whoa, _____!", NELLIE. 

So, a tough but fair crossword, with plenty of fun clues, we give it a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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A Fun Friday crossword, challenging but with not too many tripping hazards (aka proper nouns, such as 40A, Big name in pizza rolls, TOTINOS, and 15D, Short-story writer Bret, HARTE). 19A Thin in tone, TINNY, was tricky because we had almost an identical clue the day before, the answer to which was REEDY. Very tricky, Mr. Shortz! A few "today-I-learned" moments arose courtesy of 29A, When doubled, a 2010s hip-hop fad, NAE, and 54A, She's the responsible one in the group, colloquially, MOMFRIEND; 22A, Ford vehicle, familiarly, INDY, was also a bit of a surprise and most decidedly unfamiliar. A nice puzzle, all-in-all, we will dance a quick NAENAE in its honor, and give it a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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A delicious Thursday crossword, with TOMYUMSOUP as an appetizer, plenty of tasty rebuses to chew on, and some COKES to wash it down. It did have a few of those cultural references that usually cause Mike to break out in a cold sweat, but fortunately 52D, Actress Birch, THORA, and 59A, Genre for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, SKA, had (relatively) easy crossings. A great crossword (did we mention that it included the Mighty Mighty Bosstones?), we give it a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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Today's Wednesday crossword was on the harder side of the spectrum, but it included some fascinating facts. For example, did you know 10D, Creatures that have the densest fur of any mammal (up to 1 million hairs per square inch), SEAOTTERS? Or 21A, One of 20 on the Titanic, LIFEBOAT?  The main theme, however, revolved around authors, whose names were ordinary words with E's attached, inserted into appropriate phrases, e.g., 17A, Clamoring for "The Bonfire of the Vanities", CRYINGWOLFE. Amazinge! We give it a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

We have listener mail, Lisa writes in to discuss her new subscription puzzle service, offering crosswords from some of the best in the biz. And, why yes, she does have a website: crucinova.com, highly recommended!

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Today's crossword managed to COVERALLTHEBASES as far as baseball adages are concerned. RIGHTOFFTHEBAT, they had the aforementioned COVERALLTHEBASES; and the author also was ADROIT enough to work in OUTOFLEFTFIELD and WHOLENEWBALLGAME.  A very SWEET puzzle indeed.

Today is Triplet Tuesday, so to hear Mike do battle as Jean unleashes a bevy of tricky clues, download and listen up!

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A bit of a challenging Monday crossword, some of the clues were relatively ARCANE. Jean had a SMA  problem with 46D, Southeast Europe's ______ Peninsula, going for BALTIC before BALKAN. Mike, meanwhile, got TOTO's version of 62A, Where this puzzle's circled letters can be found, AFRICA, stuck in his head, and it took 17A, Song lyric before "short and stout", IMALITTLETEAPOT, to drive it out. Ah, the dangers of Monday New York Times crosswords!

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Ooh, it's a beyootiful croosword, and if you're wondering about all those seemingly superfluous o's, well, they are an essential part of Ashish Vengsarkar's very punny puzzle. So, if you're the sort of person who reads 110A, Power of a cowboy's boot, and thinks BOOTSTRENGTH; or if you see 10D, Dramatic accusation at a dentist's office, and think YOUCANTHANDLETHETOOTH, then this puzzle should be right up your alley. If not, well, just apply some 113A, Determination, GRIT, and do the best you can!

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Jean was hampered by technical issues, possibly brought on by 16A, Mischievous character in West African folklore, ANANSITHESPIDER, while Mike, meanwhile, had to DIGDEEP, hampered by his decision, violating his own tip, to solve at night. Still, after a TENSE hour (or in Mike's case, two), with nary a CARELESSMISTAKE between them, they were able to gaze upon on a completely solved puzzle. A great Saturday struggle, we give this an exhausted 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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It's a Robyn Weintraub Friday puzzle, and that means tough, fair, and  LOL clues all over the grid. To get things rolling, take a look at 25D, Big wheel at a party?, BRIE. She also ought to win an award for 17A, Olympics haul of fame?, GOLDMEDALS, which was just fractionally better than 44D, Irrational thing to celebrate? PIDAY. There's much more in the grid and on the podcast -- which also includes a Fun Fact Friday segment on Olympic diving -- so be sure and download and listen up!

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