Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

Today's crossword was not quite as difficult as yesterday's -- what is? -- but it still had some tough spots. The author set the tone right out of the gate with 1A, Muhammad Ali was one, famously, TRASHTALKER (not, as both Jean & Mike independently guessed, DRAFTDODGER).  Right beneath it was another poser, 15A, Animal that produces eggs once a year, EASTERBUNNY (nice one!). And Mike's favorite, 58A, It flies around Florence, ITALIANFLAG (another gem).

That's just a taste -- for the full meal, listen to today's podcast, and, as usual, drop us a line -- [email protected] -- with any feedback, we'd love to hear from you!

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A Saturday-level crossword has lost its way, and accidentally wandered into Friday territory. That's the only explanation for this epic challenge by Kameron Austin Collins, with lots of "crunchy" entries throughout the entire grid. Jean had a spot of bother with 14A, "This has gotta be a trick, but ...", OKAYILLBITE, initially writing OKIWILLBITE. Mike discovered that BURKA can also be spelled as in the answer to 46D, Head-to-toe garment, BURQA, and that supplied the answer to 60A, As, QUA (yes, you read that right). 

There were a multitude of just fun words and phrases throughout the grid: MEGALOPOLIS, ALOEVERAGEL BOUNTEOUS and WINSOMER are just a few of the answers that made today's crossword such fun.

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A one-for-the-ages crossword -- everyone's going to remember where they were when they solved it (or broke their computer/iPad/iPhone out of frustration because the "solved" crossword wouldn't indicate that they'd succeeded).
The revealer was 3 stepped answers --
MUCHADO
   ABOUT
      NOTHING
The crossword had a series of circled squares, forming circles or ovals: those circles/ovals spelled out various synonyms for ADO -- FRACAS, STIR, RUMPUS, etc.. Inside those circles/ovals, the squares should have been left blank -- MUCHADO ABOUT NOTHING.
Absolutely ingenious! While those who solved on paper would have been done at this point, those saddled with electronic versions had to figure out the right character to put in those "blank" squares to satisfy the software. Jean discovered that NOTHING worked, whereas Mike somehow stumbled upon X (a much shorter typing solution).

The rest of the crossword was filled with clever clues and answers: head to xwordinfo.com to gaze upon the solution in all its glory.

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There seems to be a lot of men hanging around in today's puzzle: 43D, 1967 hit that starts "Well, my pad is very messy and there's whiskers on my chin", IMAMAN; 40A, Only United Nations member whose name starts with "O", OMAN; 46A, Heaven-sent food, MANNA; and 46D, Salvador Dali contemporary, MANRAY.  There were also some very clever themed clues, such as 17A, If you think actors have two left feet, you haven't seen ________, TEDDANSON (nice!). and 52A, If you think economists don't lose their cool, you haven't seen JANETYELLEN. Mike, unfortunately, temporarily had JANETYELLER as the answer, which amused Jean, but not the humorless app logic that decides whether a puzzle is solved or not (in this case, of course, not).

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An errific crossword for an uesday, with an interesting heme that revolved around ICEDTEA. Both Jean and Mike found the hardest of the 4 themed answers to be 51A, Lumberjacks in unsafe working conditions, AXDODGERS; both initially and independently thought it to be AXDANGERS, mistakingly answering 44D, ________ touch, as IPAD, rather than IPOD, and stumbling over 49D, Strong aversions, writing ONIUMS rather than ODIUMS. How odious!

For Tip Tuesday, Jean points out the wonders of crosswordese.com, and Mike points out the perils of the wonderful word chain consisting of  ALEE (protected side of a ship), ALEA (a non-existent word), and LEA (grassy, arable land).

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Have you ever looked really closely at the MEXICANFLAG? If not, no worries, because Philip K. Chow got there first, and took notes -- it turns out to have a GOLDENEAGLE, a PRICKLYPEAR, and a RATTLESNAKE.

Several other Mexican-themed clues/answers make an appearance - 21A, Hombre, is MAN, and 26D, They get smashed at parties, PINATAS, to name two. 

Other than that, listen on for some interesting discussion of abbr's, the proper pronunciation of PINATAS, and Mike's absolutely baseless contention that SLEDS are not fully-fledged vehicles.

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Happy Pi Day! Today's crossword was not as easy as that, though -- there were quite a few tricky clues, and the theme -- 101A, Satirical cartoonist, born 3/13/1921, known for dreaming up ridiculous inventions ... or are they?, ALJAFFEEOFMADMAGAZINE -- really didn't help with any of the related themed answers (although it was certainly interesting to learn all the inventions that the great man had dreamt up). So, a "crunchy" Sunday puzzle, as they say -- we still give it a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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A solid Saturday by veteran crossword constructor John Guzzetta, with a particularly knotty nattick at the junction of 25D, Is lachrymose, and 40A, "Young Man With a Skull" painter. The answers were WEEPS and HALS, although for those unfamiliar with the artist and wobbly when it comes to grammar, WEEPY and HALY are perfectly understandable. As your registered gramma might've said, gramma(r) matters.

Listen on to hear all the details, and as always, we love to get feedback -- [email protected]

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YKNOW, today's crossword was ABLAZE with  intriguing clues and new(ish) answers: witness 38D, Emphatic agreement in Latin America, SISISI; 17A, Frozen food brand famously lampooned by comedian Jim Gaffigan, HOTPOCKETS; and 51A, Get smart?, DOLLUP. Even old answers were clued AFRESH: consider 48A, One with a solo in Brahm's Symphony No. 1, OBOE, and 10A, It carries an added tax in Philadelphia and San Francisco, SODA. Nice job, Peter Wentz, thanks for giving us this Friday treat.

On today's edition of Fun Fact Friday, we learn of Hapax Legomenon, and as an example of such we will not mention it more than once in this blurb 😀 

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Today's puzzle was a toughie -- you might need to BURNTHEONEAMOIL in order to solve it. The top-left corner was a particular quagmire -- 4A, Drink served hot or cold, SAKE, 3D, Added assessments, SURTAXES, and 1A, Kerfuffle, FUSS all caused, well, a kerfuffle. Mike also had to battle demons in the bottom left corner, unwisely answering 44A, Abbr. in many an urban address, as AVE, leading to the conclusion that 45D, Dense spinning celestial body, was VULCAN, which while true on some plane of existence, was not on this one, where PULSAR was the preferred answer.

Still, all is fair in love and Thursday NYTimes Crosswords, we give this a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale

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