Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

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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TOOMANYCOOKS ... clearly was not a problem with this crossword -- there were TWO cooks, and they've served up a delicious Wednesday crossword for your enjoyment. The theme was the beginning of three adages -- truncating them right where the word SPOIL appeared, e.g., 45A, Start of a saying about parental discipline, SPARETHEROD. Very clever, Nancy Stark and Will Nediger!

 A few rarer words made an appearance -- 51A, Quick, possibly controversial bit of commentary, HOTTAKE and the always entertaining 24A, Mad as a hatter, MESHUGA. Oy!

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If you like cars, or perhaps we should say, if you like srac, then you'll love this crossword, which features a series of car manufacturers, embedded, in reverse, in various names. For instance, 17A, They often come out at night, FALSETEETH, includes, reading backwards, TESLA; and our favorite, 28A, First Lady of 2001 to '09, LAURABUSH, includes SUBARU.

Besides that, the injection of several unexpected I's caught our I, er, eye -- 6D, Longtime "All Things Considered" host Robert, SIEGEL, and the especially surprising 62A, Host of Marco Polo, KUBLAIKHAN -- a clear challenge to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, he of Kubla Khan fame.

It's Tip Tuesday -- Jean pointed out the difference between IPO and IPA -- very important to know in crosswords and in bars.

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There is always a DEMAND for good crosswords, and contributing to the SUPPLY is Eric Bornstein. whose ECONOMICS themed crossword would've made ADAMSMITH proud. Both Jean and Mike, although solving independently, were temporarily naticked in the same location: 47A, Actor Philip with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, AHN, ran into 38D, Tennis score after deuce, ADIN. Fortunately, that troublesome N was part of the themed answer, DEMAND, which ran diagonally through the puzzle, and saved the day!

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Today's crossword had an ingenious theme. as one would expect when Celeste Watts and Jeff Chen are at the keyboard. Two letters, extracted from each themed  clue ,when pronounced, formed a homonym for a word or phrase, as part of a second phrase, that described the original clue. For instance, 49A, LUXUR_ _AUGHT, UNWISEINVESTMENT, and 93A, POI_T OF _IEW, UNENVIABLEPOSITION. Amazing! Jean made short work of this crossword, but Mike, as usual, hit some choppy waters due to his unfamiliarity with a slew of words in the ESE part of the puzzle, most notably 71D, Hollywood composer Bernstein with 14 Oscar nominations, ELMER, and "Zoom-Zoom" sloganeer, MAZDA.
It pegs the meter on the JAMCR scale-meter (which is not yet available for sale at Amazon, but we are working on it).

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The force is strong with this one, this one being Sid Sivakumar, author of a crossword with a distinct sci-fi/nerd/geek vibe going for it. It starts off with 1D, "Star Trek" character first played by 12-Down, DATA, and the 12D counterpart, Actor Spiner, BRENT. It doesn't let up with 14A, Side opposite 41-Across in a sci-fi clash, ALIENRACE, and its counterpart, 41A, See 14-Across, HUMANS. Even 44A, School science project involving a vegetable and a voltmeter, POTATOBATTERY (not, as Mike originally postulated, TOMATOBATTERY), felt geekish.

There were quite a few clever clues -- Jean's favorite was 57A, What takes all types?, DELETEKEY (nice!), and Mike's was 40A, Leak proof?, DRIP (ha!).

All told, a great Saturday experience, we give it a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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A strenuous Friday workout from Sridhar Bhagavathula, with lots of challenges ... pretty much everywhere. Jean had a spot of bother with the top-left corner, with 1A, Pitched poorly, OFFKEY, and 3D, Resource for music performers, FAKEBOOK being particular sticking points. Mike found the top right corner a tough slog, with 7A, Trace element?, STENCIL (cute);  17A, The Statue of Liberty, for one, COLOSSUS; and his personal favorite, 9D, If all ________ were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion (quip attributed to Shaw), ECONOMISTS; all causing at least temporary grief. 
Still, it was a Friday, so we expect to be challenged, and Sridhar did not disappoint. Five squares on the JAMCR scale!

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Jean's favorite crossword device makes an appearance today -- a rebus! The revealer was two clues, spelling NBA JAM, and the rebus required NBA be JAMmed into one square (we see what you did there, Blake Slonecker, author of today's puzzle). 

A few crossword friends take a bow today, including the apparently contractually obligatory 35A, Male actor with the most primetime Emmys (7), ASNER,  the official monster of the New York Times crossword, 46A, Folklore fiend, OGRE, and the official biochemical, 34D, Subj. in biochemistry, RNA.

A nice crossword,  definitely a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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There were a few ENIGMAS in this puzzle -- the most perplexing being, how did Galileo, born in the 1500's, earn the monicker of 39A, The Father of Modern Physics? Schroedinger is probably rolling over (and simultaneously not rolling over) in his grave 😀 
Jean was natticked at the corner of 49A, Lecture series focused on "ideas of the mind", TEDX and 39D, British Pharma giant, GLAXO, while Mike was indignant at the thought that 1A, Body part whose name comes from the Latin for "little mouse", MUSCLE, was written specifically for him.

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We're not sure if Ross Trudeau STAYSSANE by writing crosswords, but he certainly does a fabulous job of concocting them, and we present today's puzzle as exhibit A. It was a themed crossword, and Jean's favorite clue was 61A, Chicken broth or beef bouillon?, STOCKOPTION; Mike liked the tangentially-related 6D, Participated in a stock exchange?, MOOED - ultra-cute! Jean got through the crossword with her usual aplomb and alacrity, while Mike, AHEM, was almost done in by his Diet Coke habit, leading to 58D, Kind of nut with caffeine, COLA, as opposed to the correct spelling, KOLA. But he finally figured that out, leading to the proverbial happy music - YAHOO!

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