Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

There's a lot of clothing in today's crossword, and we are advised to hold onto it, with clues that, in a fairly straightforward manner (it is a Tuesday), resolve to KEEPYOURSHIRTON, HANGONTOYOURHAT, and TIGHTENYOURBELT.
There were a few interesting juxtapositions - 13D, Understanding, KEN, was followed by 18D, What a "Y" with a pair of horizontal lines through it is the symbol of, YEN; and while this is a bit of a stretch, 58D, Clumsy boat, TUB, near 60D, Drinking game?, GIN, might be a reference to moonshiners and the distilling of  bathtub gin.
It's Tip Tuesday - Jean suggests that you should look at the crossword as a learning experience, and not as a measure of intelligence. Mike recommends reading Deb Amlen's How to Solve the New York Times Crossword, a detailed and fascinating look at that most famous of puzzles.

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A stylish Monday crossword starts our puzzle-solving week. Jean got momentarily got hung up on 5A, The five weekdays, for short, writing MTWRF, rather than the NYTimes officially sanctioned MTWTF, begging the question, what day is T, and how would you interpret TGIT. 
Mike got hung up on culture -- 1A Actress / TV host _______- Pinkett Smith offered no help, so he turned to 1D, Liz's best friend on "30 Rock", and realized that he would have to let the crosses do the talking (JADA and JENNA, they said, respectively).
The fact that 45A, February 29, was a LEAPDAY came as not entirely a surprise, more one of those, "oh, yes, I remember ..." moments, whereas 11D, "High" figure in a tarot deck, PRIESTESS, was definitely novel.

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A weally gweat cwossword, with an intewesting theme -- Toddler Talk, to be precise. Jean made short order of this puzzle, as usual; Mike was surprised to discover the existence of SCHWAS, in 107A, Beginning and end of "America"; stunned to discover that KLEES was a real word; and disappointed that his bones didn't come with labels, so that he could've figured out 103D, Hip bone (ILIAC) more quickly. A nice Sunday crossword, we give it a 5 squares on the world-famous (?) JAMCR scale.

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A fairly gentle crossword (for a Saturday): Jean tore through it so quickly her keyboard melted! Some of the clues were quite straightforward (14A, Princess of Monaco, STEPHANIE, and 21D, Give it some time, BEPATIENT). Others were humorous -- 41A, Government program?, THEWESTWING, and 24A, A real tour de force?, STARWARS. Still others required some very specific knowledge, e.g., 16A, ______ Hufflepuff, one of the co-founders of Hogwarts, HELGA, and the novel 50A, Music genre that includes "geekster rap", NERDCORE. In short, something for everyone!

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Uh, oh, it's an Erik Agard Friday puzzle - red alert! Dictionaries and thesauri up! Jean was highly impressed with the look of the grid (and you can see it, as usual, at xwordinfo.com). Mike was more impressed with the difficulty: he had to scan so far down the list of clues to find one that he could answer that he inadvertently rolled into Thursday! There were a few outre clues - 38A, Product from Bevel or Oui the People, RAZOR; 31D, Language in which you might be greeted "Hullo, hoo are ye?", SCOTS (not SCOTTISH); and 13A, Pop up a lot, perhaps?, NEWDAD. We give it a 4.5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

For Fun-Fact-Friday, Jean explores the origins of riddle-me-ree, and Mike discusses the 5 pillars of Islam.

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A very colorful and melodic Thursday crossword, with rebuses containing Green, Yellow, Black, and White, all parts of song titles. There were oldies -- like 32A. 1966 hit by the Rolling Stones, PAINTITBLACK,  61A, 1966 hit by the Beatles, YELLOWSUBMARINE, and much more modern fare, like 38D,  2017 hit by Cardi B, BODAKYELLOW. Jean worked expeditiously through the puzzle, while Mike, despite momentarily confusing JOHNDEERE with JOHNDENVER, and KODAK with BODAK, managed to turn in a very snappy 24m25s time. A nice puzzle by Derek Allen, we give it a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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A crossword in honor of 35A, Civil rights icon who led a historic march from Selma to Montgomery on 3/7/1965, JOHNLEWIS. Four clues celebrated the great man's life, including a truly iconic phrase, 58A, Oxymoronic coinage of 35-Across, GOODTROUBLE. There were some amusing non-theme related clues of note, including 14A, Unit of courage?, OUNCE, and the somewhat curiously clued 41D, Utters a sound, informally, SAYSBOO: to which we will not say BOOHOO, because this crossword made us smile.

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Jean tore through today's crossword so quickly her computer almost overheated, while Mike ... got through it, although he had some issues at the junction of 17D, Financial expert Suze, ORMAN, and 20A, Riddle-me-________, REE, which to him still sounds like a typo (although of course it is not: the New York Times crossword quality control is legendary).  There were a few TIL (Today-I-Learned) moments, including 1A, ________ Garden, London district know for diamond trading, HATTON, 30A, Jeanette _______, billiards legend nicknamed the Black Widow, LEE, and 53A, Japanese drama, NOH. So, now we can say that we know about NOH!

For Tip Tuesday, Jean recommends, on particularly difficult crosswords that you can't get traction on, to ignore the grid and just read through the clues until you find one that you can answer, and then branch off from there. Mike recommends being extra vigilant on Sunday, because even if the crossword is not as hard, a mistake is particularly challenging to spot. And because he's a heavy tipper, Mike had a second tip: take advantage of the app's pencil, to mark questionable letters (especially on the Sunday crossword). Answers in pencil still count, but because they are gray, they are easier to spot.

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A fine Monday crossword, and.a great start to Black History Month, with appearances by Malcom X, Wiz Khalifa, Marvin Gaye and the Black Eyed Peas. A few educational clues were scattered throughout, for instance, 47A, ________ Trench (deepest point on earth), MARIANAS, 27D, Fifth-most-common family name in China, CHEN, and the curious 36D, Circular windows, OCULI. 
We rate it a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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A nice way to wrap up the week and the month, with a clever crossword by Jim Hilger -- all about product (mis)placement. Several common phrases had a noun replaced by a product -- for instance, 38A, Reason that the prestigious scientific journal refuses articles from President Herbert's relatives?, NATUREABHORSAHOOVER, and 97A Adding a historic ship as a deal sweetener, THROWINGINTHEBOUNTY. Very nice!

Remember, if you want to subscribe to the New York Times crossword, you can do so right here: nytimes.com/crosswords, operators are standing by (so to speak).

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