Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

Today's crossword was written by Andy Kravis, Natan Last, and the J.A.S.A. Crossword Class, so the adage "too many cooks spoil the broth" does not apply here, since this was a very tasty morsel indeed. Jean tore through it, of course, while Mike panicked while answering 1A, "God is the perfect ______", Robert Browning, writing POEM, thereby leading him to conclude that the answer to 4D, One up, for example, was MIED.  Fortunately, the ONEPERCENT of his neurons that were working at this point noted that POET and TIED made more sense, leading to the coveted "Happy Music". 

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This ingenious crossword really takes the CAKE, and, no, we are not SORRY that we wrote that 😀 Besides the themed clues (two word phrases, both of which could take CAKE as a suffix, e.g., FRUITCUP = FRUITCAKE + CUPCAKE), it had other interesting clues: 62A, World's largest terrestrial arthropod, COCONUTCRAB, the witty 47D, Figure of speech?, ORATOR, and the curious 20A, Case for small toiletries, ETUI.

Speaking of which, ETUI and AMAH were Jean's Tip Tuesday tips; Mike sung the praises of the New York Times crossword column, and the accompanying comments, WordPlay.

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OHO, a themed Monday crossword, that's IDEAL. Although CAIROILLINOIS and HAVANAILLINOIS inexplicably didn't make the cut, DARN, we were glad to see ATHENSGEORGIA. PARISTEXAS, NAPLESFLORIDA and TOLEDOOHIO get their 15 minutes. 

Sometime this week we will be giving away a year's subscription to the New York Times Crossword, so be sure to keep listening, and be ready, at the drop of a hat, to drop us a line ([email protected]) in order to win.

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This was an AONE crossword, with an iinnteresting tthheme, and a rebus that crammed more letters into a square than  there are MESONS in the dot at the end of this sentence. As usual, there were a few surprises for Mike -- 61A, Prominent women's rights lawyer, GLORIAALLRED, and 55D, Lesser Antilles native, CARIB -- that is to say, a human being, not to be confused with a non-human bean, aka CAROB.
Sometime this week we'll be offering another chance to win a year's subscription to the New York Times crossword, and listen early and often to maximize your chances!

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It's a Saturday Sam Ezersky puzzle, with 6 LETHALLY long answers, but lots of fun clues to keep you entertained. It starts off brilliantly with 1A, Be in charge ... as a doctor?, CALLTHESHOTS, and 13A, Remains to be seen, MUSEUMEXHIBIT:. The rest of the crossword does not disappoint, either. There are some educational clues -- 22A, Small hybrid instrument with 6 strings, GUITALELE, 43D, Historic town NW of London where some of the Harry Potter series was filmed, BUSHEY, and the terrific 35D, Comment that prompts the reply "Doitashimashite", ARIGATO.

Speaking of awesome clues, the New York Times has a poll out, you can now vote for your favorite clues of 2020.  And while you're at it, why not drop us a line listing your favorite? Send email, as always, to [email protected], and we'll summarize the results on a future podcast.

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A great Friday crossword, with lots of punny clues and fun facts (appropriate, since it's Fun Fact Friday). Jean's favorite was 41D, Frost accumulation, POEMS. Mike was fond of 35A, Shower heads, perhaps, MAIDSOFHONOR. Apparently 48A, Complete loss of identity, EGODEATH, is a thing, as is 34D, Fashion designer's portfolio, LOOKBOOK (which Mike had temporarily had as LOOTBOOK, but that turns out to be a Thief's portfolio).

This week's fun fact was the origin of UNCLE, which showed up in Wednesday's crossword.

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We are INLOVE with this AONE crossword, ITSSAFE to say that it was one of the best puzzles out this year. The theme, SPINTHEBOTTLE, fed into a series of rebuses (rebusi?) that needs to be seen (as it can be, at xwordinfo.com) to be believed.

The rest of the crossword was of the same awesome quality, with tight cluing and some interesting new words (we're
looking at you, 23D, Relevance of text, in librarian's lingo, ABOUTNESS). All in all, a fabulous piece of work by Aimee Lucido and Ella Dershowitz, we give it an enthusiastic 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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What do you get when you cross a film title with a basketball player? Today's crossword, evidently. Now for those of you who might not be basketball fans, you might want to cry UNCLE, but JUST stick with it, put in a TEENIE bit of effort, and you'll succeed, we do not JEST!

We give this a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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Ross Trudeau, creator of the New York Times mini-crosswords, scales it up to author today's puzzle.  Jean did it effortlessly, Mike stumbled because 24A, They aren't what they appear to be, was not only a good clue, it also characterized his answer -- SCAMS -- as opposed to the correct answer, SHAMS. Still, he took comfort in knowing that THISTOOSHALLPASS. 

It was Tip Tuesday, and we had a plethora of them, so be sure and listen to get the skinny.

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A gentle Monday puzzle, perfect for the newer crossword solvers in the audience. It had a rather rye, um, no, make that wry, theme involving DELI food, but other than that the HQ (Humor Quotient) was relatively low, with just one real knee-slapper -- 5D, Without exception ... as in dry countries?, BARNONE. A few old favorites made a reappearance -- 23A, Olive ___ (Popeye's sweetie), OYL, and 67A, Popular vodka brand, for short, STOLI, safely positioned on the opposite side of the crossword from 62A, Old Russian ruler, TSAR. We give it a 5 on the JAMCR scale.

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