Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

Just like 10A, Big name in razors, ATRA, this crossword was sharp and attractive, with some brilliant clues, including head scratchers like 1A, Still on the line, say, DAMP, 5D, Take turns, say, STEER, and the superb 22A, It requires some assembly, QUORUM.
Jean got through today's crossword not quite INAMINUTE, but close, while Mike was nearly DERAILED by his rock-solid  confidence that 21D, Penguin's home?, was ANTARCTICA, rather than the actual (and much cleverer) answer, GOTHAMCITY.
A delightful Friday, we give it a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

Fun-Fact Friday:
Today's fun-fact Friday involved MOONQUAKES, the one thing that 2020 hasn't thrown at us (yet).

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Even though this puzzle dealt with elements, it was not at all elementary, my dear Watson, and periodically it seemed like Moriarty himself had designed this fiendish crossword, rather than the actual constructor, Jack Murtaugh. The themed clues involved symbols for elements, cleverly hidden in the theme, so, for instance, 36A, Female?, turned out to be IRONMAN (Fe=IRON, male=MAN). 16A, Siding?, turned out to be Siliconchip (!), and 57A, Cold?, was CARBONDATING, YADA, YADA, YADA. 

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A gentle Wednesday puzzle by Owen Travis and the RENOWN Jeff Chen, who never SETTHEBARLOW when it comes to crosswords, NOSIR, and indeed BENDOVERBACKWARD to provide quality entertainment. Jean tore through this crossword in about half the time it took to do Tuesday's and Mike wasn't too far behind. Both were suckered into writing RUNS for 6A, Four are credited for a grand slam, briefly, RBIS, and Mike had a few personal AHAS - 22D, Variety of tea, BOBA, (no relation to the Star Wars character) and 48D, Mideast port that was home to Sinbad the Sailor, BASRA.

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An admirable Tuesday crossword, not too HARD, not too EASY, with a very clever theme -- POLAROPPOSITES. Jean was intrigued by STELAE, while Mike was pleased that, thanks to  NPR reporter Ofeibea Quist-Arcton's distinctive sign-off, he knew that the capital of Senegal was Dakar.

It's Tip Tuesday, and here's what you ought to know:
Sometimes it *does* pay to fill in letters: even if you don't know the entire word, you may be able to classify a square as being either a vowel or consonant, and that can help
Know the synonyms for drunkenness -- e.g., BLITZED, BESOTTED, LIT -- as they have a tendency to show up in the puzzle from time to time.

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BLIMEY (to quote yesterday's crossword), today's work is an ode to Anglophiles, with several answers that mean one thing on this side of the pond, and another thing on the other. For example ...17A, Travelled by subway?, WENTDOWNTHETUBE, 27A, "Would you call the elevator for me?", CANIGETALIFT, and 48A, "Hand me a flashlight", PASSTHETORCH. A few weeks ago we had a crossword with a distinctly Canadian theme, so expect Australia/India/South Africa/Other commonwealth country to pop up in the not too distant future.

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Today's crossword was ALITTLE easier than yesterday's epic. Jean's favorite clue was 79A, Nickname for baseball great Ernie Banks, MRCUB, Mike's was a tie between 44A, Brand that comes out a head?, PEZ, and 78D, Helical bit, AUGER. Both Jean and Mike were surprised to learn the existence of 104A, Peninsula shared by Italy, Slovenia and Croatia, ISTRIA, and wondered if the author might've had a few AYS about 105D, Exclamations of regret, AYS, in lieu of OYS.

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A DEVILISH Saturday crossword, but ILIKEDIT, well, both of us did, to be precise. And precise is, er, precisely what you needed to be to solve this elegantly crafted puzzle by Brendan Emmett Quigley, with some SWELL clues like 31A, Woman of the world, MOTHERNATURE, and 11D, Occasion for smoking, BARBEQUE.

We give this an enthusiastic 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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Jean was clearly EQUALTO the task of solving today's crossword, while Mike was a bit LATETO the party, getting stuck in, well, the sticky stuff -- 38D, Sticky stuff (PINETAR, not VINEGAR), among other places. Our favorite clue? 21D, Leaves home?, TEAPOT. Our least favorite? Trick question, we loved the entire puzzle, and give it a 5 squares on the JAM CR scale.

Today's fun fact:
The Congo River is the second longest in Africa, has the world's second largest drainage volume, and is the deepest river in the word, 720 feet in spots.

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It's not an UNLUCKYBREAK that Jake Halperin put together this fine crossword, which (possibly coincidentally) plays homage to a Mitch Hedberg routine about B being unlucky, because it's just a 13 scrunched together. Among the fascinating clues in today's puzzle, 7D, The U.S. Forest Service owns about 38% of it, IDAHO; and 34A, Modern lead-in to scrolling, DOOM (aka DOOMSURFING).
We give today's effort a 5 squares on the always accurate, but unpredictably published, JAMCR scale

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A tough Wednesday, Jean was well above her time, and Mike almost succumbed in the top right corner, unfamiliar as he was with ... pretty much every clue in the top right corner, SHEESH! There were quite a few NEW words and phrases, and we'd tell you about them RIGHTTHISSECOND but, OHSNAP, we're out of time! 😀 

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