Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

A wonderful Wednesday crossword, with a clever and appropriate theme for Veteran's Day. Particularly witty clues included 51A,  Producer of a lot of suits?, BUSINESSSCHOOL, and the award winning 46D, It's found beneath the crust, PIEPAN. (Hands up, all those who wrote MANTLE first. We thought so ... 😀) 

We appreciated the appearance of both ICAHN and CAHN as answers, and, of course, are suckers for any crossword that features an EPEE.

We give this crossword a 5 squares on the JAMCR scale!

Remember, if you want to follow along, you can either subscribe to the NYTimes Crossword at nytimes.com/crosswords, or take a peak at the answers for free at xwordinfo.com.

We love feedback! Send us a text...

Contact Info:
We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

A punny Tuesday crossword with lots to like: if the answer to 20A, Sommelier?, PORTAUTHORITY, doesn't bring a smile to your lips, well ... that's just a theoretical question, because we know it will. Mike was particularly pleased to learn that his memorization of the Reduced Shakespeare Company's  skit, "Titus Andronicus ... as a Cooking Show!", finally paid dividends, while Jean was pretty much ATEASE with the whole puzzle.

We have some excellent tips for Tip Tuesday, so do listen in and see if they help.
Remember, to provide feedback, just email us at [email protected].

Notable sites mentioned in today's podcast:

• nytimes.com/crosswords
• xwordinfo.com

We love feedback! Send us a text...

Contact Info:
We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

A fairly crunchy crossword, for a Monday, with an interesting but subtle theme -- a vowel-wordchain, with AEIOU showing up in a series of descending clues: PALLBEARER, PELLGRANT, PILLBUG, POLLTAKER, PULLQUOTES. Our favorite clue - 17A, Raiser of the dead? (PALLBEARER), ironically positioned just underneath ENTOMB. Now that's craftsmanship!

We love feedback! Send us a text...

Contact Info:
We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

Jean tears through today's crossword, while Mike, FELTSAD to discover  the bottom-left corner to be almost LETHAL (but still TAME compared to yesterday!).  We give it a 4.0  squares on the JAMCR scale.

We love feedback! Send us a text...

Contact Info:
We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

A ferocious Saturday, so let's get right to today's crossword AUTOPSY! Mike is run over by GRANIMALS, gets kicked in the SHIN, lost a MINT by betting on, well, MINT, and chose a few other words INERROR. Jean, meanwhile, could hardly make a DENT in the puzzle until 35A! In short, just another typical New York Times Saturday crossword, definitely not for the faint of heart! We give it a 4 squares on the JAMCR scale.

We love feedback! Send us a text...

Contact Info:
We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

A crossword that almost drove both Jean & Mike BANANAS, but they fought it to THEBITTEREND and, abetted by ALOT of luck and a little BARTRIVIA, were able to triumph.

Some especially fun clues -- 13A, Loaded questions?, BARTRIVIA; 44A, Take a good, long look at yourself? EGOSURF; and 28A, Strip at the beach?, TANLINES.

What can we say? It's a perfect 5 squares on the JAMCR scale!

We love feedback! Send us a text...

Contact Info:
We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

OHLOOK, it's  a Thursday crossword honoring the beloved HASHTAG (nee pound sign, aka octothorp), and ALLTHINGSBEING=, there are no puzzles we'd rather be SOLVING than ones like these, by Jeremy Newton. A 5 squares on the JAMCR scale, AYE!

We love feedback! Send us a text...

Contact Info:
We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

Put on your PARTYHATS, because it's time to celebrate the debut NYTimes crossword by Jack Murtagh, a real BEAUTY with lots of clever cluing, and multiple homages to Mike's favorite company -- 13A, Jobs creation (IPAD), 7D, 13-Across accessories (STYLI), and 31D, Cook of Apple (TIM). Our favorite clue, hands down, was 65D, It must do it (TAG), which definitely deserves some sort of award for deft phrasing.

We give this crossword a perfect 5 on the JAMCR scale!

We love feedback! Send us a text...

Contact Info:
We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

WOW, a great but not particularly HEAVYDUTY  Tuesday crossword, just the ticket, SOIHEAR, if you need an IDYL to HIDEAWAY in. We just saw GOLDENDOODLEs a few days ago, and today we celebrate the appearance of 45A, Designer dog that crosses a Pomeranian and terror, a PORKIE. 

It's Tip Tuesday, so be sure to listen to Jean's Excellent, Educational, Exceptional, Extolling of  E, as well as Mike's ode to crosswordese.com.

We love feedback! Send us a text...

Contact Info:
We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

Jean almost beats her personal best Monday time, her fingers a blur over the keyboard. Mike, meanwhile, takes heart in the fact that he solved a crossword with a GOLDENDOODLE in it (20A, Popular dog crossbreed), HEHE. 

Also of note was the interesting overlap from yesterday's (Sunday's) puzzle:

 31D, Green-EYED monster, tied in with Sunday's 75A, Source of the words "O, beware of jealousy, my lord! It's a green-eyed monster ...". And 17A, Z ASIN Zebra was the same answer to Sunday's 26A, Spelling clarification.  Small (lexiconic) world!

We love feedback! Send us a text...

Contact Info:
We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!