Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

Adrian Johnson and Ryan McCarty have a predilection for writing late-week crosswords, and they have a predilection for getting them published because they are awesome! The clues in today's puzzle, for example, universally ranged between amazing and woah! We give it a full 5 squares on the JAMCR scale (obviously), and consider it a top contender for this week's JAMCOTWA™️ (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award).

Show note imagery: Charlie PUTH, a fabulous singer-songwriter — seriously, check him out — making magic happen in his studio 

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In the course of two days we've spanned the experience spectrum. Yesterday's constructor, Joe DiPietro, has published 142 (!) NYTimes crosswords. Today's, Joyce Keller, has published 2, both Fridays, and both excellent.

We covered the best-of-the-best clues in today's episode, but we'd also like to give a shoutout to 37D, Hangouts, HAUNTS (🧐); 51A, Out of joint?, FREE (😀); and 41A, 
One may be carried in a concert hall, TUNE (🤣).

Besides the crossword, we have a gem of a Fun Fact Friday™️ segment, featuring the world's RAREST ... wait for it ... gem. 💎  😇

Show note imagery: Geoffrey BEENE, looking sharp!

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If somebody has published 142 crosswords in the NYTimes, there's gotta be a reason ... and today's GUCCI crossword reminds us why Joe DiPietro gets published over and over again. It has an awesome theme, and nougat-like clues: tough to crack, but delicious on the inside.

In addition to our analysis of today's puzzle, we also have some terrific listener mail. So, to take advantage of all that goodness, just hit subscribe (so you never miss an episode!), download, and enjoy!

Show note imagery: VSOP (Very Superior Old Pale), a guarantee that the youngest eau-de-vie (spirit) in the bottle is at least 4 years old.

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Today's crossword, a collaboration between Ginny Too and Avery Gee Katz, had scads of splendid clues. In addition to those mentioned in today's podcast, we also were amused (and at times bemused) by 64D, The Three Kingdoms in Chinese history, e.g., ERA; 61A, Opportunity to dress up, OCCASION; and 31D, Let float, as a currency, UNPEG.

Show note imagery: Promo for The GREATESCAPE.

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This was a debut crossword by Jonathan Raksin and an auspicious start to what we hope will be a lucrative crossword-writing career. The theme was a hoot, and the supporting cast of clues played their roles to perfection. Hence our official (non-Yelp) review: 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

Being Tuesday, we have, naturally, a Triplet Tuesday™️ segment, and this time Jean is playing the role of inquisitor with Mike, by process of elimination, the inquisitee. Deets within.

Show note imagery: WAWA, the sad trombone gas station 😀 ⛽️

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Peter Gorman has produced his third NYTimes crossword since February of last year, each on a different day of the week, which is quite 62D, Chilly, COOL. We had several celebrities in the grid — 37A, Cosmonaut Gagarin, YURI; 41A, R&B singer whose album "SOS" spent 100+ weeks in the Billboard top 10, SZA; and from a slightly more distant epoch, 58D, Biblical ark builder, NOAH.

Being Monday, we have a JAMCOTWA™️ (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award) to announce, and the award goes to ... a most deserving crossword constructor, whose name is ... in today's podcast 😀.

Show note imagery: LITTLEROCK, AK, is OK (in fact it's more than OK, it's awesome!)

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This was an excellent crossword by Rena Cohen, a Washington University in St. Louis student. If the university sounds familiar, that might be because another NYTimes crossword contributor, Sid Sivakumar, also hails from there. What are the odds? And we'll leave it to the reader to contemplate whether the appearance of 77A, Sloth in 2002's "Ice Age", SID, is coincidence or the result of meticulous planning.

Today's puzzle had a brilliant theme (covered thoroughly in today's episode) and many, many amusing clues. Among the latter was the informative 57A, Discontinued iPods designed to fit into watch pockets, NANOS; the puzzle-within-a-puzzle 113D, Midwest city whose name becomes a Southwest city if you move the first letter to the end, AMES; and the source of in some cases very cheap goods, 52D, Chinese competitor of Amazon, TEMU.

Show note imagery: An example of the work of AL Hirschfeld, a highly regarded 20th century caricaturist.

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This was a fun Saturday crossword, which one of our cohosts (Jean) found to be an easy solve whereas the other (by process of elimination, Mike) found to be deucedly difficult. The reasons for both may be found on today's podcast.

A few other artfully-crafted clues that were left on the editing room floor* include 6D, ___ Carlos Jobim, father of the bossa nova, ANTONIO (careful: the music is uber-soothing); 52A, Bracket contents, TEAMS (oh, those kinds of brackets); and 39A, Artificially unsophisticated, FAUXNAIF. 

Show note imagery: ARUBA, the westernmost territory of the Netherlands

*nobody's actually edited video like this since the last century, but is still an evocative phrase

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This was a great cruciverbial workout by Kyle T. Dolan, whose crosswords tend to be on the challenging side, with 11 of his 19 NYTimes puzzles appearing on Friday or Saturday. The clues today were deviously clever, yet oddly obvious in hindsight. We have all the deets inside, plus a Fun Fact Friday™️ segment celebrating one of the great leviathans of the deep (but no, not that leviathan, the other one 😉). 

Show note imagery: From l. to r., APOLLOVII astronauts Donn Eisele, Wally Schirra, and Walter Cunningham

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Today's crossword, a collaboration between Wendy L. Brandes and Barbara Lin, had an awesome theme that both cohosts temporarily missed in distinct and rather amusing ways that we will not describe here, so as to mildly increase suspense as you wait for the episode to download. While that is happening we would also like to draw your attention to 58D, Where the coffee and Wi-Fi might both be strong, CAFE 😀; 13D, Actor John who has granted more than 650 wishes for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, CENA 😇; and, file this under "sad but true", 34D, About a third of an N.F.L. broadcast, ADS 📺.

Show note imagery: ANTON Chekov, desperately trying to find something that rhymes with "Orchard" 😀 

Show note URL: For those of you wondering who ANTON Chekov was, checkout Checkov for beginners: recommended stories

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