Adam Wagner has a reputation for making tough, high-quality crosswords, which explains ... today's, tough, high-quality crossword. Even after grokking the theme, the rest of the clues required no little effort to unravel. We have the whole story inside, so do have a listen and then let us know: how did you find today's puzzle?

Show note imagery: The Earl and Countess of Wessex

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The remarkable xwordinfo.com has compiled a list of the maximum number of times each letter has appeared in a crossword. Up until today, K had appeared a total of 18 times, but now -- thanks to Jackson Matz -- that record stands at 24, all in the aid of a good cause, aka "the theme". 

Both cohosts found this to be a slightly crunchier than usual Wednesday, and Jean in particular had to put on her deerstalker hat for the win. Deets inside.

Show note imagery: AKIRA Kurosawa's greatest epic, Rashomon.

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This was an excellent debut crossword by Jonathan Daly; we were dazzled by the theme, and found gems in the rest of the grid as well. We enjoyed 71A, Floppy part of a beagle, EAR; 49D, Owl's question?, WHO; and of course we are absolutely infatuated with 11D, A shopper, not a buyer, informally, LOOKIELOO.

In addition, we have our traditional Triplet Tuesday™️ segment, and today Jean's in the hotseat. 

Show note imagery: Snoopy, who definitely has a floopy EAR (two, to be precise!)

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This was a fine Monday crossword courtesy of the very talented Matthew Stock and Michael Lieberman. The latter, based on both this puzzle and his xwordinfo.com photo, is apparently a baseball fan; so, using that metaphor, we'd definitely categorize this crossword as a home run.

Show note imagery: Behold, the mighty PEGASUS (and they're accepting pre-orders now!)

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In August we had a fabulous crossword honoring "the Man of 1000 Voices", Mel Blanc, and ... he's back, this time in the grid, and in celebration of what might be the greatest animated toon duo of all time, starring in gags that never get old.

Deets inside, as well as our latest JAMCOTWA™️ (Jean And Mike Do The New York Times Crossword) winner. Enjoy!

Show note imagery: GINZA, in all its glory.

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This was definitely a Saturday-caliber crossword, where Will & company pull out pretty much all the stops. On no other day of the week will you see entertaining, educational, and definitely challenging clues like 16A, Italian pianist who composed the scores for "Nomadland" and "The Father", LUDOVICOEINAUDI (yikes!); or 40A, Origin of "The Tale of Genji," considered by many to be the world's first novel, JAPAN (huh); or the amusing 25A, The 21,728th page of 1989's 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, END (what else?).😀 

This was a debut for Alex Jiang, and we await, with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation, his next puzzle.

Show note imagery: The Tale of Genji, dubbed the world's first novel

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This was a very nice Friday crossword -- not soul-crushingly difficult, but with enough razzle-dazzle (see yesterday's episode 😀) to really lift the spirits. We have the deets inside, as well as a fascinating Fun Fact Friday™️ examination of one of history's most famous eggs.

Show note imagery: PIMA cotton, accept no substitutes!

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This was a fun crossword by Gia Bosko, with a theme that Jean immediately sussed out, and Mike only discovered after he finished the crossword. That remarkable and dare we say it (yes, we do!) amusing story is just one of several you'll hear in today's episode; so, please, hit download / subscribe / play, and then ... enjoy!

Show note imagery: An old fashioned WALKIETALKIE, which became much more useful once they figured out a way to ditch the cord 😀 😀 

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While Wednesday's child might be full of woe, we prefer our Wednesday clues to be full of woah! 😀 And that's exactly what we got in today's crossword: a sizable number of clues whose answers did not immediately leap to mind. They did, eventually, thanks to serendipity and some gentler crosses.

Kudos and thanks to today's debut cruciverbalists, Cole Vandenberg and Hadith Ragunathan: well done!

Show note imagery: An OSIER, waiting patiently, as only a tree can, for somebody to mention it in the NYTimes crossword 😀

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This crossword quickly skyrocketed from "nice cluing, not bad" to "unbelievably awesome!!", thanks to one vital clue. We'll leave you in suspense as to what that clue is -- until you listen to the episode, of course -- but we feel quite certain that you'll agree with our assessment. [Either way, let us know via the usual channels.]

Show note imagery: The extraordinary OLETA Adams

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