A fine Thursday crossword and a debut for John Donegan. That's why we didn't recognize the name, but we did recognize the tight quality control common to all NYTimes crosswords. Just take a look at a few awesome touches: 6A, Character who nails a doubloon to the Pequod's mast, AHAB, sitting right above 15A, Surfer's wish, WAVE (perfect!); and 17A, First name in cosmetics, ESTEE, crossing 3D, Salad, sometimes, but soup, rarely, ENTREE (brilliant!); and the thirst-quenching 42D, Slice, e.g., SODA (ha, we saw what you did there!). 

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Aimee Lucido has crafted an excellent Wednesday crossword, with a catchy theme and a plethora of superb clues, a truly outstanding work. Need proof? Have a listen to today's podcast and we are sure that you will agree, or, if not, your money will cheerfully be refunded 😀 

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Today we are presented with an amusing and well-timed Tuesday crossword by Daniel Grinberg (ably edited, as always, by Will Shortz, may his beard, if he has one, grow ever longer). It manages to STAYCLASSY and never has us thinking its TIMEFORACHANGE, for a variety of reasons outlined in today's grid. Beyond those, we'd like to give a shoutout to a few other fine clues, including 60D, Music genre that influenced The Clash, SKA; 37D, One whose taste buds may not crave Buds, BEERSNOB (nice!); and 9D, TV character George who says "I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I got it all!", COSTANZA (😀). 

In short, a great crossword, and clearly meriting the highest score, aka 5 squares, on the JAMCR scale.

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Today's crossword was the epitome of a marvelous Monday crossword - a cute theme,  and some fine clues. We particularly liked the juxtaposition of 1A, Handle difficult matters satisfactorily, COPE, and 1D, Club in a Barry Manilow hit, informally, COPA

We take our usual deep dive through the grid in  today's episode, so please subscribe / download / listen up / enjoy!

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A fine Sunday crossword, Robert Ryan's third in the NYTimes, with a punny theme surrounded by a fine supporting cast of clues, including 85D, Fox coverage?, FUR; 82A, Object with one hole or two, depending on who you ask, TUBE 😀 ; 68A, Head for business?, CEO 😀 😀; 64D, Shares ones bunk?, LIES 😀 😀 😀 ; and the list goes on, and on. To see that list in its entirety, checkout xwordinfo.com (if you haven't solved the crossword already). 

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A fine debut crossword by Kelly Morenus, which our cohosts solved in (choose one) 
a) comically different amounts of time 
b) exactly the same time
c) trick question: they got stuck, because neither knew how to spell IDOMENEO

The correct answer is ... ah, that would be telling! To find out, download today's episode, have a listen, and as usual, tell others about us on social media.

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A very nice Friday crossword by Jacob McDermott, with some awesome clues, and no crosswordese in sight. A few sample works, 15D, Oh, the humanities!, LIBERALARTS 😀;; 27D, "Heck, yeah!", DARNTOOTIN 😀 😀 ; and 32D, Rocky road ingredient, PEAGRAVEL 😀 😀 😀. In short, a great crossword, most definitely worth 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

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A challenging Thursday crossword, thanks to the unexpected appearance of a boatload of rebuses (or, as we Latin scholars like to call them, rebusae). 

For themed crosswords, especially towards the end of the week, we can group our puzzle solving experience into two eras: PGTT (Pre-Grokking The Theme), and AGTT (After-Grokking The Theme). For the record, things were proceeding slowly, and indeed looking quite dire, during the PGTT era. But, once we passed into exulted AGTT era, we had a smile on our face, and if we weren't sitting down solving the crossword, would've been tempted to dance a jig: that's just how happy we were to get through this crossword!! 😀 

A reminder that xwordinfo.com is a great resource for those who like to solve the NYTimes Crossword (and if you're having trouble following our discussion, check it out first to see the completed grid and answers).

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An absolutely magical crossword, thanks to (possibly) aspiring  magician, and (most definitely) adept cruciverbalist Joseph Gangi. Most of the grid was straightforward, but there were definitely some notable clues/answers, such as 54A, Not as well, ILLER (wow!); 55A, Pepper and others, SGTS (cute!); and 61A, Modern initialism when skipping text, TLDR (which is hopefully not your reaction to these show notes, and which is why we are ending them ... now!)

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A DDDelightful Tuesday crossword by Dominic Grillo, who managed to inject a whole slew of D's into the grid, and remove virtually all "crosswordese", in a tautly written puzzle with a highly amusing theme. DDDDDeets inside, so DDDDDo have a listen, and, as usual, let us know what you think!

Just a reminder that the NYTimes Crossword is a great way to hone your wits, vanquish ennui, and make yourself attractive to whatever gender you would like to be attractive to. Wander over to nytimes.com/crosswords, and from there a subscription is just a click or two away.

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