Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

A fine Friday crossword and the second by Colin Adams (just half a year after his first, on February 16th), so kudos! The clues were very well written, making for an intriguing and entertaining solve. We approve!

Show note imagery: DEIRDRE of the Sorrows, a heroine of Irish mythology

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Opinions were divided as to the difficulty of today's crossword - Jean found it to be a pleasant Thursday, Mike found it to be more suited for the heretofore undiscovered Impossiday™️,  a day that lies between Saturday and Sunday, one suited only for the most insanely challenging of crosswords ... like, for example, today's (to reiterate, according to Mike), as well as barbecues in which Imposible Burgers play a prominent role 😀.

Show note imagery: ZOESALDANA, in the Avengers

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A delightfully complex theme by Jesse Goldberg, cleverly finessing the rule that the answer to a clue should not appear in the clue. Highly original and entertaining, we approve and thereby bestow a full 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

Deets inside.

Remember when listening to this podcast, if you have not solved the puzzle yourself, it is easier to follow along with xwordinfo.com, where you can find the solved puzzle. Our first link in the show notes always leads to that puzzle (and xwordinfo.com has numerous other advantages, we highly recommend supporting it with a few shekels if you are able).

Show note imagery: An original KLINGON, who was never heard speaking KLINGON on The Original Series.

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A clever Tuesday crossword by Julia Hoepner, with a theme that was as good as it was bad, which we promise will make sense once you've listened to the podcast! It's also Tuesday, time for Triplet Tuesday, and this time Jean's in the hot seat. To hear how she fared, we most sincerely and earnestly beseech you to a) download, b) listen up, and c) enjoy!

Show note imagery: the MANDLEBROT set!

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It is hard to find fault with a crossword that has LULU Lemon in the grid, so we will not even try, rather we will simply TOUT it for being what it is, a FUNFUNFUN puzzle, which we really did LUV 😍

Show note imagery: The Isle of CAPRI ... where the pants come from?

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A very nicely done crossword by John Kugelman, his 5th for the NYTimes. Jean tore through it, Mike took ... only slightly less time than it took Ichthyostega to suss out how to walk on land, owing to ... oops, no spoilers! Download today's podcast, to figure out a) why this was such a fine puzzle, and b) the source of Mike's brief (no, scratch that, not-so-brief) cruciverbial crisis.

Show note imagery: Yes Paris, Texas has its own Eiffel Tower. Huzzah!

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This is Ryan McCarty's 28th NYTimes crossword, almost all of which (23, to be precise) have appeared on this very day -- Saturday. The clues were quite nice -- include a few gems, like 

• the placement of 30A, "Pleeeeeeease?", CANTI adjacent to 31A, Spiteful, as a comment, CATTY; 
• 41A, Bus. driver, CEO (oh, very nice!);  
• 43A, Hardly open, CAGEY (clever, clever!), and finally 
• 5D, Strong, as a bond, AAA (🤑). 

Definitely much to savor in this crossword, download today's episode for all the deets.

Show note imagery: YEATS, poet who penned the lines "no country for old men"

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A nice Friday crossword by Taylor Johnson and Rafael Musa, not too difficult, but not a walk in the park, either. We have our cutting edge analysis, as usual, here for your edification, amusement, and hopefully not bemusement, so have a listen, and let us know what you think!

Show note imagery: Opening notes and lyrics of Tik Tok, by KE$HA

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A rather curious THeme, Jean sussed it immediately, Mike aspires to do so at an indeterminate point in the hopefully near future. 😀 There were some curious clues to go along with the theme, we're still puzzling over 21A, Baseball pitcher's feat, slangily, NONO, and would also like to know what happened to the ending IE in 43D, Buns, PATOOT. Still, all-in-all a fine puzzle, this being Brad Wiegmann's 9th.

Show note imagery: A NEOLITHIC monument in Scotland, no relation to Stonehenge

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Stacey Yaruss McCullough has created a fine debut crossword, with some dazzling feats of portmanteau-rhymery, and if that isn't part of the English language, we hereby nominate it for such posthaste. 

A friendly reminder that when listening to these podcasts, if you haven't solved the puzzle (and don't intend to), you can see the entire solved puzzle at xwordinfo.com. Having it open makes it a tad easier to follow our convos, and our first link in these show notes is always to that site.

Show note imagery: A PUMA, aka cougar, mountain lion, panther, catamount, painter, red tiger, mountain screamer, deer tiger, Mexican lion, Florida panther

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