Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

For those of you who've forgotten your philosophy class, you might want to bone up on the subject before tackling today's crossword, for reasons that will become apparent ... as soon as you've tackled today's crossword! We enjoyed the theme, as well as the cracklingly good clues that accompanied it, that goodness courtesy of today's author, John Ewbank, with editorial assistance from Joel Fagliano.

Show note imagery: A true Scotsman? 😀 

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Today's puzzle, courtesy of Ricky J. Sirois, was a definite challenge for one of our cohosts, whereas the other had to verify that it was indeed a Saturday crossword, so quickly did they tear through the grid. But both did enjoy the solve, as some of the clues were absolutely inspired. For all the deets, as well as the announcement of this week's JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award) winner, have a listen to today's episode.

Show note imagery: The Raft of the Medusa, absolutely no relation whatsoever to the Ship of THESEUS

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An educational Friday crossword, with not too much razzle-dazzle, rather, just the right amount. Educationally, we had clues like 20A, River traveled by passenger boats known as dahabeahs, NILE; 17A, Setting of a date for Edward and Vivian in "Pretty Woman", OPERA; and 15A, Strait of ___, narrowest part of the English Channel, DOVER.

Besides the crossword, we also have a terrific Fun Fact Friday™ segment, so do check it out.

Show note imagery: Royal BURPEE, inventor of, of course, the BURPEE

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An astronomy-themed crossword popped up this Thursday, a theme so near and dear to Mike's heart that he spent ... an inordinate amount of time contemplating the clues. Jean, on the other hand, solved the puzzle at nearly the speed of light, which explains why she looked like a strand of spaghetti as she was finishing up.

Besides the ingenious theme, there were quite a few clues worthy of note in the grid, including 17A, Actor Omar, EPPS (not, as our instincts suggested, SHARIF); 5D, An "e-", one that was first developed in 2003, for short, CIG (if you say so!); 31A, Orthodontic device, SPACER (suspiciously close to the theme, surely no accident!); and finally 9D, Festoons with bathroom tissue, informally, TPS (the second reference to the practice this week, is editor Joel Fagliano's house under attack, and this is some sort of desperate appeal for assistance??

Show note imagery: Harold ARLEN, composer of Over the Rainbow, hard at work.

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A slightly crunchier than usual Wednesday crossword, unsurprising when Alex Eaton-Salners is at the helm (and editor Joel Fagliano's on the crows nest).

We had some literary clues, such as 3D, _______ Gawande, author of the 2014 best seller "Being Mortal", ATUL; and 4D, Poet Pablo, NERUDA.

We had product placement clues, such as 17A, Nail polish brand with colors like "Berry Fairy Fun", and "Aurora Berry-alis", OPI and 57A, Rival of Chanel, DIOR. 

Most impressively, however, we had the themed clues, which we dive into, at length, in today's episode.

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Show note imagery: Olympic gold medalist APOLO Ohno

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A delicious Tuesday crossword by Kelly Richardson, notable for a suggestive and quite apropos grid, a lot of fun clues, and the unexpected appearance of LAYETTE in the grid (not a debut, but certainly new to us).  A few clues caught our eye but didn't make it into the podcast, including 27A, Tenet, PRECEPT; 48A, Smart society, MENSA (admission to which requires you to be able to spell PRECEPT 😀); and Legendary, STORIED, which we think is a legendary answer!

Show note imagery: A Smedstorp sofa, available for purchase now at your nearest IKEA

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Today's crossword, by Tarun Krishnamurthy, was a perfect Monday offering, not too difficult, but with our favorite kind of theme, the LOL kind. This was Tarun's debut NYTimes Crossword, and he's also the first crossword constructor we've ever interviewed, so check it out, and, as always, let us know what you think.

Show note imagery: A BOCABURGER, yum!

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Jeff Chen is a master cruciverbalist, and he is in fine form today with an amazing theme. The theme idea is simple, but constructing it must've been a major challenge. Confused? Check out today's episode, and all will become clear!

Show note imagery: Beware the REDTIDES, algal blooms that are, apparently, on the rise.

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A fine Saturday crossword by Eli Cotham, a relatively smooth solve but with a lot of fine verbal baubles to enjoy along the way. We have all the deets inside, as well as our JAMCOTWA -- Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award -- winner, so we humbly implore you to download, listen up and ... enjoy!

Show note imagery: One of many WPAMURALS, this one in the Cohen Building, in Washington, D.C.

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A nice Friday crossword by Malaika Handa, with some fun cluing, a few singers worth listening to, and a whopping 6 debut entries, including 17A, It has many twists and turns, CRAZYSTRAW, and the splendid 5D, "Get with the program, will you?", TRYTOKEEPUP. Definitely worth 5 squares on the JAMCR scale!

Show note imagery: HELLOKITTY, Japan's tourism ambassador

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