Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

A fine Friday crossword by Christina Iverson, who is, at least based on her NYTimes record, unable to write any other kind. Jean tore through this like nobody's business, Mike almost met his Waterloo in the southwest corner, but somehow managed to scrape by, ending in ALLSMILES rather than SOBS. All the deets are inside, as well as a Generally Excellent Comment about the NBC chimes, so please download, listen up, and enjoy!

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Samuel A. Donaldson, having completed  his 39th NYTimes crossword, demonstrates that practice makes perfect. Let's run through the list, shall we?

• Sly, wry, and occasionally totally deceptive  theme? ✅
• Entertaining and educational clues? ✅
• Pedestrian, phone-it-in clues ❌

So Sam checks all the right boxes, and you should definitely check out a) his crossword, and b) our take on it. Enjoy!

Show note imagery: King Lear, upon a HEATH, exposed to the fury of the storm in a dark night

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Today's crossword was (mainly) a blast from the past, featuring a series of diverse musical hits with one common lyrical feature. Can you tell what LOLA, POKERFACE, MYGENERATION and CHANGES all have in common? If not (or even if you can), have a listen to today's podcast, where we answer that poser, and have our usual erudite,  witty, and chances-of-winning-the-lottery-enhancing analysis of today's puzzle.

Show note imagery: LUCID Air, capable of going from 0 to 60 in under 2 seconds, and emptying your bank account even faster 😀 

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A terrific Tuesday crossword by Victor Barocas. We found the answer to 59D, Lacking clutter", NEAT, to be ... NEAT. We judged the answer to 44A, Perfect, IDEAL,  to be ... IDEAL. Finally we found the answer to 61A, Positive Instagram responses, LIKES to be worthy of a lot of ... ok, you know how this ends 😀 .
 
In addition to our hopefully cogent crossword analysis, we also have a nail-biting Triplet Tuesday segment, so listen in, play along, and ... enjoy!

Show note imagery:  CANDYLAND, in all its glory

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A fun Monday crossword by Desirée Penner and Jeff Sinnock, who are about as persistent a crossword constructing duo as you'll ever meet: their first crossword (this is their second) took 123 tries before they got it published in the NYTimes. Talk about grit! Today's crossword is quite colorful, and, once you solve the crossword, we mean that literally: the themed answers get redrawn in the style of a comic book, with fonts and colors that look like they came right off of a DC or MARVEL artist's drawing board. We have more to say on today's podcast, so have a listen, and as usual, let us know what you think!

Show note imagery: MINOLTA, a camera of a bygone era.

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The puns fly thick-and-fast in a grid that is filled with panache, pizzazz, and other classy words that start with the letter p. Just consider 99D, School name that sounds like a Canadian territory, UCONN (brilliant!!); or 77D, What might lead to a bridge?, VERSE (bravo!); and 44A, Anatomical stabilizer, TOE (bodacious!). We've got all the deets in today's exciting episode, so download, have a listen, and then impress your neighbors with your (possibly) newly acquired knowledge of AXOLOTLYs and company.

Show note imagery: The cutest salamander ever, the AXOLOTYL

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A delightful Saturday crossword by Carolyn Davies Lynch and Jeff Chen - edited adroitly, as always, by Will Shortz. Your intrepid cohosts had vastly different experiences solving today's puzzle, but they both agreed that it contained a cornucopia of clever clues. Deets inside, as well as the winner of this week's JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award™️).

Show note imagery: Sir Georg SOLTI, conductor extraordinaire

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Today's crossword, a debut by Ryan Judge, was a major challenge. There was no theme, just a slew of diabolically deceiving clues, leading to a remarkably enjoyable solving experience. Beyond that, it's Friday, and we have a fascinating fact for Fun Fact Friday, and listener mail! So have a listen, and as always, let us know what you think - [email protected].

Show note imagery: DRMARTENS, we presume

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An astonishing Thursday crossword by Simeon Seigel, with a mind-boggling theme that's almost impossible to describe, and absolutely impossible to forget, in a grid that is RIFE with NOB-scratching posers. In short, we loved it, and the author, Simeon Seigel, should take a bow. 

Show note imagery: Adolph OCHS, who purchased the New York Times in 1896 and promptly lowered the price from 3 cents per issue to a mere 1.

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Although we strive mightily to provide a fair,  impartial review of each and every crossword, that goes right out the window when our favorite cartoon bear, BOOBOO, graces the grid. Fortunately, for the sake of our reviewing reputations , that does not happen  often: BOOBOO has shown up a total of 12 times in the NYTimes crossword, and only one of those explicitly references Yogi's pal and straight man (er, bear).

Show note imagery: The AMSTEL river in the Netherlands, which, as far as we can tell, contains nary a drop of AMSTEL beer.

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We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

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