Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword MP

Another day, another debut crossword, this one by Tom Locke -- who has published in other well-known venues before, but this is indeed his first in the NYTimes. In the best tradition of NYTimes Monday crosswords, the theme was amusing, understated (certainly compared to its flashy Thursday sibling), and not too difficult to souse out. Deets inside, so have a listen, don't forget to subscribe, and please tell others about us on social media.

Show note imagery: A pair of BLUEWHALEs looking, well, a bit BLUE
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Today's crossword, a debut in the NYTimes by Mike Ellison, was a relatively gentle Sunday crossword with a host of curious clues, such as 94A, Hats worn by Napoleon, BICORNES; 86A, Golf gimme, TAPIN (not to be confused with last Thursday's golf phrase, HOLESOUT); 80A, Settings for timers, OVENS (nice!!); and the fine 53A, Needles holder, CONIFER (awesome!!). An auspicious debut indeed, and we look forward to many more contributions from Mr. Ellison.

Show note imagery: The Three Musketeers - Aramis, ATHOS, and Porthos
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A challenging Saturday crossword by Rich Norris - his 188th!! -- with a nice mix of deceiving and educational clues. Examples of the former include 2D, "Say no more", ONIT, and the aforementioned 26D, "Do I have news for you!", EXTRAEXTRA. Latter examples include 17A, Like some coins, BIMETALLIC (huh), and 7D, NASA rocket since 1957, ATLAS.

Today is Saturday, meaning it's time to announce this week's JAMCOTWA (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award), and this week the winner was ... nope, no spoilers here: check out the podcast, though, all will be revealed there.

Show note imagery: LOME, the capital of Togo, in the Gulf of Guinea
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This was a delightful Friday crossword courtesy of Matthew Stock and Christina Iverson (with Joel Fagliano ably editing). It had plenty of crunch, thanks to SCADS of challenging clues -- 43A, Porto-Novo's country, BENIN; 28D, Contend, HOLD; and 28A, Second hand, HELPER (😀) -- but they were reasonably fair (for a Friday!), and both cohosts concur that this crossword was worth 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.

It's Friday, time for Fun Fact Friday! We won't tell you the fact right here, other than to hint that you might want to don a monocle before listening.

Show note imagery: The great game of PLINKO
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We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.

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Just when you thought that the PHENOMs who construct NYTimes Crosswords couldn't possibly come up with one more theme, they ... come up with one more theme, and this one, by Hanh Huynh,  is so novel that it deserves a standing ovation. Have a listen, and you'll see why!

A reminder that the entire crossword, filled out and with clues, is available at xwordinfo.com. When listening to this podcast, if you haven't filled out the grid yourself, you'll probably find the convo a lot easier to follow if you have that open first, it is one awesome resource for cruciverbalists (that's you!) everywhere.
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We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.

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Jeffrey Martinovic has graced the pages of the NYTimes before, and one glance at this crossword will tell you why he was invited back - a splendid piece of work, a brilliant (and helpful) theme, with an ARMY (60A, Host) of educational and entertaining clues. Those included 5D, Sound of hesitation ERM, and its counterpart, 68A, Sounds of hesitation, UMS; 71A, Media inits. since 1851, NYT (yay, our favorite newspaper!!); and, of course, the unforgettable 70A, Bottomless pit, ABYSM, a clue into which we hope to take a, ahem, deep dive, at a later date!

Show note imagery: An example of LATERALSYMMETRY
Contact Info:
We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.

Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!