Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

6:10

Monday, September 14, 2026 — 🎶 Daylight Come and Me...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/09/15

Today's crossword — a joint effort by Andrea Carla Michaels and Dena R. Verkuil — had a lot of appeal, and if that generates peals of laughter, then this sentence will have done its job! Being a Monday, the puzzle was straightforward: its mission was to entertain and entice, not (as sometimes happens later in the week) confound and confuse. As today's episode can attest, it succeeded on all fronts. Show note imagery: SHEL Silverstein and Johnny Cash, writer and singer, respectively, of ...

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6:05

Sunday, September 13, 2026 — Hey, It's a Tiny Escape...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/09/14

Today's crossword — a very nice piece of work by Henry Lin-David and Frank S. David — featured an adorable, tiny escape room! You can't miss it — it's right in the center of the grid — and you also can't escape it, because the room is entirely walled off from the rest of the grid by black squares. This is only the 31st time, in the entire history of the NYTimes crossword, that the puzzle has included a disconnected region (it's hard to have crosswords if words don't cross!), but it is all for...

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4:53

Saturday, September 12, 2026 — An *Effervescent*...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/09/13

It's not often that we get to haul "effervescent" out of long-term storage, dust it off, and plant it where it needs planting, but today is one of those days, for the crossword, by Adam Wagner and Michael Lieberman, was terrific. The puzzle was not the hardest Saturday we've seen — in part because the Pop Culture Meter was close to 0 — but the clues were just delights, every one of them an intricate work of a master crossword constructor / punster. Deets inside. Show note imagery: MOTHRA and ...

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14:06

Friday, September 11, 2026 — Robyn Weintraub Is Back,...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/09/12

Considering that this is Robyn Weintraub's 37th Friday crossword(!), she has certainly earned the sobriquet, the Queen of Fridays. We hope she wears her crown at a jaunty angle, in honor of the many jaunty clues in today's puzzle. We enjoyed the bait-and-switch of 6D, Sounds of fall?, THUDS; the spirited defiance implied in 13D, "Keep Commerce Human" website, ETSY; and the somewhat esoteric (at least from Mike's perspective), 23D, Fabric related to chambray, DENIM. TLDR; Another fine Ro...

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13:15

Thursday, September 10, 2026 — Simeon Seigel, aka...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/09/11

Today's crossword, by Simeon Seigel, featured another "puzzle-within-a-puzzle", and we loved it, from 1A, TikTok stars, to many, IDOLS, all the way down to 61A, Filler akin to "like ..." or "I mean ...", YKNOW — and everything in between. A few non-themed clues stood out, among them 6A, Locale for an old flame?, WICK (very nice!); 53D, Completely savage, PAN (we were not ready for that one!); and the "duh, of course"-inducing 27A, New Year's date, concisely, ONEONE. There were more, and...

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11:47

Wednesday, September 9, 2026 — Argh, It's Write...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/09/10

Our cohosts had very different experiences, solving today's puzzle. Jean cruised through it like the QE2 on a serene summer's day; Mike's journey was more reminiscent of the Vasa's, thanks to a series of stupefying own goals, although he did eventually emerge from the depths, sputtering and muttering oaths like "what the deuce!". Details of the full saga are one click away, so download, listen up, and ... enjoy! Show note imagery: The Vasa, a 17th century Swedish warship that sank in Stockhol...

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14:39

Tuesday, September 8, 2026 — A Terrific Tuesday...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/09/09

We are pleased to report that Sunny Maharjan has joined the elite pantheon of NYTimes crossword constructors. This, his debut, is a gem. It was a quick solve (especially for Jean), but the theme was a hoot and a half (which we conjecture is a well-known adage, somewhere — we just don't know where). What we do know is that the rest of the grid had some abfab clues, such as 67A, College, to Aussies, UNIS; 15D, Shape of conchiglie pasta, SHELL (ok, now we know); and 1D, Jaguar's home, JUNGLE (no...

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15:36

Monday, September 7, 2026 — Alas, Poor Muzak, We...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/09/08

For the of you who are feeling nostalgic for Muzak, you have two choices: this crossword, or Urgent Care 😀. We recommend the former, because Jeff Chen and Stephan Prock have put together a wonderful Monday offering, as we discuss in today's episode. We are also pleased to announce our JAMCOTWA™️ (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award) for this week, namely [REDACTED: SEE PODCAST FOR ALL THE DEETS]. Show note imagery: Regardless of how you spell it, ODES(S)A is one cool city! We love

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16:41

Sunday, September 6, 2026 — Lights, Camera, ......

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/09/07

John Kugelman has written 24 crosswords for the NYTimes, including an impressive 17 Sundays. Today's was novel, in that for the first time it featured color illustrations — Gray Lady indeed! Both cohosts found the puzzle to be a challenge, definitely crunchier than usual for a Sunday — filled with fascinating clues and quite a few bedeviling naticks*. We loved it, and thereby bestow upon it 5 squares on the JAMCR scale. Show note imagery: Aww, it's a SHIHPOO ❤️ *A natick consists of two...

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12:08

Saturday, September 5, 2026 — We'd Be Lyin' If We...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/09/06

Both cohosts found today's crossword easier than yesterday's, but just as entertaining. It featured some phenomenal clues, including those discussed on today's episode, but here are a few more to whet your appetite: 29A, European landmark whose name begins with an "A" in classical literature, ETNA (curious!)1A, Made chitchat, SCHMOOZED (curiouser!!)31A, Reduced price?, AMT (curiousest??)We also have a poker aficionado set us straight on the question of poker rivers in today's listener mail. Y...

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17:39

Friday, September 4, 2026 — Julian Xiao Cranks it Up...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/09/05

Both cohosts struggled mightily with today's crossword, the third from Julian Xiao since 2024. Here are just a few clues, to give you a taste of the difficulty level (spoiler alert: it's high): 28A, Cooking term whose name is composed of two synonyms for "criticize", PANROAST (excellent!)57A, System by which all speech is protected?, SECURELINE (tricky and a debut)23D, First country to elect a female prime minister (1960), SRILANKA (nice!)We cover quite a few more in today's podcast, and have...

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16:21

Thursday, September 3, 2026 — Holy ingenious...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/09/04

If it seems like you've been seeing Zhou Zhang's name in the crossword a lot, lately, you are not imagining things: her name has appeared in the masthead a whopping 7 times ... and the year's not over! The reason she is appearing so frequently is as obvious as today's crossword was sublime — she writes clever, quirky clues that make you think, smile, and feel great once, or if, you've figured them out. Check out today's podcast for a profusion of examples. Show note imagery: An ex...

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11:24

Wednesday, September 2, 2026 — MMMMagnificent! 😋

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/09/03

Mac Motz has produced a mmmmagnificent debut crossword. We are not entirely sure how he came up with the theme, but we thought it terrific — we are such suckers for alliteration. Who could resist 46A, Making out openly or a mobile device, in brief, PDA; or 12D, Member of a membership, TIER; or 50D, Mouth moistener, SALIVA. We could go on and on, because every single clue had the same alliterative structure. Stupendous! This definitely merits a full and enthusiastic 5 squares on the JAMCR scal...

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13:13

Monday, September 1, 2026 — Javan Rhino, Nine O'Clock...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/09/02

This was a relatively rare event, a double debut for Paul Hudes and Margot Kohn. Kudos to both for an excellent job. The theme sparkled, and clues like 53A, Like Javan rhinos, RARE; 29A, Risky bets, FLIERS; and a reference to Mike's favorite beverage, 22D, Locale of Coca-Cola's headquarters: Abbr., ATL kept us thoroughly engaged. After analyzing the crossword, there is a Triplet Tuesday segment in honor of, well, Tuesday — and Jean makes short work of it. Show note imager...

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11:05

Monday, August 31, 2026 — A Gooey-licious Monday...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/09/01

This was another fine Monday crossword by Christopher Youngs. The theme was delicious, and the clues maybe a tad more feisty than usual for a Monday. As an illustration, consider 37A, Took shots first, then paid for them later, RANATAB (nice!); 50A, "Need an ark? I Noah guy," e.g. PUN (argh!); and 43D, Tetra- minus one, TRI (indubitably 🧐). In honor of Monday we have picked out our JAMCOTWA, a doozie of a crossword that really tickled our fancy. Deets inside. Show note imagery: The Inuit

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14:42

Sunday, August 30, 2026 — Tempus Fugit? Perhaps...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/08/31

Today's crossword relied on an anagram-adjacent concept, that of a letter bank: all the letters in the clue can be used as many times (but at least once) in the answer. Once you realize this (which may only happen once you get the revealer figured out), you can rule out answers that include non-banked letters, considerably shortening the solve. 😀 What makes the puzzle particularly challenging (and therefore fun!) is the need to recognize the names in the answer based only on an unrelate...

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14:32

Saturday, August 29, 2026 — Red Alert! Deviously...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/08/29

Rafael Musa and Kate Chin Park have put together an awesome Saturday crossword, tough, fair, with some absolutely magnificent cluing. Both cohosts had to follow the advice of 42A, Put your backs into it, TRY — while reconciling that with the Yoda's famous quote and meme, "Do or do not. There is no try". We've covered some of our favorite clues in the podcast, but others stood out as well. We were enthralled with 35A, Ones giving a toast at an outdoor party?, PATIOHEATERS. 😀 Right beneath it

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13:29

Friday, August 26, 2026 — Let's Hear It For SCREAMO 🎸🎸

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/08/29

Jack Hatchett seems to be getting a good handle on Friday crosswords. This marks his second in just over two months, and both have been quite entertaining. Today's did include a large dollop of pop culture, which Jean barely noticed, but caused Mike to mutter "heavens to murtagroyd!", and, in particularly sticky corners, "what the deuce!", while en route to victory. We have all the deets inside, plus a Fun Fact Friday segment that just may cause you to adjust your travel plans. Have a l...

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15:04

Thursday, August 27, 2026 — Captains Ahab, Noah and...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/08/28

We wouldn't say that today's crossword had a boring theme, au contraire. But you still might think about snoozing as you solve, for reasons that will become abundantly clear once you've looked at the puzzle. Apart from the non-snoozefest of a theme, we did admire 38D, French bread?, EURO (trés drôle!). We also were astonished that 56A, Large storage unit, GIGABYTE, was a debut. Finally we loved the nostalgia-inducing 31D, "Heavens to Murgatroyd!", EGAD. EGAD! Show note imagery: The mysterious...

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13:00

Wednesday, August 26, 2026 — You Don't Know...

Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword ·

2026/08/27

Today's crossword, a collaboration between John Kugelman and Lance Enfinger, had a bonus puzzle within a puzzle. First, there was the traditional 15x15 grid we all know and love (to solve); then we had the theme, whose revealer seemed to be more of a concealer. Fortunately, the light eventually dawned, so we've got the full 411 right here for your listening pleasure. Show note imagery: The one, the only, it's Mr. Rockhead Sylvester Nate Oscar George Slate (really, that's his full name!). We l...

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