Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

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 a terrific Fun Fact Friday segment / game for your enjoyment, so get it now, hot off the presses (um, so to speak)!
Show note imagery: The Shanghai Maglev, the fastest passenger train in the world
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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 example of Labanotation, a dance notation used by choreologists to capture dance moves.
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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 scale.
Show note imagery: UPS, née The American Messenger Company 
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We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.

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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 imagery: A Javan rhino, one of, if not the, rarest large mammals on Earth, with just over 70 known to exist.
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We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.

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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 village, of Oopungnewing, near Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, about 160 years ago.
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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!