Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

There's a lot of pressure resting on a Monday crossword's black-and-white shoulders: welcome and educate new solvers, retain and entertain experienced ones, and above all, don't be boring. Today's crossword, a debut by Matthew Luter, bears that burden well, as today's podcast makes (we hope!) abundantly clear.
Beyond the crossword, we've picked our JAMCOTWA™️ (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award) for last week. Did we pick your favorite? Let us know in the usual way.
Show note imagery: Look, up there in the sky, it's ... um, a SKYE 😀 😉
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The very talented Alex Eaton-Salners is back with a cheery Sunday crossword engineered to lift your spirits (if they are sagging) or elevate you to almost Elysian heights (if you are already in a good mood) — and the good news, he succeeds magnificently. The proof is in the pudding ... er, podcast 😀
Shownote imagery: Nauru, purportedly the world's least visited country
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We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

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Today's crossword was replete with awesome clues — pretty much all of them were fresh, imaginative, and entertaining. We covered a slew of them in today's episode, but even though we used our "end-of-class-but-we-want-to-slip-in-one-more-slide" delivery style, we didn't have time to cover them all. We regret, in particular, not being able to squeeze in 36D, Stuck under a blanket, perhaps, SNOWEDIN (bravo!); 33D, They've been played!, ROLES (brava!); and as we can definitely attest based on this week's weather in NE Wisconsin, 27A, It's not nice to walk in this, SLEET.
Besides our analysis of today's crossword, the icing on the cake is some terrific listener mail, so check it out!
Show note imagery: Some of Jeff KOONS' steel balloon animals
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We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

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This marks Rafael Musa and Rebecca Goldstein's 4th NYTimes crossword collaboration, and it is a fine piece of work. Being a Friday, it was themeless, but there were oodles of admirable clues in today's grid. We particularly enjoyed 36D, Be a hero, say, COSPLAY (bravo!); 17A, Going against the grain?, GLUTENFREE (magnifique!); and the groan-worthy 26A, Fare way to go?, BUSRIDES (oy!) — but the rest of the grid was equally eloquent. We eagerly anticipate RM and RG's next collaboration.
Show note imagery: The world's longest river, the Nile, meandering through CAIRO
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Today's crossword was full of surprises. The theme? A surprise. The correct spelling of DADAIST? A surprise (at least to Mike). The fabulous 51D, Nation whose name sounds like a plea for seconds, SAMOA? Unsurprisingly, based on the lead-up to this sentence, a surprise. 
The only thing that we were not surprised by, at all, is that John Kugelman has crafted another fine Thursday crossword. That was completely expected.
Show note imagery: EUROPA, the smallest of Jupiter's Galilean moons, a possible source of alien life in its vast oceans, and a very popular tourist destination, we reckon, in the 2080s.

We love feedback! Send us a text...
Contact Info:
We love listener mail! Drop us a line, [email protected].

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