
Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword
A short, fun and occasionally not unintentionally educational podcast in which two fans of the New York Times crossword describe their puzzle-solving travails.
Episodes
1813 episodes
Wednesday, September 10, 2025 -- Oh, sure, there's another OSIER 🙄
While Wednesday's child might be full of woe, we prefer our Wednesday clues to be full of woah! 😀 And that's exactly what we got in today's crossword: a sizable number of clues wh...
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Season 14
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Episode 9
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5:02

Tuesday, September 9, 2025 - Fetch the smelling salts! (You'll need them upon discovering today's theme 😀)
This crossword quickly skyrocketed from "nice cluing, not bad" to "unbelievably awesome!!", thanks to one vital clue. We'll leave you in suspense as to what that clue is -...
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Season 14
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Episode 8
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6:55

Monday, September 8, 2025 - Monday's crossword is fair and fun
Monday's are engineered to entice and intrigue newer solvers, and today's crossword, by Margaret Seikel, does so admirably. There were a few clues that gave us pause: 47D, Attaches...
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Season 14
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Episode 7
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5:52

Sunday, September 7, 2025 - Math rules!
It is not always the case that a theme gives us the case of the giggles, but Derrick Niederman's crossword provided us with a plethora of LOL moments. It is definitely in ...
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Season 14
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Episode 6
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17:37

Saturday, September 6, 2025 - Now *that's* a Saturday crossword!
The difficulty level's been dialed up to 11, so if you did not get through today's puzzle ... it's not you, it's Kunal Nagar (abetted in this criminally awesome crossword by Will S...
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Season 14
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Episode 5
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11:38

Friday, September 5, 2025 - A delightful debut!
This was an awesome debut by Bryan Cheong, who is, astonishingly, only 14 years old. You would not know it from the crossword, though: the clues are sharp and the fill as crisp as ...
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Season 14
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Episode 4
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18:29

Thursday, September 4, 2025 - Things are looking up! 😉
This was a delightfully intriguing and decidedly crunchy Thursday crossword, penned by Colin Ernst and adroitly edited by Will Shortz. It took both cohosts, working independently a...
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Season 14
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Episode 3
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13:27

Wednesday, September 3, 2025 - ZHUZUP. Gesundheit!!
This was a fun crossword by Michael B. Berg, his second for the NYTimes. The theme was terrific, revolving around a word that neither cohost had heard before, ZHUZH. Fortunately, t...
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Season 14
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Episode 2
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10:57

Tuesday, September 2, 2025 - Ah, MATCHA 😀 ☕️
In keeping with the nursery rhyme, we would argue that today's crossword was full of grace ... or at least some very cool clues. Mike's favorite was 10D, Certain parent overseeing a child's career, in showbiz lingo, MOMAGER; Jean's was 66A,...
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Season 14
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Episode 1
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14:53

Monday, September 1, 2025 - A labor of love for Labor Day
Today's crossword marks Lynn Lempel's 103rd for the NYTimes, and was a great way to usher in September. While there were no debut answers, quite a few of the clues caught our fancy...
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Season 13
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Episode 100
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11:17

Sunday, August 24, 2025 - Corporate chaos, or crafty crossword? You be the judge!
Michael Lieberman was definitely playing against type when he dreamed up this crossword, because he spends his days at his law firm fighting corporate mergers, but his nights -- apparently -- trying to encourage them. You'll see what w...
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Season 13
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Episode 99
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19:44

Saturday, August 23, 2025 - ITSGOOD - in the grid and an apt description of today's crossword
The fifth NYTimes crossword by Ryan Judge made for a very nice Saturday; not a walk in the park, by any stretch, but more straightforward than last Saturday's "let's scale Mt...
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Season 13
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Episode 98
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11:43

Friday, August 22, 2025 - Wanna know which country's national anthem has no lyrics? We've got you covered!
Our cohosts were surprised and delighted to learn, thanks to today's crossword, that there are four countries whose national anthems have no lyrics, and so people instead hum, or ...
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Season 13
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Episode 97
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18:25

Thursday, August 21, 2025 - Five out of five doctors agree: Simeon Seigel has delivered an abfab Thursday crossword!
Once again, the NYTimes crossword has delivered the perfect blend of joy and education in one neat bundle. The joy comes from, primarily, the theme -- which we will say no more ab...
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Season 13
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Episode 96
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18:26

Wednesday, August 20, 2025 - SEITAN makes its debut!
One of our favorite foods is SEITAN - healthy, delicious, and, up until now, never mentioned in the NYTimes crossword. Ah, but the times they are a changin', as evidenced by today's
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Season 13
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Episode 95
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7:43

Tuesday, August 19, 2025 - MONITORLIZARD, available if Best Buy and Petco decide to merge 🙄
This was a fine Tuesday crossword by Eric Rollfing, marking his fourth overall in the NYTimes, and his Tuesday debut.There were a bevy of TWL (Today We Learned) clues in to...
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Season 13
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Episode 94
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17:20

Monday, August 18, 2025 - Ha-ha-ha-HA-ha!
Today's crossword was truly a labor of love for one of the greatest voice talents of all time. We speak, of course, of the immortal, indomitable, indefatigable Mel Blanc, pretty m...
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Season 13
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Episode 93
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9:55

Sunday, August 17, 2025 - Red Alert! It's a Sam Ezersky puzzle, coming in hot 🥵
Sam Ezersky is known for making devilishly difficult crosswords, and he does not disappoint today. Jean found this to be a bit of a challenge; Mike has decided that ... the inters...
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Season 13
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Episode 92
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14:25

Saturday, August 16, 2025 - Byron Walden puts it to the metal!
Byron Walden has had a whopping 109 crosswords published in the NYTimes, including an astonishing 70 Saturdays. Frankly, it shows, because today's was perfect: highly cha...
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Season 13
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Episode 91
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14:02

Friday, August 15, 2025 - This was a BOSS crossword!
Depending upon what you've squirreled away in your wheelhouse, you may have found today's crossword a) straightforward, or b) a Friday crossword wrapped around a zesty Saturday mini-crossword. In the case of our cohosts, Jean was the former, Mi...
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Season 13
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Episode 90
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16:10

Thursday, August 14, 2025 - We'll take "Awesome Crossword" for $500
A few Sundays ago we had a puzzle paying homage to Star Trek, and now we've moved on to another iconic show, Jeopardy! While we feel that the editors missed a fabulous opportunity to play the Jeopardy theme in lieu of the usual ditty u...
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Season 13
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Episode 89
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20:02

Wednesday, August 13, 2025 - Hola, OLLAS!
Just like the answer to 29D, "Too ___" (2024 #1 Hozier hit), this was a SWEET Wednesday crossword, and we're not just saying that because Jared Cappel took the time to in...
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Season 13
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Episode 88
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15:02

Tuesday, August 12, 2025 - The planet with the most moons? Give us a ring, we'll tell you 🙄
This was an Erik Agard puzzle, meaning the clues were fabulous; but it was a Tuesday Erik Agard puzzle, which means that the clues were not too difficult. We loved 45D, H...
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Season 13
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Episode 87
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15:43
