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
2097 episodes
Tuesday, July 7, 2026 — Wait, Didn't We Just See This Guy?? Yes, It's Brad Lively's *Third* Crossword in Three Months!!! 🥳
If Brad Lively's name sounds familiar, that's because he's published a whopping 4 crosswords this year, including today's. We are grateful for that, of course, as his crosswords in...
Monday, July 6, 2026 — Nothing DECREPIT about this crossword, it's all shiny and new! ✨
This was a pleasing Monday crossword, with a straightforward, amusing theme, and clues unlikely to generate too many BLANKSTARES. It was penned by Alex Eaton-Salners, who rarely do...
Sunday, July 5, 2026 — Set Pun Guns™️ to Stun!
Apparently Rich Katz had a few fireworks left over from yesterday, and managed to slip them into today's puzzle: it just sizzles with creativity, and will have you ooh-ing an...
Saturday, July 4, 2026 — 🎆 Happy Fourth!!!!🎇🎆
Kareem Ayas has returned and brought along an excellent crossword to help us celebrate the Fourth. The clues were delightful, each precisely engineered to perplex, ed...
Friday, July 3, 2026 — Happy Fourth Eve! 🎇
Barbara Lin is a highly versatile constructor — she has made crosswords for every day of the week, and this is her second Friday creation.The grid had a daunting amount of white space in it, with 4 grid-spanning answers. Fortunately, the...
Thursday, June 2, 2026 — Time to Brush Up On Your US History!
Today's crossword was all about US history — specifically, the Declaration of Independence. David J. Kahn, in his 192nd NYTimes publication (!!!) has outdone himself, ingeniously i...
Wednesday, July 1, 2026 — Happy 🇨🇦 Day!
Today's crossword was a marvel of clever crossword construction, and a hoot to boot — practically guaranteed to put a smile on your face, make your jaw drop, or possibly both, simu...
Tuesday, June 30, 2026 — Adios, June, It Was Good Knowin' Ya!
Congratulations to John Liber, for getting his very first crossword published in the NYTimes! It was a fine effort, with a phonetically phunny theme, and several surprising clues....
Monday, June 29, 2026 — One day you'll rue the day, you ROUE, you! 🙄😉
Today's crossword marks the first collaboration between Ginny Too and Rajeswari Rajamani, and it turned out rather nicely, with theme answers that were almost as much fun to say a...
Sunday, June 28, 2026 — Was This Crossword Bomb? Fer Shur! 🙄
Today's crossword was by veteran constructors Rebecca Goldstein and Christina Iverson, both of whom are unequivocally 30A, Mentally agile, CLEVER. For instance, we had the very fi...
Saturday, June 27, 2026 — TEETERS v. TOTTERS: Runner-Up in the "Shows You're Least Likely to See on ESPN" Contest 😀
This was a fine Saturday crossword by Adrian Johnson. There were no daunting, grid-spanning answers, and it was not the most difficult Saturday we've seen, but the clues were suff...
Friday, June 26, 2026 — Beware the 😱 PANOPTICON 🫣
Although Spencer Leach's second Friday NYTimes crossword was 15x15, it seemed larger, somehow — not because EXTRALARGE made its way into the grid, but because it was brimming with...
Thursday, June 25, 2026 — Wanna swap?
This was Tarun Krishnamurthy's fourth and — based on the day of the week — most challenging NYTimes crossword to date. We thought the theme was inspired, and there was a laudable ...
Wednesday, June 24, 2026 — Alright, the Bulletproof Boy Scouts Are Back!! 😍
Kevin Curry and Zhang Zhou are collaborating again — this is their third pairing — and the world is a better place for it. We have them to thank for our knowledge of Pinkglow pine...
Tuesday, June 23, 2026 — A Crossword That Won't Leave You Bent Out of Shape 😉
This was Kathy Bloomer's fifth NYTimes crossword since 2018, and it was splendid — ideal Tuesday fare. The theme was ... ingenious (the quality control at the NYTimes when it come...
Monday, June 22, 2026 — Leapin’ Lizards, This Was a Great Monday Crossword!
This was Victoria Fernandez Grande's second NYTimes crossword, and her first came just 2 months ago, so she is off to an impressive start! Monday crosswords are designed to be the easiest crosswords of the week, but that doesn't imply drab clui...
Sunday, June 21, 2026 — Happy Summer Solstice!! 🌞
This was a Sunday debut by Hannah Slovut, and a rather novel one. You could tell it was a debut since xwordinfo.com said so; you could tell it was novel because the grid had 27 ro...
Saturday, June 20, 2026 —Another Cruciverbial Masterpiece by Katie Hoody 😍
Katie Hoody makes magnificent Saturday crosswords, and today's is no exception. It is a master class in crossword construction, featuring clues so brilliant that...
Friday, June 19, 2026 — Happy Juneteenth!
Today's crossword — a debut by Jack Hatchett — was an epic struggle for both cohosts, as the puzzle was brimming with craftily clued debuts. We were definitely not expecting 10D, Sudden reversal of fortune, in literature, PERI...
Thursday, June 18, 2026 — Scott Hogan Has Punned, er, Penned, an Excellent Crossword
Compared to yesterday's crossword, with its somewhat complex theme, today's was simultaneously both easier and harder. Easier in the sense that once you had enough crosses, you co...
Wednesday, June 17, 2026 — Pick a card, any card 🃎 🂫
There are themes, and then there are themes. Today's crossword was definitely a case of the latter, and it was combined with clues that were above average in difficulty. As a con...
Tuesday, June 16, 2026 — Hail ... Brittanium? 🤔
Brad Lively is on a tear: this is his second crossword in three weeks, not too shabby! The theme was hilarious, and the rest of the clues were perfect Tuesday fodder. We have the full 411 in today's podcast.But wait, there's more! Since ...
Monday, June 15, 2026 — ASMR is back! — which, coincidentally, is where you might feel it 😉
Both cohosts found today's crossword to be slightly crunchier (read: harder) than usual for a Monday, but it was a joy to solve nonetheless (or perhaps because of that!). Deets in...
Sunday, June 14, 2026 — Beware crosswords concealing cryptic cryptids 😀
This was a crunchier than usual Sunday crossword by a man who knows Sunday crosswords quite well — this is John Kugelman's 16th. The theme was very clever and likely a bear to construct, but the end result was a splendid challenge. In terms of ...
