Jean & Mike Do The New York Times Crossword

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 as they were to solve. We have the deets inside. 
In addition, we have painstakingly selected our JAMCOTWA™️ (Jean And Mike Crossword Of The Week Award) winner for the week, so check it out now and — if you're the winner — get ready to receive a boatload of NE WI swag!
Show note imagery: The Ramones, at the legendary CBGB
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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 fine 97A, Time to give up?, LENT (ha!); the dissing equivalent of a stiletto, 82D, "You had one ___!", JOB!; and the surprising 49D, "Keep dreaming", HECKNO. 
TL;DR, this was a super Sunday diversion — five squares on the JAMCR scale.
Show note imagery: Inside the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, CA.
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We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.

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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 sufficiently cryptic to make for an entertaining solve. We needed the crosses to figure out 17A, Kitchen project with minimal cleanup, ONEPOTMEAL; likewise with 7D, Persian poet who wrote the "Masnavi", RUMI; and only one of our cohosts (hint: not Mike) knew 58D, Super Bowl X M.V.P. ___ Swan, LYNN.
All in all, another excellent piece of work from Adrian Johnson.
Show note imagery: Beware The LEGOBATMAN!
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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 abfab clues.  We were delighted by 30D, Chess tactic in which the king and queen are attacked simultaneously by a single piece, ROYALFORK; snookered (again) by 17D, Places to go in the U.K., LOOS; and reminded of how time flies by 48D, Smartphone predecessors, for short, PDAS (what are those again??).
In addition to the crossword, we have a fine fun fact for Fun Fact Friday, so be sure to listen for that!
Show note imagery: Technically speaking, those are LEGO bricks, not merely LEGOS — according to LEGO, who ought to know! 😀 
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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!

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 sparkle to the rest of the clues, punctuated with just the right number of bad puns. We give it a full and richly-deserved 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.
Show note imagery: The famed caravel NINA
We love feedback! Send us a text...
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!