Today's crossword was by Adam Wagner, which means that you know, without even looking at it, that it's going to be good. The good cruciverbalist does not disappoint, providing a crossword that must've been a real BEAR to construct, but was an IDEAL Thursday solve. We have all the deets inside, so please have a listen, and, as always, we value your feedback!

Show note imagery: A photo at beautiful (obviously) TOPANGA State Park

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Today's theme was great (as always), and there were oodles of appealing clues lurking in the grid today (see previous parenthetical remark 😉). A few of our favorites were 45A, Cabinet department since 1913, LABOR (now we know!); 53D, Creator of a lot of buzz in the music scene, KAZOO (cute!); and 6D, Language of W.W. II "code talkers": Var., NAVAHO (absolutely fascinating).

Show note imagery: The Red Lion Pub (one of many, in the UK)

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Once again an NYTimes contributor -- today, that would be Mike Hobin -- has created a theme that will make you want to cheer, doff your hat, and applaud (although not simultaneously, for obvious reasons): it deserves that much praise. The rest of the clues were of course also of a very high caliber, resulting in the delightful puzzle that we take a magnifying glass to in today's episode.

Show note imagery: The one, the only ... Daffy Duck, smiling because he was mentioned in today's crossword.

Musical link: It Works, part of Back to the Future: The Musical

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This was Jesse Guzman's third NYTimes crossword, and with quality this good it's no surprise that the publication of his fourth NYTimes crossword is imminent. There was no theme, but the clues were uniformly brilliant and tricky, perfect for the "Hardest Crossword of the Week", aka, Saturday's. We approve, and bestow upon this puzzle the maximum number of squares -- that would be 5, for those of you not keeping track -- on the JAMCR scale.

Show note imagery: Just a few of the many characters in the Mario universe

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Today's crossword marks Carolyn Davies Lynch's third NYTimes crossword, and she just keeps getting better and better. This had some great clues, including 9D, It's not observed in Hawaii, DST (😀); 27A, Hypocorism for Harold, HAL (🧐); and 46D, Smart guy, ALEC (🤣). There were plenty more where those came from, so check out today's episode for the 411.

Show note imagery: Syzygy, without which we wouldn't have solar eclipses.

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Simeon Seigel is definitely on a tear, this marks his fourth NYTimes crossword this year, and his second in under a month. Quality isn't suffering at all, though, as today's puzzle is chockfull of sparkling clues and topped off with a head-scratching theme.

Show note imagery: Fancy a game of Centipede?

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