Friday, March 6, 2026 - Adrian Johnson dials it up to 11!

0:00Welcome to Jean and might do the New York Times Crossword. Hi, I'm Jean. And today we are doing the Crossword for Friday, March 6th, 2026. So what did you think of today's Crossword? I thought it was beautiful to look at. Just the design was so unique and just I thought very striking. I'm stunning. I also thought that I never could have done it if I hadn't done it with our daughter. Really? I found it quite quite difficult. Yes. Yes. After we got done, we were very proud of ourselves that we were able to get done. But I looked down a wordplay to see if there were any complaints about it. And everyone thought it was fantastic. Really? Who first? I mean, it was right afterwards. It came out. It only been out for a couple of hours. But they all were like thinking, oh, this is a good Friday puzzle.

1:02It was a tough Friday crossword. But nobody said, oh, it's way too hard. And several people boasted about how quickly they were able to get it done. But hopefully they'll get hit by a car when they cross the road. No, just kidding. Just kidding. Grace would be better. But no, it was quite a challenge. Yes. But fun. There were some really fun clues and some little tricks I thought. We got really bogged down by 31 down, which was shelter some looked to when duty calls. And we had the ODGS at the end. We thought lodges. So we thought lodges. Yes. That was logical. It turned out to be tax dodges. Yes. But I thought, oh, that is really tricky. Yes. It was brilliant. Uh-huh.

2:02That was definitely one of my four smiley face clues. Oh, really? I give clues various numbers of smiley faces. Four means extremely well done. Right. Yeah. I was pretty sure my streak was going to die in the bottom left corner. Oh. Although I was having a little trouble still in the center and in the top. Mm-hmm. I just, you know, in that in the bond. Did you have trouble in the bottom left? Uh, we had trouble all over. But you probably knew 32 down the good life in Spanish vernacular. Pure Vida. I knew Vida. I wasn't quite sure about how it started. You know, I was trying to sing that Ricky Martin song. Oh, live in La Vida. Look. Yeah. Live in La Vida. Look. It somehow helped. It didn't. Because I couldn't remember the words for one thing. But I knew Vida was like, there's only one thing that I knew in that corner. Now you have to guess which clue. Mm.

3:02Um, 46 across. Oh, so close. Oh, yeah. Oh, come on. 46 across. Oh, no, 41 across. Yeah, there we go. Uh, the green hornet sidekick. Yes. Hey, tell. Yes, I knew that. That was the only one. Yeah. The one beneath it, uh, 46 across. Medgar Blank, one inspiration of the 1964 protest at the Mississippi god damn. Evers. Yeah. I like. No, I definitely did not know that. Oh, well, if you studied American history, when I did. I mean, he was one of the pillars of them. Really? Yeah. Okay. No, I racial equity. Needless to say. Yeah. The topic doesn't come up in Canadian history. No, probably not. But, but yeah. No, I knew that. But there was some other great, like 35 down in that area. Um, one might frequently be buttered up. Cake pan. Yeah. You know, I thought it was going to be. I had it ending in AN. So I thought it was going to be something about man. Oh. Uh-huh. And, and then at one point for 50 across missile in many a slapstick fight.

4:04I had the word P. You know, like you sort of like shooting a P across in a straw. Uh-huh. Because we had that a few days ago. Yes. And I refused to give up on it for the longest time. And then eventually, I realized it wasn't P. There are other things you can throw in slapstick and it was a pie. A pie. Lots of pie stone and slapstick. That was a breakthrough for me. Uh-huh. You see, because I had, I was convinced it for 29 down some yellowish canides. I had something that looked like teeth. Mm-hmm. I know that it's got to be teeth. But it's ending in an A because of P. It's going to be T.F. And I was having a lot of trouble in there. To you. Yes. I love in that corner 35 cross. You can't cut through it. Cold as sack. Yes. That was true. You can't cut through it. Yeah. But you know, we were trying to think of what's so hard you can't cut through it. Yes. It's a cold as sack. And even in one above at 32 across, worker involved in fireings, potter.

5:04Right. Uh-huh. I had the feeling it was going to have something to do with heat. And so I was thinking of like a smelter. Uh-huh. Oh, yeah. That wouldn't fit. Well, but, um, let me look at that clue. 32 across. Yeah. Fireings. That, that brings to mind ceramics. So you knew that right away? Yeah. I knew it had to do something to do with ceramics. And so I'm like a ceramicist. I was trying to think. And our daughter said, maybe it's potter. And I'm like, Oh, yeah. It probably is. Yeah. I wish I had. Well, actually, I'm not. I don't really wish I had someone doing that as I was saw in the person. I like, I like dredging out of longer memories. Yes. I know you do. The one above that 29 across heroic tale of romance. I had it ending in ST. And at one point, I think I had it. I'm not sure where I got to it, but it turned it to be Jess. Yes. And the only reason I could remember that was because of the, I think, French novel,

6:04Bo-Jesse. Well, yes. Yes. I don't even know if that really means heroic tale of romance. Well, I don't either. But I thought, well, it must mean some kind of, you know, sort of a swashbuckling tale, because that's what it is. I don't recall if there's a lot of romance in it. But, um, but yeah, so that's, that's when I kind of remembered it from two. And wait, we haven't talked about 29 down. Some yellowish canines. Yes. Gold teeth. Yeah. You know, it's just like, okay, it's some sort of dogs. Yeah. And then I think I was thinking it was some sort of teeth, but gold teeth. Yeah. Yeah, we were thinking dogs too, but then, but then when we got the teeth, you know, I was like, well, what teeth would be yellowish? I didn't even think about gold. Yeah. Because it gets a gold, gold filling anymore, you know? Well, also, I mean, golden yellow are different colors, right? So it's definitely a deceitful, but gold is yellowish. It was a yellowish color. I like to think of it as goldish. Let's see. What else did we have here?

7:04Lots of other things. I mean, one across, first impression of a new video game question mark, start button. Yeah. Makes sense. That was grand. And then we had, let's see, what else was good in that area? I mean, there were lots of good things in that area. Steps down. He meets a stream of hot air. Blow the eggs. Blow the eggs. I wondered if that was a debut. I don't ever remember seeing that. It was not. It has appeared a total of two times. Oh, my. Today. And then in 2018. Oh, okay. When it was glued as goes on and on about nothing. Oh, yeah. But this was, this was a funny clue. I thought he meets a stream of hot air. So many of these clues, you know, they just led you love totally the wrong way. Yeah. That was the goal. Uh-huh. Yeah. How about 12 down? The world's biggest one contains seven keyboards, pipe organ. Right.

8:04Yes. I had no idea where to go with that. Uh-huh. I had the P and I. I thought, oh, it's something to do with piano. Uh-huh. And so I had, I was thinking about piano shop. And I was just like, why would a piano shop only have 70 keyboards? It doesn't make sense. Very exclusive. Uh-huh. But too, or too away from that was interesting 14 down pleasurable place to do business. Sex shop. Yes. Once again, the not suitable for work label needs to be attached. Uh-huh. Not really. But yeah, that took me a while to get that area. Although I got 13 down not, after not too much effort, publishers order print run. That sort of gave me some confidence there. Uh-huh. I sure needed a lot of confidence in the bottom right as well. Like, uh, 43 down blank. Buena. Island in San Francisco Bay. Urba. So as soon as I read the clue, I thought, next. And, uh, I like how we had 43 across.

9:04Uh-huh. Was yep. Yes. And then 56 across. Hard pass. Nah. Uh-huh. Three of yep. And now in one place. That's right. What do you know if 28 across grain once fed the Roman army, Pharaoh? Well, the only reason I knew that was because I had just done another crossword where that word had cropped up. Really? And, you know, so you're trying to think of a five-letter grain other than wheat because it's probably not going to be wheat. Right. And so we're like, well, Millet, no. Barley, no. I thought, well, let's try Pharaoh. And yeah, it worked. See, just the fact that you can rattle off these grains. I mean, the only grain I know is rye. And I'm not even sure if that's a grain. Well, you know wheat. I know wheat. I do know how, yeah, I was, I was thinking maybe it was going to be whole as opposed to whole wheat. That, that Pharaoh, the effing pharaoh going down was 28 down. Made, made a scene, say, filmed. Yes. And that L was part of 34 across.

10:04Montenegro, uh, let's see if I can pronounce this quickly. Montenegroen, EG, Balkan. Balkan, yes. That was tough. You know, this is, uh, supposed to be a Friday, which makes me think that Saturday, I'm as well just like give up, uh, you know, laterally and preemptively. Uh-huh. And interesting one, I thought, oh, you probably knew this one, uh, 37 requests. Fictional subjects of 13 movies between 2020. I did not. X-men. I did not know that. We, we actually looked that up after we finished the puzzle just to see what were the X-men movies and how many of them had we seen. And I mean, there are a bunch of them that are titled X-men, but they also included all the ones related to Wolverine, like Logan and, and the Deadpool ones. I guess he was an X-men. I've seen the, I've seen the Deadpool ones. That's it. Uh-huh. Oh, you haven't seen any of the X-men? I, I've, I've seen like bits and pieces of them, but they just never really grabbed me.

11:04Oh, I've seen, I've seen them. Really? Not all of them, but, you know, the several of them. Yes. Now, the only thing I could think of was like Jedi. Oh, uh-huh. No. Which didn't really. That was a little B-4 2000. Mm-hmm. Uh-huh. Let's see if there's anything else. Oh, we had, uh, this one wasn't too bad. Still not easy. 26 down. Lab access point. Pet door. Yes. There's the dog. You know, not in the canine clue, but in the one right next to it. That's true. Uh-huh. And then 15 across, drone's image, aerial photo. Yep. Uh-huh. And I'm still wondering, okay, 10 down, unscripted for short. O-T-C. Off the cuff. Off the cuff. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yep. Well, this was a magnificent crossword. A lot of fun. Yeah. There were several times, you know, I was trying to keep my time under eight hours. That is my, my maximum limit.

12:04But several times I just had to stop solving for a minute and stand up and applaud. I'm pretty sure I gave a standing ovation for like two to three minutes for, for the tax dodges clue. Uh-huh. Because it definitely warranted it. But all right. Well, I think we've been living peravita here. Yes. But that is it for the crossword. Okay. However, it is Friday, which means it's time for fun. And Friday, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. And based on that enthusiastic theme there, I'm assuming you do have a fun fact for fun fact. I have several. Oh. Because. It's a two for or a three for today is a special day. It is a national Oreo cookie day. Gas. Yes. And we did have Oreo this week as an answer. Mm-hmm. So I, and we've done Oreo before as a fun fact with kind of a historical background. Right. some fun facts about Oreos. Okay, first released 1912, the first Oreo was sold

13:06March the 61912 in Hoboken, New Jersey. The Oreos made it into space in 1985 on the Space Shuttle, Atlantis. Really? Yes. What do they do with the crumbsy? Yeah, that's a good question. It is the best-selling cookie over 40 billion produced annually and 500 billion plus have been consumed in its lifetime. The average is 49 cookies per person. Wait, how many did you say were made per year? 40 billion. 40 billion? Yes, and 500 billion plus since 1912. The average consumption is 49 cookies per person per year. Or four sleeves. Or four sleeves. Yeah, like a little box there. Let's see, there, if you if you took all the Oreos that were ever made, you could and lined them up around the equator, they would certainly are 381 times. Wow. And if you stack them, they would reach to the moon and back more than five times. I see. I think that's when NASA

14:16should be doing it. Anyway, you know, no one cares about Artemis. Let's see if you can build a tower of Oreos to the moon. That's right. That's right. The original recipe used large, but they became kosher in 1997. When they first came out, there were actually two flavors, the original that we all love and the lemon meringue, which was discontinued in the 1920s. Globally, they have flavors like green tea in China and Japan. And blueberry ice cream in China. The stamp that's on the outside of the cookie is not just for looks. It helps with baking consistency. No one knows where the name Oreo came from. I mean Oreo. What's it mean? But they think it might have come from the French word for gold, which is or or the Greek word for mountain, which is Oros. I am surprised they don't know that. Yeah. They think someone would have written it down. There is an exact ratio of 71% to 29% cookie to cream in every Oreo. Is that by weight I take it? I think so. Yes. Double stuff does not actually double have double the filling. It's only about 1.86 times the cream.

15:33Men and women eat Oreos differently. 84% of men eat Oreos whole while 41% of women twist the cookie in half. I think it's a choking hazard if you eat whole personally. I don't know. That's why I eat it. I don't eat a whole. I mean, but I don't twist it apart. I eat the cookie as a whole. And the last one is you can now get customized Oreo cookies. Oreo Colored Filled is an extremely limited edition offering that will set you back a steep $15 though it includes shipping. How many cookies for 50 packs are available now and can be ordered on the brand's online shop where you can digitally color the design or pick a template and color it at home. Wow. We may have to stop the podcast now. I've got some shopping to do. I have a link here. I want to include that. Wow.

16:33So a few facts on the national Oreo day. Wow. That was just amazing. Yeah. I wish I'd known I wouldn't want like a black and white shirt or something. Instead of my red elbows up shirt that I'm currently sporting. All right. Well, again, thank you for that fun fact. That was magnificent. Actually, those fun facts. Yes. All right. And that is it for today. Listeners, let us know what you thought of today's crossword. How tough was it for you? Drop us a line. Crossword podcast at iCloud.com. That is it for today. Saturday's crossword. The hardest crossword of the week. I am now trembling in fear. We'll be out shortly. We're going to tackle it. We hope you will too. And we'll be back to talk about that crossword tomorrow. Bye. Bye.