Tuesday, March 10, 2026 - Mmm, give us a bowl of that ol' BABAGHANOUJ 😋

Welcome to Jean and Mike to the New York Times Crossword.

Hi, I'm Jean.

And I'm Mike.

And today we are doing the Crossword for Tuesday, March 10th, 2026.

So on this day that has nothing really special about it,

other than the fact that it's Tuesday, March 10th, as we already mentioned.

Yes.

How did you find today's Crossword?

Well, it was fun.

Good.

It was really different theme-wise.

Because the themed answers were all vertical.

Uh-huh.

That's very rare.

That you have the verticals, the downs, the themed.

But it was fun.

It was a fun one.

Well, good.

It was by Daniel Bodily who was done 16 crosswords the New York Times since 2022.

And he tends to specialize in Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday crosswords.

Oh, very good.

Right.

It was wheelhouse.

Well, this was, I think, a pretty typical Tuesday.

It had, like I said, it had a fun theme.

Mm-hmm.

Not too hard.

But there were some clues there that I wasn't like, oh, yeah, it's that.

I didn't get them right off the bat.

Okay, I'm going to try and predict one of those.

Okay.

70 across.

That was capital of North Macedonia, stop chi.

No, I did not know about that.

All right.

I got one then.

Let me try another one.

I knew, I know you got 58 across, apt anagram of brush, shrub.

I'm sure you got that one.

Yep.

How could you miss?

What about 23 across?

Something I can stand for.

Iota.

Right.

Yeah, I did not get that.

Yeah, I didn't get it.

I solved the crossword, but I didn't understand it until just now.

Something I can stand for.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah, I just immediately went for the pronoun.

Uh-huh.

I just had a little trouble with 236 across.

Eight pointer in Scrabble.

J tile.

Mm-hmm.

So.

Yeah, I've never seen anything that ends in tile like that.

Uh-huh.

But I guess it is a J tile.

Uh-huh.

Yep.

And that crossed with eight down, one playing 45s informally, radio DJ.

Yep.

And I was trying to decide, did they still do that?

Yeah.

I don't know.

I mean, they can't be as common.

I think there might be some niche markets where they do, but.

That's sort of interesting.

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

We had one down.

They wear masks at home.

Um, pumps.

Yes.

That was cute.

Yes.

Good place to start.

And did you, let's see, I'm going to predict that you did get two down immediately.

You would wrap.

Oh, yes.

Oh, sorry.

See, I looked at that and thought it was like the end of a movie.

Oh.

Right.

Because it was Bollywood.

Uh-huh.

So, but then I had the S of USB K, uh, one across blind dash the cable.

USB K.

Right.

So I was able to get to Siri pretty quickly.

Very good.

Mm-hmm.

So, yeah, why don't we talk about the theme?

Okay.

Well, as I said, all of the theme clues went vertically.

They were down clues.

And, um, I will, I will go through them quickly and see if you can see the theme.

Okay.

Uh, three down was focus of gonday protest.

And that was a British Raj.

And then we had, um, 32 down.

All time best selling female rapper worldwide was Nikki Minaj.

Mm-hmm.

And then we had eight down radio DJ, as you mentioned before.

They also had, um, 17 down, Mediterranean dish whose name can be translated as pampered daddy.

And that was Boba Ganou.

Uh, and then we also had, uh, 45 down, which was drink that's just been squeezed, say.

And that was fresh OJ.

Right.

And if you haven't figured out what they all have in common is they all end in J.

Mm-hmm.

And then we had a radio DJ, fresh OJ, Nikki Minaj and Baba Ganou.

And the revealer clue was funny, it was the very last one.

Three letters, Bronx, Bronx, Born Star to fans or a fanatic to the theme clues.

And that was J. Low.

Yes.

So all the J's were quite low.

Yes.

That was cute.

Very clever.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I liked that.

So, um, at any, at any point during the solving experience, did you find yourself saying 18

across?

Haven't the foggiest?

I don't know.

Well, you know, when I started and I got like, I think it was 49 across was, um, well, not quite open.

It was completely closed.

A jar.

And that J came at the end and I'm like, oh, that can't be right.

But what else would it be?

You know, what would it, and then I, and then I kept seeing more J's and I'm like, oh, well,

maybe there's a thing here.

But yeah, I was a little concerned when I saw that J at the, at the end of a very long

down clue, which turned out to be British Raj.

Yes.

So, uh, so yeah, that was, that was a little bit of a puzzlement.

But, uh, but yeah, eventually I sort of got the hang of it and said, oh, yeah, there's

a lot of clues or answers like that.

So.

How about 25 down?

Biseis Habanera for one.

Arya.

Did you get that one right away?

Uh, no.

Oh, mm-hmm.

Yeah, I don't think I did either.

No.

Although, I might have gotten it pretty quickly because.

Well, I didn't have the A because I didn't have that.

I owed one.

That one took me a while.

So no, I didn't know that.

Right.

I mean, I like the fact that we had 26 across.

That was conductor stick baton.

Right.

And then we had 71 across.

That was dangerous sort of stick TNT.

Right.

Yes.

Sort of sticky something in there.

And we had, let's see, 28 down.

I thought this was, this was curious.

Razor scooters and Rubik's cubes wants fads.

Mm-hmm.

Ever been on a razor scooter?

I have not.

I hear they're very thin and very sharp.

Uh-huh.

And to gather, they're still made.

Oh, really?

Well, we had that word that, that kind of, we were discussing, I think, was it just last

week, 44 across, wolf down, snarf.

Yes.

Instead of scarf.

Right.

Because I wanted to put, but I'm like, oh, no, it's snarf.

We had this before.

I think I actually guessed right on this one, which was surprising, because usually I do just

the opposite.

Uh-huh.

How about 51 down?

That was, let's go.

Moteko.

Amos.

Is that her to pronounce vermus?

Because there's only one, oh.

Yeah.

It isn't vemos.

It is.

Yeah, I guess maybe.

Yeah.

We always say the most.

Really?

Yeah, but it's Spanish.

It's almost, almost.

So what does that mean?

It's like, let's go, macho person or mustache.

No, it just means that we go.

So who's the machacho there?

Oh.

That would be, um, was it machacho?

Yeah.

That would be boy.

Let's go boy.

I see.

Okay.

It wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't, let's go mustache, which is what I was.

No.

No.

Oh, that's good.

Uh, let's see.

We had, um, 59 down, ignominious failure.

Bust.

That's right.

I just like to say ignominious.

Uh-huh.

It usually takes me two or three tries.

Uh-huh.

As soon as you should know, I've been practicing this for days.

Uh-huh.

So.

All right.

Well, speaking of ignominious failures.

Yes.

It's Tuesday.

Which means it's time for triplets Tuesday.

Do, do, do, do, do.

Is that like an almond or something of what's to come?

Yes.

Yeah.

Oh, wait.

Failures.

I forgot.

I'm asking you the questions today.

Yes.

You are.

It will be a, a noble success.

Oh, you think.

Yeah.

But next week, you'll be an ignominious failure.

Oh, okay.

All right.

So for new listeners, uh, triplets Tuesday is that segment where one of us reads the

three clues to the other.

The answer to all three clues is one three letter answer.

The object is to guess that answer in as few clues as possible.

We do it three times, hence the name triplet Tuesday.

You are invited to play along.

As soon as I've asked the clue hit pause and see if you can figure it out before Jean does.

And let us know you did.

All right.

Are you ready?

I'm ready.

Okay.

Here we go.

Your first clue, hum follower.

No, no, no.

Hum follower.

Oh, hum follower.

Hum.

Hum.

Hum.

Humb.

Hum.

Humb.

Hum.

Hum.

Hum.

Hum follower.

Is that HUM follower?

Yes.

Okay.

I can think of lots of things that come before them, but...

HMMM

HMMM

HMMM

I don't know.

Okay.

Your next clue?

Civic Center.

Civic Center.

Yes, with a question mark after it.

Civic Center?

V.

Yes.

I'm V.

Nicely done.

And your third clue would have been Geese Formation.

Oh, V.

Yes.

All right, well done.

Okay.

Okay.

Your next set of clues.

Listeners, hope you're still with us.

Pachinko author, blank Jin Lee.

blank Jin...

Jin J-E-A-N.

No J-I-N.

Jin Lee.

Okay.

HMMM

I don't know.

I haven't read that.

I can guess.

Lin, L-I-N.

No.

TV Ad Unit, Abra.

I'm abbreviation.

Yes.

TV Ad Min.

Right.

Yeah.

Okay.

And your third clue would have been 66 S-E-C-S.

Uh-huh.

Okay.

All right.

You are doing great.

All right.

Last set of clues here.

Subtinent of Noam Chomsky's American Power and the New Mandarins.

Briefly.

HMMM

Let's name it again.

American Power and the New Mandarins.

Oh.

HMMM

Noam Chomsky.

Noam Chomsky, you remember him.

I do.

Really?

I have no idea who that person is.

And he has written that I haven't read that.

So, um, RNC.

No.

Uh, your second clue?

60s theater.

60s gear.

No.

60s theater.

Theater.

60s theater.

HMMM

Theater.

60s as in like 1960s.

It's actually a dream as apostrophe 60s.

Oh, okay.

So, probably the 1960s could be the 1860s?

Could be the 1460s?

I am not at liberty to say.

It's just apostrophe 60s.

60s theater.

HMMM

HMMM

HMMM

Boy.

This is tough.

60s theater.

HMMM

HMMM

HMMM

HMMM

I have no idea.

Warzone for Rambo, informally.

Warzone for Rambo.

Rambo.

DMC.

Noam.

Noam.

Okay.

All right, hang on.

We have to talk to the judges.

Yes.

We accept it.

No, okay.

War.

Yeah.

60s theater.

I was worried that you'd see through that.

Oh.

And think of it as.

I wasn't even thinking about war.

Right.

Ironically, we were discussing this earlier today, so.

Uh-huh.

But, all right.

You got all three of them.

Yeah.

Pretty well.

Well, no, you did fight.

I mean, the third one was particularly.

I was worried that you would know Noam Chomsky's book.

Well, I, like I said, I know him.

And I've read things he's written, but not that book.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

Well, we'll chalk that out as a win.

Bravo.

Okay.

And listeners, how did you do?

Let us know crossword podcast at iCloud.com.

Yeah.

That is it for today.

We will be back again with our in-depth.

Cutting it to analysis of tomorrow's crossword.

Tomorrow.

Bye-bye.