The Westwords Crossword Tournament will be held June 23 in Berkeley, CA and online. Constructors are: Adam Wagner, Amanda Rafkin, Enrique Henestroza Anguiano, Mollie Cowger, Rafael Musa, Rich Proulx, and Sara Cantor. Registration remains open.
The Boswords Summer Tournament will be held July 21 in Boston and online.
Congrats to the Boswords Spring Themeless League champions: Tyler Hinman, Stormy Division and Adam Teets, Smooth division; as well as all other award winners.
Lollapuzzoola 2024 will be held August 24 in New York City. Registration is open now.
The Midwest Crossword Tournament will be held October 5 in Chicago. Registration is open now.
The 47th Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament will be held in Stamford Connecticut April 4-6, 2025. Registration is expected to open January 1.
Crossword Craze, a project by Natan Last, Ben Zimmer, and Parker Higgins, commemorates one hundred years of crosswords. They share “ephemeral gems from the crossword archives” on the same date they appeared in 1924. Articles, comics, and photos are staples of the series so far. Ben wrote about the project for the Wall Street Journal.
Adrienne Raphel, for the New York Times, talked with Paolo Pasco, Ada Nicolle, Ricky Cruz, and Adam Aaronson for “How Gen Z Made the Crossword Their Own“
Brooke Husic and Natan Last discuss their crossword construction philosophies and their work with the Atlas Obscura crossword constructing class in a piece by Adrienne Raphel for Atlas Obscura. The next class is open to the public, designed for those interested in learning how crosswords are made, and begins September 10.
Erik Agard, Rachel Fabi, Adrian Johnson, and Juliana Pache appeared on a recent episode of The Allusionist podcast to discuss their work in crosswords with an emphasis on how puzzles can be used to raise money for charities and humanitarian causes.
Everdeen Mason and Zoe Bell of the New York Times appeared on CBS Sunday Morning to talk about Wordle solvers and strategy.
The Talk Nerdy podcast hosted Anna Shechtman to discuss her book, “The Riddles of the Sphinx.”
At Dazed Digital, “Why is everyone so obsessed with puzzle games now?”
Ada Nicolle’s book, “A-to-Gen Z Crosswords: 72 Puzzles That Hit Different” is out now.
We shared news of the launch of the Slate crossword in our last issue just before ACPT. Shortly thereafter, Quiara Vasquez, Slate’s crossword editor, shared more details in a newsletter. The puzzles have indie vibes and medium difficulty and have made our weekly recommendations a few times.
The Modern announced changes to its publication schedule: They have scaled back from two full-sized crosswords each week to one, now alternating themeless and themed offerings on Sundays only while maintaining the daily midi puzzle. At the same time, they announced a temporary closure to submissions.
LinkedIn Games Editor Paolo Pasco shared news of the first three daily games available for LinkedIn users to play: Pinpoint, Crossclimb, and Queens. Users can also subscribe to Gametime, a weekly newsletter in which Paolo discusses puzzlemaking and solving, and occasionally touches on other happenings in the puzzle world.
AVCX+ is open for themeless crossword submissions from the public through June 30. Specs and more info here.
Nancy Schuster, Crossword Champion, Creator, and Editor was memorialized by the New York Times after her death at the age of 90.
And finally, a round-up of post-ACPT news, blogs, and recaps:
- Marie desJardin‘s “2024 ACPT Recap”
- Will Eisenberg‘s “ACPT 2024: A Rookie Report”
- Tyler Hinman‘s “On the 2024 ACPT”
- NYT’s Wirecutter reported on the pencil choices of crossword champions
- Wirecutter’s TikTok on crossword fashion and pencils
- From Defector, Hoang-Kim Vu with a sports coverage-like in-depth review of the entire tournament and several tips from elite solvers
- Quick piece from PBS News Weekend
- Caleb Madison for the Atlantic, with Paolo Pasco
- Ariana Haghighi of Honi Soit (the student newspaper of the University of Sydney) talked with Paolo Pasco after his ACPT win.
- The Stamford Advocate
- Greenwich Time
- News 12 Long Island
- Main Street Daily News Gainesville
Congratulations to everyone who has made debuts since our last edition:
Los Angeles Times: (4/20), Alex Rosen (4/24), Sarah Sinclair (4/25), Kelsey Dixon (4/25), Evans Clinchy (4/27), Harry Doernberg (4/29), Andy Walker (5/1), Joe Rodini (5/9), David B. Ritterskamp (5/10), Dennis Nullet (5/12), Aaron Ullman (5/13), Jared Cappel (5/23), Bob Weisz (6/1)
USA Today: Sam Brody (4/18), Jon Pennington (4/12), Dylan Schiff (4/25), Jay Silverman (4/30), Marshall Hermann (5/2), Michael Teasdale (5/6), Renee Thomason (5/9), Brad LeBeau (5/18), Freddie Cheng (5/20), Kiran Pandey (5/24), Sam Cordes (5/29)
New York Times: Caroline Sommers (4/9), Jess Rucks (4/13), John Rippe (4/14), Amanda Winters (4/15), Judy Bowers (4/23), Mike Ellison (4/28), Tom Locke (4/29), Eli Cotham (5/3), Justin Werfel (5/7), Jesse Cohn (5/10), Avery Gee Katz (5/12), Sara Muchnick (5/16), Jack Scherban (5/20), Chris Leatherberry (5/28), Jeanne Breen (5/29), Aidan Deshong (5/31), Alana Platt (6/3)
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