Saturday, August 23, 2025

Black Crossword: Mini by Juliana Pache.
Club 72: Freestyle 1040: “Working up a sweat.” by Tim Croce. .pdf, .puz only
Crossword Club: Daily Crossword by Ada Nicolle.
David Alfred Bywaters: Close with Clothes by David Alfred Bywaters.
Matt Gaffney’s Weekly Crossword Contest: ($) MGWCC #899 — “Gone Fishin’” (Meta) by Matt Gaffney. Subscribe at Patreon.
The New Dork Times: ($) New Dork Times Bonus Puzzle: Midi 24 by Cole Rush. Subscribe at link.
Norah’s Puzzles: Grocery Games by Shannon Rapp.
Puzzmo: Virgo’s Groove by Matthew Stock. Online only
Reason: Keep It Voluntary by Stella Zawistowski.
Spyscape: Phoenix Rising by Bryant White.

Apple News: ($) Freestyle by Hoang-Kim Vu. News+ Subscription Required
Apple News Mini: ($) Daily Mini by Taylor Johnson. News+ Subscription Required
Crosshare Community: Daily Mini and Featured Puzzles.
Crossherd: Daily Mini. Online only
Crossword Flow: ($) by Ada Nicolle. iPad-exclusive app.
Crosswordr Community: Community Puzzle Platform.
Crosswords with Friends: Smartypants Saturday by Lynn Lempel. App Store | Google Play
Crosswords with Friends: Midi Puzzle by David Steinberg. App Store | Google Play
Crosswords with Friends: Mini Puzzle by Evan Kalish. App Store | Google Play
Daily POP Crosswords: by Janice Luttrell. App Store | Google Play, Online, phone app only
India Mini Crossword: Daily Mini by Sowmya Ramkumar.
Mangesh Ghogre’s Indian Mini Crosswords: Daily Mini by Mangesh Ghogre.
Merriam Webster: The Missing Letter by Matt Gaffney
Morning Brew: Spell It Out by Jack Murtagh.
The Walrus: Ours to Discover by Ada Nicolle.

The Boston Globe: Mini Crossword by Sowmya Ramkumar.
Los Angeles Times: by Matthew Stock & Willa Angel Chen Miller. Create free Cruciverb account for .puz.
Los Angeles Times Mini: by Elizabeth Gorski.
New York Magazine: Cover Letters by Matt Gaffney.
New York Sun: ($) King Me! by Patrick Blindauer. Reissues from 2007.
New York Times: ($) by Ryan Judge.
New York Times Mini: by Joel Fagliano.
Newsday: Saturday Stumper by Byron Walden. Online .pdf
PlayFour: ($) Daily Puzzle. Online only
Squared Away: ($) Daily Puzzle. Online only
The Telegraph: Cross Atlantic Online only
Universal: ($) Universal Freestyle 186 by Rafael Musa. Direct link to .puz.
USA Today: Vibe Shift by Amanda Rafkin.
The Wall Street Journal: Fit for the Job by Alexander Liebeskind. Direct link to .puz.
Washington Post Daily Mini Meta: by Frank Longo.

Tortoiseshell Studio: ($) Pathfinder by Nathan Curtis. Patreon subscription.

Financial Times: FT Crossword .pdf only
Financial Times: FT Crossword: Polymath .pdf only
Financial Times: FT Weekend Magazine Crossword .pdf only
The Hindu Cryptic: Daily Cryptic .pdf, online.
The Independent: Cryptic Crossword .pdf, online only
WSJ Variety: Boxes by Jess Shulman & Andy Yingst. Direct link to .pdf.

Support Daily Crossword Links

Check out the DCL’s staff recommendations from last week’s puzzles

Other American-style links:

Reviews and Discussion at Diary of a Crossword Fiend | Boatload Puzzles/AARP | “Crosscord” Discord | Crucidrama (en español) | Cruciverbalista (en español) | Easy Crossword (Newsday Archives) | FreeDailyCrosswords | Medium Crossword (Newsday Archives) | Hard Crossword (Newsday Archives) | r/crossword | USA Today Reviews and Discussion at Off the Grid | Squares.io | XWord-Muggles Meta Calendar

Other Cryptic/Variety links:

A Frame Games | cf.kmbweb.de Links Library | CoxRathvon.com | Harper’s ($) | Lovatts | Magpie ($) | Mokelfish Links Library | MyCrossword | NPL | Panda Magazine ($) | Private Eye | PuzzleCrypt archives | Puzzling StackExchange | r/crosswords | Sydney Morning Herald ($) | The Telegraph | The Times (UK) ($), includes The Listener

 

DCL Highlights: Week of 8/16

We’re back with some recommendations from the past couple months.

Remember that this is not an attempt to pick the “best” puzzles, and we won’t be commenting as critics. Our approach is best described as “puzzles we solved that we don’t think you should miss.” Kind of like staff recommendations at a local bookstore.

Did we miss your favorites? Add them in the comments!

Los Angeles Times: (7/11) by Wayne Bergman. -Matt

Los Angeles Times: (7/19) by Chandi Deitmer & Erik Agard. -Rich.

Crosstina Aquafina: themeless no. 36 (7/25) by Kelsey Dixon & Erik Agard. A masterpiece. -Norah, Rich, and Matt

Puzzmo: ($) Extra Toppings (7/31) by Bob Weisz. -Rich

Lollapuzzoola: ($) Wild Discoveries (8/9) by Kareem Ayas. It’s got everything you could want in a Lollapuzzoola puzzle: a mechanic that makes you approach solving in a new way while coping with the pressures of a tournament, a ridiculous amount of theme density peppered with diverse mechanics, and an incredibly satisfying payoff in its revealer. Do this one paper–no exceptions. It’s worth a trip to your local library, if that’s what it takes. -Will E

The New Yorker: The Crossword (8/18) by Erik Agard. We’ve seen this striking grid shape from Erik a few times in TNY now, and each time the fill is incredible but this one especially blew me away. -Norah and Rich

USA Today: Another Trip Around the Sun (8/20) by Sally Hoelscher. This was a great puzzle with enough heart that I smiled the whole time I solved it. Super cool that Sally made it & that Amanda ran it on Sally’s birthday. -Jess

Sunday puzzles at The Atlantic and weekly puzzles at The Walrus. Given the long wait since our last of these posts, I’m skipping more individual puzzles to lift up these two weekly options that have been consistently solid this year. Really enjoyable additions to my solving roster, which is a little more limited than it used to be. – Matt