One of the online crossword community’s annual traditions is a tongue-in-cheek play on awards season: the ORCAS (an anagram of OSCAR) celebrate the previous year in puzzles. Rich Proulx, who heads the effort, passes on the following blurb kicking off this year’s awards.
There’s something special about the 14th ORCAS.
Sure, we added five new awards (did someone say cryptics?) Yeah, the ballot contains 15 categories comprised of 124 nominations from 59 different outlets. But, this year, you can solve these spectacular ORCA-nominated puzzles in our first-ever puzzle pack!
All funds raised support The Trevor Project, a suicide hotline for LGBTQ+ youth. Although suicide rates for LGBTQ+ youth are surging (39% seriously considered suicide in 2024), HHS terminated its contract for FY2026.
The puzzle pack includes 76 ORCA-nominated puzzles from 44 outlets plus five original puzzles from the Constructor of the Year nominees. Along with the puzzle pack, donors will receive early access to the ORCAS ballot, which will be posted publicly on February 3.
For information on how to make a donation and receive the puzzle pack, email: theorcaawards@gmail.com.
Join us for the ORCA awards on Monday, February 23 at 6 pm PT / 9 pm ET. Co-hosts David Kwong and Ophira Eisenberg will be live at https://www.youtube.com/@orcaawards along with T Campbell, Aimee Lucido, Laura Braunstein, Katie Grogg, Christina Iverson, Ben Tausig, Stella Zawistowski, Andy Kravis, Brad Wilber, Mangesh Ghogre, Peter Collins, H. Kim Vu, Rafael Musa, Lynn Lempel, and more.
Do you want to know just how good it’s going to be? Check out this sneak preview.
Several members of the DCL team are nominators for the ORCAS, and we’re thrilled to see 59 different outlets represented this year.
As expected for the final year in Stamford, the ACPT sold out rapidly this year. If you missed out on an in-person spot, you can still register at the tournament website for the concurrent online competition, and mark your calendars now for 2027’s tournament in Philadelphia, April 30-May 2.
Before we get there, Boswords’ annual Winter Wondersolve, a fully online event, takes place next Sunday, February 1 and features four puzzles from 1:00 to 4:30 PM Eastern.
If you’re local enough to Westport, CT, the annual Westport Library Tournament (also run by Will Shortz) takes place two weekends from now, on February 7th.
Boswords’ Spring Themeless League will also likely start up prior to ACPT. More on that as it’s announced.
Post-ACPT, the crew at Westwords have announced their 2026 event will again take place in Berkeley, CA on June 14. Westwords offers both an in-person and online tournament, and new this year will have an in-person pairs division. I believe the in-person event has sold out every year so far, so don’t hesitate to make plans if you’re interested.
Andy Kravis maintains a Google Doc here staying up to date on all known tournaments throughout the year. Worth bookmarking for a quick reference!
The team behind These Puzzles Fund Abortion, which has raised nearly $400K for abortion funds and access to healthcare since 2021, have announced TPFA6 coming later this spring. More details coming in the next few weeks.
Keep an eye out on our lists in early February for an expanded puzzle section from Toronto-based newspaper The Globe and Mail. We’re expecting a daily mini, a weekend 21x, and cryptics from the legendary Fraser Simpson finally available online.
Thanks to all who donated to our year-end fundraiser. If you donated and have not received the puzzle pack, either I mistyped your email or I don’t know your email. Please reach out to crosswordlinks [at] gmail [dot] com.
You can of course donate to our project at any time of the year, and will be automatically added to the list for our next fundraiser pack. More information at our Support Us page.