Category: puzzle-recs

We’re back with some recommendations, aiming to get more regular with these posts again.

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!

We shared a plug for the ORCAS in our most recent News & Notes, but if you mostly read in email, the gremlins got it, so we’ll reproduce it here. It’s basically a year-long, community-wide highlights effort that you don’t want to miss:

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.

To make a donation, visit the ORCAS-specific donation page at The Trevor Project. Once your gift is confirmed, an access link will be displayed on the Thank You page. For any questions, 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 Ghore, 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.
_____

Defector: ($) The Crossword, Oct. 20: Pitch Perfect by Ben Zimmer. (10/20) – Norah

Lil AVCX: ($) Messy by Kameron Austin Collins (11/11) – Matt

Quite Vexing: “Halloweek” series by Quiara Vasquez (10/31) – Parker

Universal: ($) Press Clippings by Jonathan Raksin. (11/11) – Norah
The Wall Street Journal: Side Eyes by Zachary Edward-Brown (11/13) – Norah

AVCX: ($) AV Classic Themeless #85 by Amie Walker (12/3) Subtly clever clues around every corner and packed with fresh entries – Norah, Jess, Rich

Universal: ($) Go with the Flow by Derek Ruttan (12/3) Nice theme elegantly executed in a good debut puzzle – Norah

Real Puzzling Stuff: Satire + Scorekeeping (12/2) by Ryan Patrick Smith. Really neat grid shape that allows for impressive fill and plenty of tough but fun cluing – Norah

The New Yorker: Rough Copy by Mollie Cowger (12/15) Good practice for solvers trying to improve their theme recognition. -Will

Nautilus Puzzles: Uber Ultra by Ben Tolkin (12/22) A 45×45 behemoth that’s fun all the way through. – Matt

Ariadne’s Crossword Library: January 2026 Monthly Contest: “Are You Missing Something?” by Hannah Binney (1/1) Really clever literature-based meta. – Steve

Fireball: ($) Atomic Fireball by Daniel Bodily and George Barany (1/8) The first Fireball of each year is always a special one. – Matt

Puzzles That Need A Home: Pardon the Interruption by brian thomas (1/8) It’s been a minute since the last from PTNAH, and this themeless is predictably a joy. – Matt

The New Yorker: January 19 by Erik Agard. A couple clues here set the bar very high for the rest of the year. – Rich & Matt

Scientific American: Consciousness Carriers by Aimee Lucido (1/20) – Matt

Inteltainment: Themeless #157 by Stella Zawistowski (1/21) My favorite from Stella to date. – Matt

Universal: ($) Grid Over Troubled Water by Howard Neuthaler. – Matt

Newsday: Saturday Stumper by Ben Zimmer (1/17) – Matt

Bewilderingly: Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 by Will Nediger (1/26) A classically “Will” puzzle. – Steve & Matt

Crosswoods: Films for a Cozy Snow Day by Crosswoods (1/25) – Steve

Slate: Slate Crossword by Les Mots and Malaika Handa (1/25) A great medium-difficulty, fresh themeless. – Matt

Universal: ($) Amiss by Aidan Deshong and Adam Levav (1/28) Worth it, period, but especially if you’re gearing up for tournament solving. – Matt

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!

Lollapuzzoola: ($) Variety Meta Suite (8/9) by Brian Cimmet. I’ll admit I “only” got through the first round of this by myself, but that would be worth the price of admission alone (and it comes with this year’s uniformly excellent tournament puzzles, and a very fun midi meta suite besides). Seeing how the final two steps worked had me in awe of this construction, and the thought and care that went into it. -Parker

Los Angeles Times: (8/23) by Matthew Stock and Willa Angel Chen Miller. -Matt

Puzzmo : The Droids You’re Looking For (8/25) by Joe Deeney. -Matt

Los Angeles Times (8/29) by Jeffrey Martinovic. Creative theme that makes use of circled squares in an interesting and unusual way. -Norah

Luckystreak+: ($) puzzle #235: right now would be nice (9/2) by Ada Nicolle. -Rich

The New Yorker: Themeless (9/2) by Brooke Husic. Flashy spanner that was fun to see in a puzzle (and, especially, one from this outlet), but the great sparkly conversational fill started from the very first entry, and there were noticeably interesting clues even for the more standard stuff. -Parker

Apple News: ($) Make the Years Count (9/3) by Willa Angel Chen Miller. -Rich

Los Angeles Times: (9/6) by Rafael Musa and Geoffrey Schorkopf. -Matt

The New Yorker: Themeless (9/8) by Will Nediger. -Matt

Universal: Fill the Void (9/19) by Madison Shultz. Creative and adorable theme. Density and construction that could prove challenging to fill nicely but here makes for a smooth solve. -Norah

Xwordmaxxing: September 20 (9/20) by Adrianne Baik. Gorgeous triple stacks at the top and bottom and a handful of clues that made me chuckle with just the right touch of indie vibes. -Norah

Bewilderingly Puzzles: The World’s Most Cornery Crossword (9/22) by Will Nediger. The Games Magazine-inspired title alone was enough to grab my attention. Will says this is “definitely cornerier than the average puzzle.” With impressive chunks coming in at 10×5, 4×9, 3×10, and 9×4, I have to agree. -Norah

MGWCC: ($) Free Refill (9/26) by Will Nediger. An instant classic, multi-layered meta, and yet another one that makes us all say “how does he do it?” -Norah

Puzzmo: Mini Crossword Series (10/1-10/31) by Brooke Husic. Puzzmo’s first-ever mini crosswords, this intricately crafted month-long series introduces one lesson in cruciverbal “grammar” each day, with the promise of teaching its participants to be better solvers. In the wrong hands, such an exercise might come with a sense of eat-your-vegetables, but each little puzzle here feels like Art. Puzzmo publishes one per day all month; find links to the full list on Brooke’s site. -Parker

Midwest Crossword Tournament ($) (10/4). Tournaments are always a must for me, and this year’s Midwest set brings a fun mix (like Westwords, both themed and themeless puzzles) with approachable cluing voices and a wider range of difficulty than last year’s inaugural set. -Matt

The New Yorker: The Crossword (10/6) by Kameron Austin Collins. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like this grid, with its horizontal lines of blocks and spanners all the way down. -Rich

Slate: Midi (10/8) by Ben Zimmer. Very Ben and very fun. -Norah

Universal: Shadow Puppets (10/9) by Jay Silverman. Super creative and a good reason to eschew symmetry. -Norah

Crossword Club: Daily Crossword (10/12) by Kate Chin Park. I love Kate’s exclamation point clue for the central spanner. -Rich

Puzzmo: Tag! (10/12) by Alex-Eaton Salners. Subtle yet fun theme that is elevated by the grid design. Impressive construction that is also fun to solve! -Jess

Universal: Winter is Coming! (10/14) by Rena Cohen. Technically impressive, dense with theme, and perfectly executed with a double revealer. -Norah

Defector: ($) Foraging (10/14) by Sala Wanetick. Standardish sort of cute theme elevated by its arrangement into grid art and plenty of interesting fill and cluing. -Norah

Universal: Two Beers (10/17) by Kareem Ayas. Eight quality themers and a revealer in a grid this smoothly solvable is not easy to do. -Norah

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

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!

Lil AVCX: ($) By the Numbers (3/31) by Kaye Brown. You don’t have to be a [spoilers] superfan to appreciate this gridwork. —Rich

Universal: ($) Figure It Out (4/3) by Drew Schmenner. —Matt

The Walrus: Elbows Up (4/4) by Emma Lawson. —Matt

Los Angeles Times: (4/5) by Enrique Henestroza Anguiano & Erik Agard. Such marvelous cluing! This puzzle was a challenge for me but I loved every minute of it. —Rich

Good Clues For People Who Love Bad Clues: Just One Clue 2! (ft. 138 Cluers!) by Frisco17 (grid) + Gizmo Thwomp (organization) + 136 other amazing people. —Matt

Apple News: ($) Three in a Row (4/6) by Claire Rimkus. I really wish Apple puzzles were more widely accessible because they’re really good! If you can get it, this theme is a delight. —Rich

New York Times: ($) Course Correction (4/6) by Kareem Ayas. A theme with enough layers to leave me seriously impressed, and then I noticed yet one more. How’d he make it? No clue. But I loved solving it. —Jess

USA Today: Sounds Like Fun (4/6) by Dan Hrynick. —Matt

Half-Baked Puzzles: Puzzle #107: You Can Call Me… (4/7) by Rich Iurilli and Will Eisenberg. —Matt

The New Yorker: The Crossword (4/15) by Paolo Pasco. I’m sure someone else has done this grid shape before, but I’m blown away by how cleanly Paolo filled around a trio of intersecting stacks. —Rich

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!

ClassiCanadian: S.O.S.! (2/20) by Barb Olson. Really fun theme set, given the revealer. –Matt

Jonesin’: “Put ‘Em Together” (2/20) -Matt

The New Yorker: (2/24) by Erik Agard. Great grid, great clues. -Steve

Puzzmo: “Can I get a, um, uhh–?” (2/24) Sara Cantor. An easier themeless jampacked with fill and fun. I’m on record as preferring harder themelesses, but this is my favorite puzzle of the year so far. -Matt

Bewilderingly: “What’s the Deal with Doug?” (2/24) by Will Nediger. -Matt

Los Angeles Times: (2/25) by Nate Cardin. so much theme content, so much smooth. -Matt

BEQ: “No Loose Ends” (2/27) by Brendan Emmett Quigley. Good and smooth. -Matt.

Puzzmo: “Day In, Day Out” (3/11) by Doug Peterson. Quite a breezy solve and fun bonus entries, but my favorite thing about this puzzle is the absolutely perfect apt-pair theme that makes you go “I wish I had thought of that”. -Norah

Boswords: (3/17) by Will Eisenberg. Will puts a lot of effort as a constructor and editor into the balance of fair, difficult, and puzzling, and it shows throughout in his Boswords grid. -Matt

New York Times: Acrostic (3/23) Another great acrostic from David Balton and Jane Stewart. They are masters! -Steve

Washington Post: “You Are Surrounded” (3/23) by Evan Birnholz. Astounding , tight and satisfying solve. -Steve. Rare to see a meta this smooth and accessible with multiple steps -Matt

We’re all a bit behind on solving lately, so we’re briefer today, and there’s a good possibility the next couple of these posts will have some older puzzles as we catch up.

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!

Cruciverb: Selected puzzles from the Minneapolis Journal in 1934. I’ve loved working through these nearly century-old puzzles, which are hard, but not as inscrutable as I expected. –Matt

Vox: (2/15) by Ade Koiki –Matt

Los Angeles Times: (2/12) by Hoang-Kim Vu and (2/16) by Jill Rafaloff & Michael Sontarp –Matt

Universal: Hour-Long (2/18) by Richard D. Allen –Matt

Bewilderingly: Will posted the latest round of his Indie puzzle highlights since our last recs post.

Washington Post: Little League (2/9), Letters of Introduction (2/16), and Backup Plans (2/23), all by Evan Birnholz. Evan’s on a hot streak. Three very different puzzles from each other, with some stuff we bet you haven’t seen before. –Matt and Steve

AVCX+: Seeking Joy (2/21) by Rebecca Goldstein –Norah

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!

NYT Acrostic: (1/26) by David Balton and Jane Stewart. This acrostic is elegant and satisfying, especially in how it weaves in topical information in the clues and answers. Really fun! – Steve

Puzzmo: Single Ladies (1/27) by kenny & brooke. This theme and revealer would’ve caught my attention no matter what, but the unusual size and grid shape are particularly striking. Here’s to more outlets embracing themes that don’t fit typical 15x symmetry rules. —Rich

Puzzmo: Elevenses (1/31) by Priyanka Sethy & Rajiv Sethy. Another cool grid from Puzzmo: Every single entry is an 11 or a 3. —Rich

Boswords: ($) Afternoon Fourcast (2/2) by Alina Abidi. A standout from this year’s Winter Wondersolve; I loved how intentionally the themers were positioned in the grid. The puzzle pack is available now and well worth it if you haven’t solved. —Rich (and Norah and Steve) 

BEQ: Themeless Monday #809 (1/27) by Brendan Emmett Quigley. this week (#809) was just the right level of hard, with a couple of new in-the-language words and phrases and eventually gettable difficult clues. Right in my sweet spot. – Steve

Lutercross: Remember When (1/28). A rare themed puzzle from Matthew with a great payoff – Matt

Wall Street Journal: But You Can Call Me… (1/24) by Matt Gaffney. Nothing groundbreaking here, just plenty satisfying. – Matt

Zerofiftyone: Organized Crimes (1/23) by Ben Wilson. We only found Ben’s site a few weeks ago, and we’ve all been missing out. – Matt

Vox: Punxsutawney Fill (2/1) by Andrew Ries. I didn’t recognize the full theme until the revealer. My favorite puzzle of the Groundhog Day weekend. – Matt

The Hub Crossword: We’ve Got Issues (2/2) by Joon Pahk. It’s a bit of an old standard, theme type-wise, but one of those puzzles where each themer is a little discovery. – Matt

Universal: Insert Bills Here (2/3) by Zachary David Levy. Has it been done before? Sure, but it lends itself to particularly fun themers. – Matt

The New Yorker: (2/4) by Erik Agard. Erik’s unthemed puzzle was the perfect combination of stuff you didn’t know you knew that eventually become obvious, in the language phrases, and new things  that are great to learn. – Steve

AVCX+: ($) The Search Goes On by August Miller. This puzzle turns up the heat in both current fill and tricky cluing – Matt

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!

Puzzmo: Business Up Front, Party in the Back (1/11) by Trent H. Evans. The rise of the midi form allows for all sorts of wordplay finds that wouldn’t work in a 15×15 grid to get their moment in the sun. This grid has two themers and a perfect title bringing them together. – Matt

Dissonant Grids: “it’s hard to get out of bed” and “it’s hard to know what i’m feeling” (1/12) by Owen Bergstein. For anyone who loves how a puzzle can reveal the personality of the constructor, Owen Bergstein’s Inferno Variations, a double-gridded masterpiece, offers a tough going but ultimately rewarding and artistic experience. – Steve 

Bewilderingly: This Puzzle Is Full of Itself (1/13) by Will Nediger. One of those puzzles where you can’t wait for the next theme clue to see what else the constructor has in store. – Matt 

Will also posted another edition of his Indie puzzle highlights, which we’re now going to include in these posts rather than News & Notes. Note that his posts are much more spoiler-heavy than ours.

Merriam Webster: The Missing Letter (1/16) by Matt Gaffney. We haven’t had Matt’s Merriam Webster puzzles in these posts yet. They’re awfully constrained, as each puzzle features clues starting with 25 different letters of the alphabet. This had a great pair of long entries. – Matt

Los Angeles Times: (1/16) by Pravan Chakravarthy. Cute idea in a direction you don’t see very often. – Matt

Vox: Blow-by-Blow Account (1/18) by Adesina O. Koiki. Tight theme set with a spot-on revealer. – Matt

Los Angeles Times: (1/22) by Parker Higgins. Themes don’t need dramatic contortions for a great payoff. I laughed out loud when I hit the revealer on this one. – Matt

Universal: ($) Break It Up! (1/24) by Ryan Mathiason. A great theme that I enjoyed piecing together even after my solve. – Matt

Apple News: ($) Freestyle (1/25) by Kate Chin Park. Shouting out the clue at 46-Across. —Rich 

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!

Apple News: ($) Would You Let Me Finish? (1/5) by Ada Nicolle. – Rich

Audubon: Waiting in the Wings (1/7) by Jasper Davidoff. A cute theme with a bunch of fun bonus clues and fill. – Matt, Rich, Norah

Defector: ($) Miss Me (1/6) by Marshal Herrmann. I’m honestly kind of shocked I hadn’t seen this theme before, but it didn’t lessen my nostalgic enjoyment any less. – Matt

Slate: Slate Midi (1/7) by Quiara Vasquez. – Rich

Wall Street Journal: Autoplay (1/9) by Mike Shenk. From time to time, including this puzzle, I look at “By Mike Shenk/Edited by Mike Shenk” and chuckle a little. I was eating crow a few minutes later on this one. A brilliant puzzle with a theme delivered absolutely thoroughly. – Matt

AVCX+: ($) “I’m Content” (1/10) by Owen Bergstein. One benefit to being home rehabbing my knee is that I am finally caught up on all the puzzles on my clipboard (save a stack of Tim Croce puzzles that always take me 20+ minutes to solve). I wish I’d made note of all the recent puzzles I’ve liked but here’s one that I thought was particularly impressive, partially because of his age, but just because of some fresh, clever cluing. Looking forward to seeing much more from him. – Steve

Los Angeles Times: (1/11) by Kareem Ayas. Kareem had a trio of themelesses today, and this grid was the star for me. Funky letter combinations and fresh entries fill out three separate stacks with a lovely staircase center. – Matt

Universal: Universal Freestyle 156 (1/11) by Kareem Ayas. Easier than his LA Times grid, but no less full of interesting fill from corner to corner. – Matt

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!

Defector: ($) Out of Office (12/30) by Evan Mulvihill. It’s a themeless. It’s a good one. Evan is one of my favorite new constructors in the last year or so. – Matt

New York Times: Extremely Online in 2024 (1/1) by Paolo Pasco. Blue clues? In the Gray Lady? Inconceivable. -Norah 

Science News: Twisting Words (1/2) by Shannon Rapp. There’s a straightforward way and an extra-level way to do this theme, and I was pleasantly surprised to find the latter when I reached the second themer. But the real star of this puzzle is the vibrant cluing angles for so much of the fill. -Matt

Half-Baked Puzzles: Color Theory (1/1) by Will Eisenberg. Another one where the theme could have stopped and been a fine puzzle, but went to another level. -Matt

Fireball: ($) Turn It Down! (1/1) by Gus Bloxham. Two years in a row where the first Fireball puzzle is a banger. Maybe you’ve heard this before, but I like it when a theme gets taken to the next level. – Matt 

Newsday: Box Lunch (1/3) by Stanley Newman. Full of satisfying breakthroughs in both the fill and the theme. – Matt

Los Angeles Times: (1/4) by Rafael Musa. Full of spicy, in-the-language fill and engaging clues. A great place to spend your weekend. – Matt