Lots of news, including some of our own!
Congratulations to our very own Matthew Gritzmacher, winner of Lollapuzzoola 15!!! 🎉(Now that we’ve moved to WordPress, if you haven’t already congratulated him on twitter, you can leave a comment on this post! ⬇️⬇️⬇️)
Congrats to all the competitors, finalists, and to the other winners: Ada Nicolle of the in-person Local Division, Tyler Hinman of the online competition, Peter and Claire Rimkus of in-person pairs. See in-person and online standings.
The Lollapuzzoola 15 puzzle pack is available for $20 through September 24, and includes all of the puzzle content: Tournament puzzles by Pao Roy, Ella Dershowitz, Paolo Pasco, Francis Heaney, and Will Nediger; both versions of the final puzzle by Brooke Husic; the tiebreaker puzzle by Rafa Musa; the “Five Buroughs” meta suite by Kate Chin Park, Kelsey Dixon, Shannon Rapp, Carly Schuna, and Sid Sivakumar; and the “On Location” meta suite by Foggy Brume. The livestream of the entire event hosted by Chris Piuma, including constructor interviews, clips from the in-person event, trivia games, the in-person and online finals will be available for a limited time on Twitch.
We at Crossworld News & Notes and Daily Crossword Links are proud to announce our new home at https://dailycrosswordlinks.com. Moving to our own space allows us the flexibility to offer new features that we are very excited to share with you. For now, you will still receive the daily email via Substack, but watch for more details as we continue to add to the new site — we will keep you updated as we plan any changes to email.
To subscribe to the new Daily Crossword Links directly through WordPress, sign up here:
Registration is open now for The Tenth Annual Finger Lakes Crossword Competition on September 24. After a Zoom-based kick off event moderated by Anna Shechtman, the puzzles are presented in a laid-back, self-timed, all-pdf format. The event is open to individuals and teams of up to four people with three levels of difficulty. The fee is pay-what-you-want and proceeds support adult literacy programs in the Finger Lakes area.
Registration for Boswords Fall Themeless League opens September 3.
Save the Date! The 45th Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is scheduled for March 31 – April 2, 2023 in Stamford, CT.
Since the last News & Notes, Sue Fracker (8/16), Doug Burnikel (8/22), Trey Mendez (8/23), and Robert Logan (8/26) made their NYT debuts, and Scott Earl (8/15) and Rena Cohen (8/22) made their USAT debuts! Congrats to everyone!
Trey’s puzzle on August 23 was the first to be published from the Times’ Diverse Crossword Constructor Fellowship program.
“Creating Crossword Puzzles” is a course taught by Brooke Husic and Natan Last in cooperation with Atlas Obscura. The second offering of the course begins October 11 with four weekly sessions over Zoom. The content is intended for very new constructors and those who are interested in how crosswords are made. The first cohort’s puzzle was published August 29 by Atlas Obscura.
The September issue of “GAMES World of Puzzles” magazine is loaded with content for crossword lovers. A three-page article by Hayley Gold titled “Cryp-tic Tick Tick Boom” explores the recent surge in popularity of cryptic crosswords both online and in print. The issue also includes crossword, cryptic, and variety puzzles by Will Nediger, Mike Nothnagel, Frank Longo, and Fred Piscop, among others. The single issue is available for $3.99.
A24 has released “99 Movie Crosswords”, a collection edited by film writer and longtime puzzle constructor Anna Shechtman. Contributing constructors are Max Carpenter, Kameron Austin Collins, Natan Last, Wyna Liu, Paolo Pasco, Amanda Rafkin, Caitlin Reid, Finn Vigeland, and Stella Zawistowski. The puzzles range from Easy to Hard in difficulty and from Neophyte to Expert in film knowledge.
“Do the Work!: An Antiracist Activity Book” by W. Kamau Bell & Kate Schatz is an interactive workbook filled with activities, puzzles, comics, and games. Each of the five chapters concludes with a crossword puzzle, all written by Adesina Koiki. All of the illustrations and games were created by contributors who are BIPOC and/or AAPI. The book gives readers/solvers a unique, hands-on understanding of systemic racism – and how we can dismantle it.
Anigrams is a new, original daily word game where you’re given four letters, and asked to unscramble a four-letter word. Seems simple, right? But then you’re given a fifth letter, and asked to unscramble a five letter word. And then a sixth letter. And then a seventh. And then an eighth. And then a ninth… How high can you go? Can you make it all the way to the🐐? Anigrams was created by Adam Wagner, and developed by Rafael Musa with help from Jacob Goldberg.
Anna Shechtman was featured in the July edition of The Cornellian in “Get a Clue: Anna Shechtman Is a Star in the World of Crosswords“. She teases her book (expected 2024) “The Riddles of the Sphinx,” a history of crossword puzzles with a focus on gender issues.
In a recent edition of The Morning from The New York Times, Sam Ezersky answers questions from Spelling Bee solvers, going deep on his strategies in developing the daily puzzle, and offering solving tips.
“‘Puzzles pair well with reading the news’: Why news outlets are getting into games (again)” examines the history and current state of the relationship between print media and crosswords, with a focus on the puzzles at The New Yorker.
Pete Muller and Andrew White were featured in Princeton Alumni Weekly earlier this month. They discuss how they got started working together in puzzles and their process for creating the daily mini meta series for The Washington Post.
Congratulations to Anna Gundlach, who has joined the editorial team at Andrews McMeel Universal.
Outside the Box Year 8 by Joon Pahk begins in September and subscriptions are open now. You can also subscribe to only weekly Rows Gardens or biweekly variety puzzles if you prefer. If you haven’t branched into variety puzzles, this is a great place to start: 72 Rows Gardens and Variety puzzles for $30 is a great deal and Joon is one of the best variety puzzlemakers in the game.
Sean Weitner and JonMichael Rasmus of The Rackenfracker are launching a variety cryptic subscription service beginning in September. Word▶️ is a suite of puzzles “about all of the different things we press ▶️ on — movies, music, television, gaming, the internet,” the creators said. Word▶️will release a new puzzle to subscribers every month for a year. The first puzzle, On First, has been released as a free preview ahead of launch.
10x10x10 Crosswords III is a pack of ten 10×10 puzzles (five crosswords and five variety puzzles) by Grant Fikes. The pack is yours for a minimum $2 donation to selected charities.
The New York Times is offering 50% off the first year of a Games subscription when you sign up by September 25. The deal also includes $5 off the purchase of…
Wordle: The Party Game by The New York Times is an analog version of the Wordle game for 2-4 real life players. Coming early October.
Thanks in preparing this issue to: Brooke Husic, Adesina Koiki, Adam Wagner, and Sean Weitner.
Have a news tip for us? An idea to pitch? A puzzle or puzzle site to share? Let us know!
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