Monday, April 24, 2023

Black Crossword: Mini by Juliana Pache. .pdf, online.
The Columbia Spectator: Daily Mini: 4/24/23 by Jolie L’Heureux. .puz, .pdf, online.
Crosshare Community: Daily Mini and Featured Puzzles.
The Daily Pennsylvanian: Mini by Delaney Parks and Matt Mahoney. .pdf, online.
Fordham Observer: The Finalé by Allie Stofer and Kreena Vora. .pdf, online.
Fordham Observer: Monday, April 24 (Mini) by Kreena Vora. .pdf, online.
Monday Fills: No Visitors by Dave Murchie. .puz, .pdf, online.
Muggle Meta Mondays: Do I Have To Spell It Out For You? (Meta) by Al Sisti. .puz, .pdf.
Olio Grids: What a Tragedy! by Brian Callahan. .pdf, online.
Real Puzzling Stuff: Met Galas + Mughal Mosques (Themeless, 4/23/23) by Ryan Patrick Smith. .pdf, online.
YourPuzzleSource: Daily Puzzle (Midi) by Phil Fraas. .pdf, online.

Autostraddle: Autostraddle Mini — April 24, 2023 by Rachel Fabi. .pdf, online.
Crossword Club: Daily Crossword: April 24, 2023 by Kelsey Dixon. .pdf, online.
Fireball: ($) Making the Rounds by Patrick Berry. Subscribe at link.
Lil AVC X: ($) For Here or To Go? by Dob Olino. Subscribe at link.
Matt Gaffney’s Weekly Crossword Contest: ($) MGWCC #777 — “It’s Integral to the Clue” (Meta) by Matt Gaffney. Subscribe at Patreon.
Planet Crossword: In and Out Themeless by Zhouqin Burnikel. Online.

The Atlantic Mini: by Paolo Pasco. .pdf, online.
Crosswords with Friends: Movie Monday by Caitlin Reid. App Store | Google Play
Crosswords with Friends: Midi Puzzle by Stella Zawistowski. App Store | Google Play
Crosswords with Friends: Mini Puzzle by Zhouqin Burnikel. App Store | Google Play
Daily Beast: The Big 9-0, Mon, Apr 24, 2023 by Matt Gaffney. .pdf, online.
Daily POP Crosswords: by Samuel A. Donaldson. App Store | Google Play, online.
Los Angeles Times: by Brian Callahan. Online, pdf. Free Cruciverb account for .puz.
Los Angeles Times Mini: by Elizabeth Gorski. Online.
The Modern Crossword: by Rafael Musa. Online, .pdf.
New York Magazine: Night Light by Matt Gaffney. .pdf, online.
New York Sun: ($) Love Will Keep Us Together by Seth A. Abel. Reissues from 2004.
New York Times: ($) by Emily Carroll. Online, .pdf, app.
New York Times Mini: by Joel Fagliano. Online, app.
The New Yorker: The Crossword: Monday, April 24, 2023 by Anna Shechtman. .pdf, online.
Newsday: Workout Wear by Stella Zawistowski. Online, .pdf, backup online.
The Telegraph: Cross Atlantic by James Brydon. Online.
Universal: Costume Ball by David Ding and Ross Trudeau. Online, pdf. .puz.
USA Today: Beginner’s Luck by Rafael Musa. Online, .pdf, app.
Vox: by Patrick Blindauer. .pdf, online.
The Wall Street Journal: Slippery Language by Kathy Lowden & Tess Davison. Online, .pdf. .puz.
Washington Post Daily Mini Meta: by Andrew White & Pete Muller. Online, .pdf.

BEQ Marching Bands: ($) Marching Bands #9.1 by Brendan Emmett Quigley. Subscribe at link.
Redhead64: PUZZLE #436: Moving Staircases 13 .pdf.
Steve’s Cryptic Crosswords: Puzzle 317 by Steve Townsend. Online.

Financial Times: FT Crossword: Number 17,395 by Artexlen. .pdf.
The Globe and Mail: The Daily Cryptic Crossword. .pdf, online.
The Guardian: Cryptic crossword No 29,052 by Vulcan. .pdf, online.
The Hindu Cryptic: #13847 by Dr. X. .pdf, online.
The Independent: Cryptic Crossword by Xestobium. .pdf, online.

Other American-style crosswords:

Reviews and Discussion at Diary of a Crossword Fiend | Boatload Puzzles/AARP | Crosshare | CrosswordsBackwards | Cruciverbalista (en español) | Dictionaries6 | Easy Crossword | FreeDailyCrosswords | GameLab | Hard Crossword | r/crossword | Squares.io | YourPuzzleSource | XWord-Muggles Meta Calendar

Other Cryptic/Variety crosswords:

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

Crossworld News and Notes, October 2022

This is the first News & Notes since we left Substack entirely. We’ve made every effort to preserve the lists of folks who opted out of the daily emails while still receiving News & Notes, and vice versa, and appreciate your patience if you receive this in error – an unsubscribe link is at the bottom and will not affect the daily links distribution.


The Boswords Fall Themeless League is on! The puzzles and Twitch streams from September 26 and October 3 are available now. Late registrations are accepted; sign up here.

Cruciverbology is a new blog by constructor Elise Corbin. Elise has published with The Inkubator and Fireball Crosswords and made the only puzzle for FiveThirtyEight to date following a memorable indie debut just over two years ago — seriously, solve “Election Tampering” ASAP if it’s new to you. She calls her blog “Crosswords with a nerdy twist,” and the three puzzles available so far fit that description perfectly. We look forward to what more she will bring to the indie space.

Emma Oxford and Will Pfadenhauer of Pandora’s Blocks weekly meta crossword have started a podcast, “Outside the Blocks: A Puzzle Podcast.” In the first episode, released September 18, they review and explain a handful of meta puzzles from a variety of sources. They promise interviews with meta constructors in the future.

We’ve been listing weekly puzzles from Morning Brew for a bit now, but only recently caught up to their expanded offerings. Mary Tobler now oversees four puzzles a week: a Tuesday mini, a “more experimental” Thursday midi, the (typically) 15x you’ve seen us link for a bit, and a current events-minded Sunday 10x. Having passed 4 million subscribers earlier this year, Morning Brew creates puzzles for a wide range of solvers, and this new lineup is their latest initiative to encourage readers and puzzle fans, from daily devotees to first-timers, to engage with crosswords through innovative, fun formats. Mary talks more about her work in puzzles in the Morning Brew piece, “How puzzle master Mary Tobler makes a living playing games.”

A new puzzle is available at Planet Crossword, edited by Stella Zawistowski and Brooke Husic. A robust “About Us” section can be found here, but a particular highlight of this new outlet is that it uses software designed specifically for collaborative solving–on Zoom calls, on streams, or otherwise–filling the grid from correct answers typed into a chat. New puzzles are published each weekday at noon.

Writing for the Washington Post, Evan Birnholz published an interview with Jim Quinlan, crossword constructor and commenter, who recently retired from reviewing Evan’s puzzles at Diary of a Crossword Fiend after five years.

For cryptic fans, we learned recently of the Global Indian Crossword league 2022, an online worldwide cryptic crossword tournament, thanks to a news blurb about Erik Agard and Neville Fogarty’s places on the leaderboard. An in-person finale is scheduled for December 25 in Bangalore. Anyone is welcome to join and late registrations are accepted. Sign up here.

The New York Times Gameplay team has a new series called “Mini to Maestro,” in which they promise “Everyone can solve the New York Times Crossword.” Using progressively more difficult puzzles as examples and explaining solving strategies to use for each day of the week, they help teach solvers how to improve their skills. Each piece lists un-paywalled NYT crosswords chosen by members of the Gameplay team to practice the techniques explained.


Congratulations to Kate Chin Park, who has joined The New Yorker puzzles and games team as Assistant Editor. We’re big fans of her work at her own site, Crossword Club, and elsewhere, and excited to see what she brings to the TNY team.

Lil AVC X is seeking constructors and expert solvers who are interested in being first-time editors to join the team for 2023. Applications due October 21. Details here.

Since the last News & Notes, Helen Chen (9/22), David Karp (9/30), Sarah Sinclair (10/2), Jason Reich (10/5), and Ailee Yoshida made their NYT debuts; and Li Ding (9/19), Kavin Pawittranon (9/26), and Nijah Morris (9/26) made their USAT debuts! Congrats to everyone! Sarah has designed knitting patterns based on Wordle, the Spelling Bee, and the NYT Crossword. Helen’s puzzle is the second and Ailee’s the third to be published from the NYT Diverse Crossword Constructor Fellowship inaugural class, and Ailee is the youngest woman to have a crossword published in the New York Times.

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 (tonight!) with four weekly sessions over Zoom. The content is intended for very new constructors and those who are interested in how crosswords are made. Reduced price tickets are available.

In “How I Crossed Crosswords,” David Ding details his journey in writing a crossword puzzle, culminating with the publication of the September 27 Universal puzzle with Ross Trudeau. Aspiring constructors might appreciate the behind-the-scenes perspective of developing a puzzle with editors and working through the process with an experienced mentor.

Amuse Labs hosts a free monthly webinar for constructors. This month, they will discuss PuzzleMe features for creating and solving puzzles with a live Q&A session with developers. The webinar is scheduled for October 20 at 11am ET. Sign up here.


Have a news tip for us? An idea to pitch? A puzzle or puzzle site to share? Let us know!

Tuesday, 27 September 2022

BEQ: Themeless Monday #691 by Brendan Emmett Quigley. .puz, .pdf, online.
Brian Gubin: Themeless #23 by Brian Gubin. .puz, .pdf.
Crosshare Community: Daily Mini and Featured Puzzles.
Fill Me In: Silent Film Star (Meta) by Kate Chin Park and Will Eisenberg. .puz, .pdf.
Haymarkets Squares: Menace #18 by Ariel Haymarket & Frisco17. .puz, .pdf, online.
LuterCross: Every Day I Look at the World From My Puzzle by Matthew Luter. .pdf, .puz, online.
Metas On A Tuesday: Laughter is the Best Drug (Meta) by benchen71. .puz, .pdf, online.
Muggle Meta Mondays: Upscale (Meta) by Bird Lives. .puz, .pdf.
QVXwordz: Five by Five #10 (Mini) by Quiara Vasquez. .puz, .pdf, online.
xwords by a ladee: puzzle 39 // themeless xxvi (“🔥🔥🔥”) by Brooke Husic. .puz, .pdf, online.

Crossword Club: Daily Crossword: September 27, 2022 by Kate Chin Park. .pdf, online.
Crossword Nation: ($) Square Space by Elizabeth C. Gorski. Subscribe at link.
Lil AVC X: ($) “Worry, Darling” by May Huang. Subscribe at link.
Morning Brew: Brew Mini: Degree by Mary Tobler .pdf, online.
No-Feet McGee: ($) Shanah Tovah (Mini) by No-Feet McGee. Subscribe at link.
Planet Crossword: New puzzle released each weekday at noon. Online.

The Atlantic Mini: by Paolo Pasco. .pdf, online.
The Crosswords Club: ($) Ghost Town by Helena Buchanan. Subscribe at link.
Crosswords with Friends: by Andy Kravis. App Store | Google Play
Daily Beast: Just Another Fan, Tue, Sept 27, 2022 by Matt Gaffney. .pdf, online.
Daily POP Crosswords: by Brooke Husic. App Store | Google Playonline.
Los Angeles Times: by Christina Iverson. Online, pdf. Free Cruciverb account for .puz.
LA Times Mini: by Elizabeth Gorski. Online.
New York Sun: ($) Fashion Plates by Kurt Mengel and Jan-Michele Gianette. Reissues from 2002.
New York Times: ($) by Peter Koetters. Online, .pdf, .puz, app.
New York Times Mini: by Tracy Bennett. Online, app.
The New Yorker: The Crossword: Tuesday, September 27, 2022 by Wyna Liu. .pdf, online.
Newsday: Fall Is Here by Billie Truitt. Online, .pdfbackup online.
Universal: Sifting Through Things by David Ding and Ross Trudeau. Online, pdf. .puz.
Vox: by Juliana Tringali Golden. .pdf, online.
Vulture 10×10: The Defiant Puzzle by Malaika Handa. .pdf, online.
The Wall Street Journal: Fall in Line by Billy Ouska. Online, .pdf. .puz.
Washington Post Daily Mini Meta: by Andrew White & Pete Muller. Online, .pdf.

Aries Puzzles: ($) Rows Garden #9.39 by Andrew J. Ries. Subscribe at link.
BEQ Marching Bands: ($) Marching Bands #8.12 by Brendan Emmett Quigley. Subscribe at link.
Crosswords by Chameleon: Chameleon #32 by Chameleon. .pdf, online.
Garden Party: ($) Rows Garden #5.39 by Michael Blake. Subscribe at link.
Keynesian Cryptics: Nuclear Option by Jack H Keynes. .pdf, online.
Outside The Box: ($) Crushword Spiral by joon pahk. Subscribe at link.
Outside The Box: ($) Rows Garden #8.4 by joon pahk. Subscribe at link.

Financial Times: FT Crossword: Number 17,210 by Moo. .pdf.
The Globe and Mail: The Daily Cryptic Crossword. .pdf, online.
The Guardian: Cryptic crossword No 28,873 by Brummie. .pdf, online.
The Independent: Cryptic Crossword by Mev. .pdf, online.

Other American-style crosswords:

Reviews and Discussion at Diary of a Crossword Fiend | Boatload Puzzles/AARP | Crosshare | CrosswordsBackwards | Cruciverbalista (en español) | Dictionaries6 | Easy Crossword | FreeDailyCrosswords | GameLab | Hard Crossword | r/crossword | Squares.io | YourPuzzleSource | XWord-Muggles Meta Calendar

Other Cryptic/Variety crosswords:

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