Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Bewilderingly: Two for the Price of One: (spoiler-filled) behind-the-scenes by Will Nediger. .puz, .pdf, online.
Black Crossword: Mini by Juliana Pache. .pdf, online.
Brian Gubin: Themed #129 – Team Songs by Brian Gubin. .puz, .pdf.
Club 72: Puzzle 899: Freestyle 828. I need to vent. by Tim Croce. .puz, .pdf.
Crosshare Community: Daily Mini and Featured Puzzles.
Fordham Observer: Wednesday, July 19 (Mini) by Abby Grunzinger. .pdf, online.
LuterCross: Look Me in the Eye by Matthew Luter. .pdf, .puz, online.
MEOW: Checkmate (Meta) by Dr. Tom. .puz, .pdf, online.
Olio Grids: That’s a Management Issue by Brian Callahan. .pdf, online.
YourPuzzleSource: Daily Puzzle (Midi) by Phil Fraas. .pdf, online.

A-to-Z Crosswords: ($) Puzzle #24 by Peter Gordon & Frank Longo. Subscribe at link.
Crossword Club: Daily Crossword: July 19, 2023 by Erica Hsiung Wojcik. .pdf, online.
Crossword Nation: ($) “Sí Señor!” by Elizabeth C. Gorski. Subscribe at link.
Fireball: ($) Fireball Newsflash Crosswords #11, 7/18/23 by Peter “Newsflash” Gordon. Subscribe at link.

The Atlantic Mini: by Paolo Pasco. .pdf, online.
Crosswords with Friends: Wayback Wednesday by Robyn Weintraub. App Store | Google Play
Crosswords with Friends: Midi Puzzle by Zhouqin Burnikel. App Store | Google Play
Crosswords with Friends: Mini Puzzle by Doug Peterson. App Store | Google Play
Daily Beast: Born in the UAE, Wed, Jul 19, 2023 by Matt Gaffney. .pdf, online.
Daily POP Crosswords: by Alan Olschwang. App Store | Google Play, online.
Los Angeles Times: by Brian Callahan & Katie Hale. Online, pdf. Free Cruciverb account for .puz.
Los Angeles Times Mini: by Elizabeth Gorski. Online.
McKinsey: Career Center by Peter Gordon. .pdf, online.
The Modern Crossword: Wednesday, July 19, 2023 by David Steinberg. Online, .pdf.
New York Sun: ($) Going for Baroque by Alan Arbesfeld. Reissues from 2004.
New York Times: ($) by Billy Bratton. Online, .pdf, app.
New York Times Mini: by Joel Fagliano. Online, app.
The New Yorker: The Crossword: Wednesday, July 19, 2023 by Aimee Lucido. .pdf, online.
Newsday: Opposite Attraction by Gary Cee. Online, .pdf, backup online.
PlayFour: Daily Puzzle. Online
The Telegraph: Cross Atlantic by John Halpern. Online.
Universal: Think Twice by Desiree Penner and Jeff Sinnock. Online, pdf. .puz.
USA Today: Albacore by Jared Goudsmit. Online, .pdf, app.
Vox: by Adesina O. Koiki. .pdf, online.
Vulture 10×10: The Hand Puzzle by Malaika Handa. .pdf, online.
The Wall Street Journal: Rotary Club by Joanne Sullivan. Online, .pdf. .puz.
Washington Post Daily Mini Meta: by Andrew White & Pete Muller. Online, .pdf.

Ben’s Cryptic Crosswords: 73 Pieces by Ben Robinson Online.
Squared Away: Daily Puzzle. Online.

Financial Times: FT Crossword: Number 17,472 by Goliath. .pdf.
The Globe and Mail: The Daily Cryptic Crossword. .pdf, online.
The Guardian: Cryptic crossword No 29,126 by Vlad. .pdf, online.
The Hindu Cryptic: #13921 by Dr.X. .pdf, online.
The Independent: Cryptic Crossword by Eccles. .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

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

BEQ: Themeless Monday #728 by Brendan Emmett Quigley. .puz, .pdf, online.
Black Crossword: Mini by Juliana Pache. .pdf, online.
Crosshare Community: Daily Mini and Featured Puzzles.
Crossword Dilemmas: the grind puzzle 4 by Emma Lawson. .pdf, online.
Fordham Observer: Tuesday, June 27 (Mini) by Ana Kevorkian. .pdf, online.
LuterCross: On the Rise by Matthew Luter. .pdf, .puz, online.
Metas On A Tuesday: Which To Believe Completely? (Meta) by benchen71. .puz, .pdf, online.
Words Xing: Themeless #6 by Brendan W. Sullivan. .puz, .pdf, online.
xwords by a ladee: puzzle 48 // themeless xxxv (“give me my propers when you get home”) by brooke husic. .puz, .pdf, online.
YourPuzzleSource: Daily Puzzle (Midi) by Phil Fraas. .pdf, online.

A-to-Z Crosswords: ($) Puzzle #2 by Peter Gordon & Frank Longo. Subscribe at link.
Crossword Club: Daily Crossword: June 27, 2023 by Kate Chin Park. .pdf, online.
Crossword Nation: ($) Time for the Closing Bell! by Elizabeth C. Gorski. Subscribe at link.
Lil AVC X: ($) Genome Project by Sally Hoelscher. Subscribe at link.
Luckystreak+: ($) puzzle #128: keep it low-key (themeless) by Ada Nicolle. Subscribe at link.
Morning Brew: Brew Mini: Fiction by Mary Tobler .pdf, online.

The Atlantic Mini: by Paolo Pasco. .pdf, online.
Crosswords with Friends: TV Tuesday by Doug Peterson. App Store | Google Play
Crosswords with Friends: Midi Puzzle by Donna S. Levin. App Store | Google Play
Crosswords with Friends: Mini Puzzle by Robyn Weintraub. App Store | Google Play
Daily Beast: Which Tie Do You Like Better?, Tue, Jun 27, 2023 by Matt Gaffney. .pdf, online.
Daily POP Crosswords: by Christina Iverson. App Store | Google Play, online.
Los Angeles Times: by Ed Beckert. Online, pdf. Free Cruciverb account for .puz.
Los Angeles Times Mini: by Elizabeth Gorski. Online.
The Modern Crossword: Tuesday, June 27, 2023 by Amanda Rafkin. Online, .pdf.
New York Sun: ($) Themeless by Charles E. Gersch. Reissues from 2004.
New York Times: ($) by Anthony Gisonda. Online, .pdf, app.
New York Times Mini: by Joel Fagliano. Online, app.
The New Yorker: The Crossword: Tuesday, June 27, 2023 by Aimee Lucido. .pdf, online.
Newsday: Sweet C-Food by Billie Truitt. Online, .pdf, backup online.
PlayFour: Daily Puzzle. Online
The Telegraph: Cross Atlantic by Mark Kelmanson. Online.
Universal: Full-Page Spreads by Prasanna Keshava. Online, pdf. .puz.
USA Today: Change of Direction by Nate Cardin. Online, .pdf, app.
Vox: by Juliana Tringali Golden. .pdf, online.
Vulture 10×10: The Flop Puzzle by Malaika Handa. .pdf, online.
The Wall Street Journal: Put a Bow on It by Joanne Sullivan. Online, .pdf. .puz.
Washington Post Daily Mini Meta: by Andrew White & Pete Muller. Online, .pdf.

Aries Puzzles: ($) Rows Garden #10.25 by Andrew J. Ries. Subscribe at link.
Garden Party: ($) Rows Garden #6.25 by Michael Blake. Subscribe at link.
Keynesian Cryptics: Court Disaster by Jack H Keynes. .pdf, online.
Mad Dog Cryptics: Mad Dog Mini #3 by Terry Brennan. .puz, .pdf.
Mental Judo: A Cryptic Blog (11): Aperture Science Cryptic Configuration by herzwesten and joeadultman. Online.
Outside The Box: ($) Cascades by Joe DiPietro. Subscribe at link.
Outside The Box: ($) Rows Garden #8.40 by joon pahk. Subscribe at link.
Squared Away: Daily Puzzle. Online.

Financial Times: FT Crossword: Number 17,453 by Falcon. .pdf.
The Globe and Mail: The Daily Cryptic Crossword. .pdf, online.
The Guardian: Cryptic crossword No 29,107 by Anto. .pdf, online.
The Hindu Cryptic: 13902 by Gussalufz. .pdf, online.
The Independent: Cryptic Crossword by Dill. .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

A jam-packed Crossworld News and Notes

Boswords 2023 Winter Wondersolve takes place February 5 beginning at 1:00pm ET. Registration opens January 21. We are excited about the event’s roster of constructors: Rebecca Goldstein, Damon Gulczynski, Enrique Henestroza Anguiano, and Joanne Sullivan.

Boswords has also released the roster for the 2023 Spring Themeless League, to take place in March and April: Ashton Anderson & James Mulhern, Kate Hawkins, Jenna LaFleur, Adrian Johnson, Hemant Mehta, Rafael Musa, Carly Schuna, Nancy Serrano-Wu, and one constructor to be chosen from an open submission process.

We’re looking forward to the smaller (and free!) second annual St. Louis Crossword Puzzle Tournament on March 4 with puzzles by Shannon Rapp and Patrick Blindauer.

The 45th Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, CT is March 31 – April 2. Registration and hotel reservations are open now.

We hear word of two charity packs coming soon for our solving pleasure. Grids For Kids is a pack of 25 family-friendly puzzles launching in February. Shortly to follow will be the third round of These Puzzles Fund Abortion in March.

Among the changes at Crucinova under new management is the addition of a free monthly midi by editor Quiara Vasquez. The first one, “Good Housekeeping” (which actually verges on full-sized) we found delightful. Quiara is eager to entertain new queries from constructors of all levels of experience. Submit your ideas by email.

Secret Snowflake is an indie project coordinated by Rose Sloan and David Glasser in which constructors were randomly matched with each other to create custom puzzles. Not all of the thirty puzzles were released publicly, but here are a some that were: Litter Boxes by Lyle Broughton, January Stumper by Ada Nicolle, Costume Party by jseakle, Season’s Greetings by Rose Sloan, A PUZZLE FOR @TlMBERWOLVES by Paolo Pasco , Secret Snowflake Themeless by Max, Secret Snowflake by Christopher Adams, and Santa Puzzle 2022 by Xylo. (If we missed any, please drop them in the comments!)

In books, “Will Must Send Regrets: 101 Rejected Crossword Puzzles and the Stories Behind Them” by Damon Gulczynski is a new take on puzzle books; the puzzles are all past submissions to the New York Times, rejected. With “constructor notes and loosely tangential anecdotes, the puzzles tell a humorous, two-decade tale of repeated but endearing failure.” I’ve already gotten a copy, and while I haven’t solved the puzzles, I’m already hoping this is the first of a genre in the crossword scene.

Have we mentioned Stella Zawistowski’s coming book? I thought we must have, but maybe not (apologies if we have!) Bearing the title of her themeless-focused blog, “Tough As Nails Crosswords” features 72 “extra-challenging” grids from Stella. Preorders are open now, for a release on 28 March – just in time for ACPT.

P&A Magazine Issue 98 titled “X” is out now.

Congratulations to Hoang-Kim Vu, who has joined the editing team at AVCX+.

Congratulations to Jeff Chen, who as joined the team at Andrews McMeel Universal and will be the editor of Universal Sunday Crossword. Along with this news, Universal has announced they are now accepting submissions with a wider range of features. As always, we recommend constructors consult Matthew Stock’s spec sheet sheet for the most up-to-date submission specifications.

Creating Crossword Puzzles” is a course taught by Brooke Husic and Natan Last in cooperation with Atlas Obscura. The next offering of the course begins March 28 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. The last session’s co-constructed puzzle, “Marvel, Extended Universe” is solvable online.

Hayley Gold’s next monthly cryptic stream is set for 9pm eastern on Wed., Jan. 18th. Hayley, Will and Al will be joined by special guests from the cryptic outlet The Rackenfracker.

New York Times Associate puzzle editor and Wordle editor Tracy Bennett appeared on the TODAY show to discuss her work with Wordle.

We enjoyed reading “Yesterday and tomorrow in puzzles“, a 2022 round up in “Puzzle Buzz”, the newsletter from amuselabs. Some of our favorite outlets across the community, new and old, got nice callouts for their work.

We mentioned “Outside the Blocks: A Puzzle Podcast” from Emma Oxford and Will Pfadenhauer of Pandora’s Blocks Weekly Meta Crossword when they launched in 2022. The newest episode includes an interview with Mike Dirolf, aka “mike d” aka “The Crosshare Guy.” (Sneak peek: we get a definitive answer as to how “crosshare” is pronounced.)


And some updates from the inside: We are pleased to welcome Rich Iurilli to the DCL team! You can expect to see him contribute to some daily emails and News and Notes. We’ve also been continuing to add new features to the site: More Puzzles, a listing of sites that have been dormant long enough that we don’t keep an eye on them anymore but are still full of puzzling entertainment; the beginnings of a community calendar, and a bit About Us. We also want to hear from you – if you have an idea about something you’d like to see us offer or have feedback about any of our features, please let us know.

Friday, 23 December 2022

BEQ: Here’s the Kicker by Brendan Emmett Quigley. .puz, .pdf, online.
The Chicago Maroon: 52. 2022 MCPT #2: Clove is in the Air by Pravan Chakravarthy. .pdf, online.
Crosshare Community: Daily Mini and Featured Puzzles.
Crossword Nexus Blog: Puzzle #72: Can We Talk? (feat ???) by Alex Boisvert .jpz, .pdf, online.

Autostraddle: Autostraddle Mini — December 23, 2022 by Brooke Husic. .pdf, online.
Crossword Club: Daily Crossword: December 23, 2022 by Kelsey Dixon. .pdf, online.
Crucinova: ($) Alphabits by Lisa Bunker. Subscribe at link.
Inkubator: ($) Holding Pattern by Joanne Sullivan. Subscribe at link.
Planet Crossword: Sweet Talking by Carly Schuna. Online.

The Atlantic Mini: by Paolo Pasco. .pdf, online.
Crosswords with Friends: by Andy Kravis. App Store | Google Play
Daily POP Crosswords: by Matthew Stock. App Store | Google Playonline.
Los Angeles Times: by Lewis Rothlein. Online, pdf. Free Cruciverb account for .puz.
LA Times Mini: by Elizabeth Gorski. Online.
The Modern Crossword: Friday, December 23, 2022 by Anna Gundlach. Online, .pdf.
New York Sun: ($) Warrior by Bob Peoples. Reissues from 2003.
New York Times: ($) by Brandon Koppy. Online, .pdf, app.
New York Times Mini: by Joel Fagliano. Online, app.
The New Yorker: The Holiday Crossword: Friday, December 23, 2022 by Erik Agard. .pdf, online.
Newsday: Timely Message by Stanley Newman. Online, .pdfbackup online.
Universal: Downtime by Michael Berg. Online, pdf. .puz.
USA Today: Split Ends by Li Ding. Online, .pdf, app.
Vox: by Andrew J. Ries. .pdf, online.
Vulture 10×10: The Buddy Puzzle by Stella Zawistowski. .pdf, online.
The Wall Street Journal: Jolly Old St. Nick by Mike Shenk. Online, .pdf. .puz.
Washington Post Daily Mini Meta: by Andrew White & Pete Muller. Online, .pdf.

Darren’s Puzzles: Cryptic Tree 2022-12 by Darren Miller. .pdf
Mental Playground: December 23 by MP. .pdf, online.
Out Of Left Field: ($) Cryptic #143 by Joshua Kosman & Henri Picciotto. Patreon subscription.
Puzzles For Progress: #99: Morseword, Tatamibari, Yajilin by Jacob Cohen. .pdf, .puz, online.
Real Puzzling Stuff: Slide + Seek #5 by Ryan Patrick Smith. .pdf, online.
Square Pursuit: Eight Cryptic Nights #5 – Shin by Steve Mossberg. .pdf, online.
Some Variety: Advent 2022: #19 by Elgel online.
Some Variety: Advent 2022: #18 by Elgel online.

Financial Times: FT Weekend Magazine Crossword Number 620 by Aldhelm. .pdf.
Financial Times: FT Crossword: Number 17,285 by Gaff. .pdf.
The Globe and Mail: The Daily Cryptic Crossword. .pdf, online.
The Guardian: Cryptic crossword No 28,948 by Brendan. .pdf, online.
The Independent: Cryptic Crossword by Filbert. .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