Crossworld News and Notes, January 2023

Registration for ACPT is open now. We’re excited to see you there March 31-April 2! Also coming up: Boswords Winter Wondersolve, February 5 and St. Louis Crossword Tournament, March 4.


T. Campbell’s annual The Year In Crosswords covers the good, the bad, and the ugly in all of Crossworld in 2022. This long issue is a full who’s who and what’s what, including Wordle and its variants, changes in publications, fundraisers, tournaments, indie projects, software, AI, books and media, and more.

Sam Ezersky was profiled in Virginia Magazine, where he discussed the popularity of Spelling Bee during the pandemic and offers some of his best puzzling tips. The article is accompanied by a free series of short word puzzles inspired by Spelling Bee.

Constructor and magician David Kwong recently appeared on the podcast “Ologies” with host Alie Ward. He discussed Anigrams, AVCX, Diary of a Crossword Fiend, Wordle, cryptics, crosswords and brain health, and much more.


Congratulations to the 2023 Lil AVC X roster: Darby Ratliff, Dob Olino, Eric Mao, Jimmy Peniston, Kelly Nguyen Dickson, Lila Goldenberg, meatdaddy69420, Nancy Serrano-Wu, Nijah Morris, and Pravan Chakravarthy! We are so excited for the puzzles to come from this year’s bunch of up-and-coming constructors.

Congratulations to Nate Cardin, who has joined the editorial team at AVCX Cryptic!

Since the last News & Notes, Gustie Owens (12/4), Anthony J. Caruso (12/12), Julietta Gervase (12/13), John Martz (12/25), Josh Goodman (12/28), Seth Bisen-Hersh (1/2), Laura Breiman (1/4), Tom Bachant (1/4) made their NYT debuts. Congratulations to everyone!


We have been enjoying the latest offering from Puzzle Society: The Modern Crossword. Monday through Friday puzzles are midis of increasing size, Saturdays are themed puzzles by open submission, and Sundays are themeless puzzles by members of the editing team and invited constructors. The themes and content hold up to the puzzle’s moniker: the interface allows for alternate clues if solvers get stuck, and some clues and answers are accompanied by a constructor’s note.

We are also loving the new crosswords from Xtra, a LGBTQ2S+ online magazine. Puzzles are published the first of each month and are constructed by Ada Nicolle, who promises a younger, more inclusive vibe for the Xtra puzzles in this companion article.

The second crossword book from The Browser, “Cryptic Crosswords for Beginners” by Uri Bram & Dan Feyer is available now. They say “we break down these delightful puzzles into simple building blocks and have you solving cryptic grids before you know it!”


Fireball Crosswords begin this week and Fireball Newsflash Crosswords begin January 20, both by Peter Gordon. Subscriptions open now.

Now is also the time to renew your subscription to The Inkubator. A subscription is $30 for 36 puzzles: three puzzles a month all year long. The fifth year will feature creative themes from C.C. Burnikel, Chandi Deitmer, and Rebecca Goldstein; debuts from Max Schlenker and Darby Ratliff; themelesses from Robyn Weintraub and Wyna Liu; and many more.

AVCX and The Inkubator are open for submission. The New York Times has also reopened after a break.

Sunday, December 25, 2022

Crosshare Community: Daily Mini and Featured Puzzles.
M & M Crosswords: Visions of Sugar Plums by Martina Waluk. .pdf, online.
Pandora’s Blocks: A Very Meta Christmas (Meta) by Will Pfadenhauer. .puz, .pdf, online.
Rossword Puzzles: Crosswordese by Ross Trudeau. .puz, .pdf, online.

Crossword Club: Daily Crossword: December 25, 2022 by Ada Nicolle. .pdf, online.
The Hub Crossword: ($) Fall Back by Joon Pahk. Patreon subscription.
Matt Gaffney’s Weekly Crossword Contest: ($) Word for Word (Meta) by Matt Gaffney. Subscribe at Patreon.
Premier Crosswordby Frank Longo. .pdf, online.
Sporcle: The First No-el by BrooksSeveer. Online.

The Atlantic: by Adam Vincent. .pdf, online.
Crosswords with Friends: by Stella Zawistowski. App Store | Google Play
Daily Beast: He’s Making a List, Sun, Dec 25, 2022 by Matt Gaffney. .pdf, online.
Daily POP Crosswords: by Beth Rubin. App Store | Google Playonline.
Los Angeles Times: Tis the Season by Gary Larson & Amy Ensz. Online, pdf. Free Cruciverb account for .puz.
LA Times Mini: by Elizabeth Gorski. Online.
Merl Reagle Archives: It’s a Pun-derful Life by Merl Reagle. Online, .pdf.
The Modern Crossword: Themeless 2 by Rafael Musa. Online, .pdf.
New York Sun: ($) Breadboxes by Ed Early. Reissues from 2003.
New York Times: ($) Novel Thinking by John Martz. Online, .pdf, app.
New York Times Mini: by Wyna Liu. Online, app.
Newsday: SEASONAL LINES: From Five Familiar Tunes by Stan Newman. Online, .pdfbackup online.
Universal: Themeless Sunday 21 by Rafael Musa. Online, pdf. .puz.
Universal Sunday: Jumbo Freestyle 6: White Christmas by Ryan McCarty and Adrian Johnson. .puz.
USA Today: Cracked Open by Zhouqin Burnikel. Online, .pdf, app.
Washington Post: Santa’s Workshop (Meta Suite) by Evan Birnholz. Online, .pdf. .puz.

Some Variety: Advent 2022: #25 by Elgel online.
Some Variety: Advent 2022: #24 by Elgel online.
Some Variety: Advent 2022: #23 by Elgel online.
Square Pursuit: Eight Cryptic Nights #7 – Sufganiyot by Steve Mossberg. .puz, .pdf, online.

The Globe and Mail: The Daily Cryptic Crossword. .pdf, online.
The Independent: Cryptic Crossword by Umpire. .pdf, online.
New York Times Variety: ($) A Little Variety by Frank Longo, Patrick Berry, and Prasanna Seshadri. .pdf, online.
New York Times Variety: ($) Cryptic Crossword by John Forbes. .pdf, online.
The New Yorker Cryptic: Cryptic by Patrick Berry. .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