Late February Crossworld News & Notes

The Inkubator has announced it will cease operations at the end of 2023 in an email to subscribers:

After much careful thought, the Inkubator team has made the decision that 2023 will be our last year as a subscription service. We’ve had a wonderful four years with your support, surpassing our original goal of spending two years publishing new and emerging women and nonbinary constructors.

The Inkubator will continue as a community of constructors, and we’re excited for future directions and collaborations. In the meantime, we’re extending our current deadline for submissions until February 15, and we have an excellent slate of puzzles lined up for the next few weeks. We look forward to solving together with all of you this year.

We have a close relationship with the Inkubator team and offer our gratitude for both a great run and their leadership in the community. It has moved the needle, without a doubt.


A lovely piece from Liz Maynes-Aminzade at The New Yorker, “Will Shortz’s Life in Crosswords,” covers Will’s long career in puzzles. From all of us at DCL, echoing the sentiments we’ve heard from across the crossword community, we’re happy for Will for coming out publicly and finding love at 70.


ACPT is only five weeks away! We look forward to seeing many of you there. For those who can’t attend, the Virtual Tournament sponsored by Amuse Labs is an affordable way to participate and compete from afar. It includes live streams of all the tournament puzzles as well as other in-person events.


Congratulations to Paolo Pasco, winner of the Boswords Winter Wondersolve, and to second and third place finishers Will Nediger and Tyler Hinman. Congrats also to Frisco and Chauffeur, who won the Blizzard pairs division, Brian Lipinski, winner of the Flurry individual division, and Kristy and Wendy Gardner, winners of the Flurry pairs division.

Congratulations to Matthew Luter, whose puzzle was chosen through the open submission process to join the Boswords Spring Themeless League. The League begins with the preseason puzzle this Monday, February 27. A new practice puzzle from Chandi Deitmer and John Lieb is available for free.

In even more Boswords news, the annual summer tournament is now set for Sunday, July 23, with both in-person and virtual options.


These Puzzl3s Fund Abortion, the third annual TPFA pack organized by Rachel Fabi and co-edited by Rachel, Brooke Husic, and Claire Rimkus, is coming this spring in time for the 2023 NNAF Fund-a-Thon. We are excited about this year’s all-star constructor lineup and look forward to their puzzles.

We’re pleased to share that Grids for Kids has raised over $6,000 for youth charities so far, including The Trevor Project and No Kid Hungry. Written and edited by constructors who are also parents, it includes 17 standard crosswords with family-friendly themes, 2 cryptic puzzles, and 6 puzzles for younger solvers. Make a donation of at least $10 USD to receive the puzzles.


Since the last News & Notes, Nijah Morris (2/12), Kavin Pawittranon (2/12), Eric Rollfing (2/13), and Sean Ziebarth (2/15) made their NYT debuts. Congratulations to everyone!

On the February 10 episode, “Cut to Wabbit Season,” of the Crossnerds podcast with Brooke Husic and Rebecca Neipris, Brooke discusses the expansion of the Lil AVC X editing team, the importance of the constructor-editor relationship in cultivating a better solving experience, and (the lack of) gender diversity in The New York Times crossword.

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. Puzzles constructed by previous classes are available for solving from Atlas Obscura: “Marvel, Extended Universe” and “Alpha and Omega.”

It’s been a while since we’ve mentioned Spread the Wordlist by Brooke Husic and Enrique Henestroza Anguiano, but now is a good time as the most recent quarterly update includes some structural changes to simplify the wordlist for constructors. It also surpassed 100,000 entries scored at 50+ for the first time. This is a fabulous free resource for new and veteran constructors alike, and we’re grateful to Brooke and Enrique for their continued work on it.

A Community of Crosswords” in the latest issue of Barnard Magazine comprises three short but delightful conversations with alums Rebecca Goldstein, Rebecca Gray, and Gustie Owens about their work in crosswords.

In the NYT Gameplay article “A Puzzle Maker Aims to Unite Black Communities in 25 Squares” by Deb Amlen, Juliana Pache speaks about her mission to inspire communities from across the Black diaspora to learn more about each other. Juliana publishes a free daily mini at Black Crossword, with plans to expand.

We may have mentioned it before, but it’s been a minute: Cross Your Heart by Laura Effinger-Dean is a free, open-source Android app for crossword solving, with lots of features such as downs-only mode, autocheck, pen/pencil toggle, scrambled puzzle support, and an undo button. Supports .puz files only.

The February issue of GAMES World of Puzzles features a Q&A with puzzlemaker Fred Piscop, who shares info about his new book, “The Healthy Brain Book of Word Puzzles.” The book includes Split Decisions (R) and plenty of other great puzzles.

We’ve added a few new sources to our daily list recently: Check out puzzles from Boston Magazine by Brendan Emmett Quigley, Barron’s, and The Hindu Cryptic. We’re also watching a handful of new-to-us college newspapers: Amherst, Rice, Columbia, Penn, and Michigan.

We’d like to remind everyone that the ability to download and print NYT variety and acrostic puzzles will be discontinued on February 26, and they’ll be removed from the archive beginning March 1—so solve, print, and save them while we still can.

We 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, January 20, 2023

BEQ: At the Head Shop by Brendan Emmett Quigley. .puz, .pdf, online.
crocswords: A Trip Down Memory by Clev. .pdf, online.
Crosshare Community: Daily Mini and Featured Puzzles.
Crossword Nexus Blog: Puzzle #76: Double Elision by Alex Boisvert .jpz, .pdf, online.
Fordham Observer: Crossword: Esteemed Hams by Greg Snitkin. .pdf, online.
M & M Crosswords: Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties by Martina Waluk. .pdf, online.
Olio Grids: This One’s a Little Meta by Brian Callahan. .pdf, online.
YourPuzzleSource: Daily Puzzle (Midi) by Phil Fraas. .pdf, online.

Autostraddle: Autostraddle Mini — January 20, 2023 by Rachel Fabi. .pdf, online.
Crossword Club: Daily Crossword: January 20, 2023 by Kelsey Dixon. .pdf, online.
Crucinova: ($) Jumper Cables by Laura Effinger-Dean & Shannon Rapp. Subscribe at link.
Fireball Newsflash: ($) Fireball Newsflash Crosswords #1 by Peter Gordon. Subscribe at link.
Inkubator: ($) Themeless #39 by Darby Ratliff & Rachel Fabi. Subscribe at link.
luckystreak xwords: ($) there’s an ology for that (themeless) by Ada Nicolle. Patreon Subscription.
Planet Crossword: Football Gear by Brendan Emmett Quigley. Online.

The Atlantic Mini: by Paolo Pasco. .pdf, online.
Crosswords with Friends: Sports Fan Friday by Todd McClary. App Store | Google Play
Crosswords with Friends: Midi Puzzle by Robyn Weintraub. App Store | Google Play
Crosswords with Friends: Mini Puzzle by Robyn Weintraub. App Store | Google Play
Daily POP Crosswords: by Mark McClain. App Store | Google Playonline.
Los Angeles Times: by Wendy L. Brandes. Online, pdf. Free Cruciverb account for .puz.
Los Angeles Times Mini: by Elizabeth Gorski. Online.
The Modern Crossword: Friday, January 20, 2023 by Anna Gundlach. Online, .pdf.
New York Sun: ($) I Caramba! by Mark Diehl. Reissues from 2003.
New York Times: ($) by Robert S. Greenfield. Online, .pdf, app.
New York Times Mini: by Joel Fagliano. Online, app.
The New Yorker: The Crossword: Friday, January 20, 2023 by Brooke Husic & Will Nediger. .pdf, online.
Newsday: Tag Ends by Mark McClain. Online, .pdfbackup online.
The Telegraph: Cross Atlantic by Jeremy Mutch. Online.
Universal: Religious Leaders by Jeffrey Wechsler. Online, pdf. .puz.
USA Today: All the Things You Are by Enrique Henestroza Anguiano. Online, .pdf, app.
Vox: by Andrew J. Ries. .pdf, online.
Vulture 10×10: The Stuyvesant Puzzle by Stella Zawistowski. .pdf, online.
The Wall Street Journal: Signs of the Times by Mike Shenk. Online, .pdf. .puz.
Washington Examiner: ($?) There Are No Eggs by Brendan Emmett Quigley. Online.
Washington Post Daily Mini Meta: by Andrew White & Pete Muller. Online, .pdf.
The Week: Hop To It by Matt Gaffney. .pdf.

Liari’s Cryptic Crosswords: Traffic Flow by Liari. .pdf, online.
Out Of Left Field: ($) Cryptic #147 by Joshua Kosman & Henri Picciotto. Patreon subscription.
Puzzles For Progress: #101: Mirrored Gallery, Midloop, Whirlpool by Jacob Cohen. .pdf

Financial Times: FT Weekend Magazine Crossword Number 623 by Aldhelm. .pdf.
Financial Times: FT Crossword: Number 17,310 by BUCCANEER. .pdf.
The Globe and Mail: The Daily Cryptic Crossword. .pdf, online.
The Guardian: Cryptic crossword No 28,972 by Pasquale. .pdf, online.
The Independent: Cryptic Crossword by Phi. .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

Sunday, January 1, 2023

Crosshare Community: Daily Mini and Featured Puzzles.
Haymarket’s Squares: *party noises here* by ariel haymarket. .puz, .pdf, online.
M & M Crosswords: That’s Life! by Martina Waluk. .pdf, online.
Pandora’s Blocks: Count Off Into Teams (Meta) by Will Pfadenhauer. .puz, .pdf, online.
Pun Of A Kind: Time for a Change by Mikey G. .puz, .pdf, online.
Puzzles That Need A Home: cant touch this by bt. .puz, .pdf, online.
World of Crosswords: themeless 127 by Marya and Carla. Online.

AVCX: ($) Down for the Count by Adam Wagner and Jeff Chen. Subscribe at link.
Crossword Club: Daily Crossword: January 1, 2023 by Will Nediger. .pdf, online.
Premier Crosswordby Frank Longo. .pdf, online.
Sporcle: Divide and Conquer by orange_marker. Online.

The Atlantic: by Mike Graczyk. .pdf, online.
Crosswords with Friends: by Tracy Bennett. App Store | Google Play
Daily Beast: Sorry to See You Go, Thu Dec 29, 2022 by Matt Gaffney. .pdf, online.
Daily POP Crosswords: by Janice Luttrell. App Store | Google Playonline.
Los Angeles Times: Before Tea by Laura Effinger-Dean & Christina Iverson. Online, pdf. Free Cruciverb account for .puz.
LA Times Mini: by Elizabeth Gorski. Online.
Merl Reagle Archives: January 1, 2023 – Catch of the Day by Merl Reagle. Online, .pdf.
The Modern Crossword: Themeless 3 by Amanda Rafkin. Online, .pdf.
New York Times: ($) In Play by Adam Wagner, Michael Lieberman, and Rafael Musa. Online, .pdf, app.
NYT Monthly Bonus: National Science Fiction Day by Fred Piscop. Online, .pdf, .puz.
New York Times Mini: by Joel Fagliano. Online, app.
Newsday: RUMOR HAS IT by Jerry Clarkson. Online, .pdfbackup online.
Universal: Themeless Sunday 22 by Rafael Musa. Online, pdf. .puz.
Universal Sunday: Dancing With the Stars by Drew Schmenner. .puz.
USA Today: 1/1 by Erik Agard. Online, .pdf, app.
Washington Post: Out With the Old, In With the New by Evan Birnholz. Online, .pdf. .puz.

KJB: A Speech by Binder. Online.
Puzzle Tome: Stopovers (Cryptic) .pdf, online.
Square Chase: ($) Back For More (Variety Cryptic) by Steve Mossberg. Patreon subscription.

Everyman Cryptic: Everyman crossword No 3,976 .pdf, online.
The Globe and Mail: The Daily Cryptic Crossword. .pdf, online.
The Independent: Cryptic Crossword by Raich. .pdf, online.
New York Times Variety: ($) A Little Variety by Frank Longo, Patrick Berry, and Prasanna Seshadri. .pdf, online.
The New Yorker Cryptic: Cryptic by Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto. .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