Sunday, January 22, 2023

Crosshare Community: Daily Mini and Featured Puzzles.
Pandora’s Blocks: Roll the Dice (Meta) by Will Pfadenhauer. .puz, .pdf, online.
Rossword Puzzles: Pilot Programs by Dr. Jessie & Mr. Ross Trudeau. .puz, .pdf, online.
YourPuzzleSource: Daily Puzzle (Midi) by Phil Fraas. .pdf, online.
YourPuzzleSource: Weekly 15×15 by Phil Fraas. .pdf, online.

Crossword Club: Daily Crossword: January 22, 2023 by Ada Nicolle. .pdf, online.
The Hub Crossword: ($) Sounds Fishy by Joon Pahk. Patreon subscription.
Premier Crosswordby Frank Longo. .pdf, online.
Sporcle: Chain Reaction by anonymous987. Online.

The Atlantic: by Kelsey Dixon and Matthew Stock. .pdf, online.
Barrons: Hot Commodities by Jeff Chen. .pdf, online.
Crosswords with Friends: Sunday Funday by Todd McClary. App Store | Google Play
Crosswords with Friends: Midi Puzzle by Patrick Berry. App Store | Google Play
Crosswords with Friends: Mini Puzzle by Robyn Weintraub. App Store | Google Play
Daily Beast: Happy Birthday, Chef, Sun, Jan 22, 2023 by Matt Gaffney. .pdf, online.
Daily POP Crosswords: by Patti Varol. App Store | Google Playonline.
Los Angeles Times: Play It Again by Alan Massengill & Doug Peterson. Online, pdf. Free Cruciverb account for .puz.
Los Angeles Times Mini: by Elizabeth Gorski. Online.
Merl Reagle Archives: January 22, 2023 – Business Made Simple by Merl Reagle. Online, .pdf.
The Modern Crossword: Themeless 6 by Enrique Henestroza Anguiano. Online, .pdf.
New York Sun: ($) APB by Joy M. Andrews. Reissues from 2003.
New York Times: ($) With Ease by Garrett Chalfin. Online, .pdf, app.
New York Times Mini: by Joel Fagliano. Online, app.
Newsday: WATER LOG: For Which You’ll Stay Dry by Gary M. Larson. Online, .pdfbackup online.
The Telegraph: Cross Atlantic by Steve Bartlett. Online.
Universal: Themeless Sunday 24 by Trent H. Evans. Online, pdf. .puz.
Universal Sunday: Change the Game by Seth Bisen-Hersh. .puz.
USA Today: Year of the Rabbit by Zhouqin Burnikel. Online, .pdf, app.
Washington Post: Captain Obvious Goes to the Art Museum by Evan Birnholz. Online, .pdf. .puz.

1Across: No Brainer by Ambrosia. .pdf, online.
The Browser: ($) Cryptic by Larry Kline. Subscribe at link.
Tales from the Cryptic: Cryptic Mini #000000001 by Bob Weisz. Online.

Everyman Cryptic: Everyman crossword No 3,979 .pdf, online.
The Globe and Mail: The Daily Cryptic Crossword. .pdf, online.
The Independent: Cryptic Crossword by Hoskins. .pdf, online.
New York Times Variety: ($) Puns and Anagrams by Mark Diehl. .pdf, online.
New York Times Variety: ($) A Little Variety by Frank Longo and Patrick Berry and Prasanna Seshadri. .pdf, online.
The New Yorker Cryptic: Cryptic by Neville Fogarty. .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, 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.

Crossworld News and Notes, September 2022

Don’t forget, we’re moving! For now we are still simulcasting via Substack and WordPress, but we will soon transition to only WordPress. Make sure you’re subscribed to the new site:

And we’re growing! We’ve added pages for Construction Resources and our entire list of puzzle sources. We also want to hear from you – is there a feature you want to see? Have an idea to pitch, a guest essay to submit, or a tip about some exciting puzzle news? Something else? Let us know!

We’re very happy to share our first essay, “On Trust,” by Will Eisenberg, exploring the relationship between a constructor and solver. A snippet: “A puzzlemaker can strive to evoke many things: happiness, nostalgia, the feeling of being ‘seen,’ the joy of an “aha!” moment, and even frustration. But the ability to evoke these emotions from the solver is built upon a base of trust. This is because a puzzle offers the solver one fundamental proposition: It is going to take you some time to work out the solution, but it will be worth it.”

We’re excited to add a home for guest essays here on our new site, and will build out public submission guidelines in time.


Congratulations to Kelsey Dixon, whose puzzle was chosen from an open call to round out the Boswords Fall Themeless League. She joins Derek Allen, Kate Chin Park & Chandi Deitmer, Malaika Handa, Natan Last, Barbara Lin, Portia Lundie, Brendan Emmett Quigley, and Brad Wilber. What a fantastic lineup! Registration is open now, and the League starts with the preseason puzzle on September 26.

New to Boswords? Check out the introductory video from organizer John Lieb:

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.

Final reminder that the Lollapuzzoola 15 puzzles are available for purchase through September 24. There’s so much good content here; get it while you still can!


My Jewish Learning, a site with resources to empower Jewish discovery for anyone interested in learning more, has launched a weekly Jewish themed mini crossword puzzle written by Rebecca Goldstein. They will also run larger Jewish holiday-themed puzzles throughout the year.

The first edition of Lemonade Disco has arrived! The theme of the 5-puzzle pack hosted on Taylor Made Crosswords is “Cocktail Mixer” and includes puzzles by Matt Forest, Emma Getman, George Ho, Seth Bisen-Hersh, and Glenn Cook. Puzzles are curated and edited by Taylor Johnson with help on this edition from guest editor Steve Mossberg. Constructors of any experience level may participate. Submissions for the third edition, “Rising Signs” are due on October 17. Submissions details here.

Crucinova has announced it will be drawing to a close by June 2023. We’ve enjoyed many of the innovative puzzles that Crucinova has made possible and we thank Lisa Bunker and all of the constructors for their work.


A hearty welcome back to Cursewords Live! After an extended summer hiatus, Parker Higgins and Ross Trudeau will be live solving and live creating puzzles once more starting tonight (September 18) at 8pm eastern.


AVCX Cryptics has re-opened for submissions during the month of September. Details here.

The Inkubator is open for submissions for the month of September for themed puzzles from women and nonbinary constructors. Details here.

Congratulations to Katie Hale, who has joined the L.A. Times team as Assistant Editor.


Since the last News & Notes, Adam Simpson (9/5) and Ekua Ewool (9/7) made their NYT debuts and Bonnie Eisenman (9/12) made her USAT debut! Congrats to everyone!


Hayley Gold, along with Will Nediger and Al Sanders, have issued a contest to write a full set of new cryptic clues for the grid “Un-American” by Stephen Sondheim. The filled grid is here and the original puzzle and clues are here. Submit contest entries to Hayley via Twitter dm. Hayley, Will, and Al are co-streaming cryptics on Will’s Twitch channel; next streams are October 6 and October 21 at 9pm eastern.

Hayley also wrote a in-depth rundown of Lollapuzzoola 15 for Beyond Wordplay and she was a guest on the podcast “Because Language” to discuss the state and history of cryptic crosswords and crossworld in general.


Champion speed solver Stella Zawistowski recently appeared on the YouTube show “Game On,” in which she raced viewers to solve a series of crosswords.


Thanks in preparing this issue to: Kate Chin Park, Hayley Gold, Rebecca Goldstein, and Taylor Johnson.

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

Saturday, 17 September 2022

“Waaay better than a repository.” – Fill Me In

Club 72: Freestyle 746 by Tim Croce. .puz, .pdf.
Crosshare Community: Daily Mini and Featured Puzzles.
David Alfred Bywaters: Sad Partings by David Alfred Bywaters. .puz, .pdf, online.
The Nexus Blog: Golden Lady by Jeremy Horwitz & Alex Boisvert .jpz, .pdf, online.
Pocket Squares: Eat the which? by Jasper Davidoff. .pdf, online.
Taylor Made Crosswords: Lemonade Disco #1: Shaken, Not Stirred by Seth Bisen-Hersh. .pdf, online.
Taylor Made Crosswords: Lemonade Disco #1: Spirit Style by Emma Getman. .pdf, online.
Taylor Made Crosswords: Lemonade Disco #1: Spritzed Drinks by Matt Forest. .pdf, online.
Taylor Made Crosswords: Lemonade Disco #1: Never Gonna Keep Me Down by Glenn Cook. .pdf, online.

A-to-Z Crosswords: ($) Puzzle #90 by Peter Gordon & Frank Longo. Subscribe at link.
The Charlotte Ledger: Name Change by Chris King. .puz, .pdf.
Crossword Club: Daily Crossword: September 17, 2022 by Kelsey Dixon. .pdf, online.
Matt Gaffney’s Weekly Crossword Contest: ($) Our Retorter Is on the Scene (Meta) by Matt Gaffney. Subscribe at Patreon.
Morning Brew: Stopping By by Mary Tobler .pdf, online.

Crosswords with Friends: by Lynn Lempel. App Store | Google Play
Daily POP Crosswords: by Andrew J. Ries. App Store | Google Playonline.
Los Angeles Times: by John Lieb. Online, pdf. Free Cruciverb account for .puz.
LA Times Mini: by Elizabeth Gorski. Online.
New York Sun: ($) Animal Puns “R” Us by Louis Hildebrand. Reissues from 2002.
New York Times: ($) by Grant Thackray. Online, .pdf, .puz, app.
New York Times Mini: by Joel Fagliano. Online, app.
Newsday: Saturday Stumper by Steve Mossberg. Online, .pdfbackup online.
Universal: Universal Freestyle 38 by Guilherme Gilioli. Online, pdf. .puz.
USA Today: Last to Leave by Matthew Stock. Online, .pdf, app.
Vox: Letter Heads by Andrew J. Ries. .pdf, online.
Vulture 10×10: The Mystery Puzzle by Malaika Handa. .pdf, online.
The Wall Street Journal: What Did You Sate? by Mike Shenk. Online, .pdf. .puz.
Washington Post Daily Mini Meta: by Andrew White & Pete Muller. Online, .pdf.

Darren’s Puzzles: Perplexing Pirates by Darren Miller. .pdf
Taylor Made Crosswords: Lemonade Disco #1: Last Round (Cryptic) by George Ho. .pdf, online.
Tortoiseshell Studio: ($) Pathfinder by Nathan Curtis. Patreon subscription.

Financial Times: FT Crossword: Number 17,202 by Mudd. .pdf.
Financial Times: FT Crossword: Polymath number 1196 by Bradman. .pdf.
The Globe and Mail: The Daily Cryptic Crossword. .pdf, online.
The Independent: Cryptic Crossword by Serpent. .pdf, online.
WSJ Variety: Riding The Waves by Patrick Berry. .pdf.

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