Category Archives: puzzly event

The Winter Wondersolve Is Coming!

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I did a roundup of Crossword News last week, but one important bit of news came through too late to be included, so it gets its own post today!

BosWords has only been around since 2017, but every year, they deliver several outstanding puzzly experiences.

Their flagship event has long been the Summer Tournament, but you’re missing out if you don’t participate in their other events. Their Spring and Fall Themeless League events are all-virtual weekly puzzles to solve over a two-month period. It’s a great way to stretch your solving muscles without the pressure of in-person tournament-style solving.

And speaking of at-home solving, they just announced that registration is open for the 2025 Winter Wondersolve event.

It’s taking place on Sunday, February 2, from 1-4:30 PM Eastern, and features three themed puzzles and a themeless. The best of both worlds!

Plus they’ve lined up a terrific team. You’ve got event directors John Lieb and Andrew Kingsley, puzzle editor Brad Wilber, and a quartet of constructors handling the puzzling this year: Alina Abidi, Kareem Ayas, Carly Schuna, and Andrew White.

Check out the Boswords website for all the details (including a video narrated by John Lieb).

Will you be participating in the Winter Wondersolve (or any other Boswords events this year), fellow puzzlers? Let us know! We’d love to hear from you.

The 2024 GCHQ Christmas Challenge Launches Tomorrow!

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One government agency in England celebrates Christmas a little bit differently than most.

The GCHQ — or Government Communications Headquarters — provides security and intelligence services for the British government. Back when they were known as GC&CS — Government Code and Cypher School — they were responsible for funding Bletchley Park and its successes cracking the German “Enigma” code during World War II.

And now, they provide one of the coolest and puzzliest challenges of the year, designed for solvers aged eleven to eighteen to test their skills, hoping to inspire the next generation of puzzle solvers.

Yes, it’s time once again for the GCHQ Christmas card.

GCHQ card
A look at 2021’s GCHQ Christmas Card.

We provided detailed breakdowns of their Christmas cards in 2016 and 2021, and if you’d like a sample of the GCHQ Christmas Challenge, they have an archive of the last three years ready for you to solve!

The 2024 edition of the GCHQ Christmas Challenge launches tomorrow, Wednesday December 11th for the general public. (Schools were able to register for early access to the puzzles, complete with lesson-planning materials, which is very cool.)

Here’s what the GCHQ has to say about the event:

At GCHQ, we love creating puzzles and breaking codes. That’s why every year we create the GCHQ Christmas Challenge, a series of fiendish brainteasers and puzzles, designed by our very own team of codebreakers. It encourages children aged 11-18 to think laterally and work as a team, as well as showcasing some of the skills they might need to become a spy.

The puzzles are not designed to be solved alone, and each student will bring something different to the challenge. At GCHQ, we believe the right mix of minds enables us to solve seemingly impossible problems.

I’ve always been impressed with what festive puzzly efforts GCHQ brings each year, and I can’t wait to see what the 2024 edition has in store for solvers.

So, fellow puzzlers, do you accept this year’s Christmas Challenge? Let us know in the comments section below!

Club Drosselmeyer 1941 is Coming!

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You are cordially invited…

If you’re a puzzle fan, you’re absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to puzzly events to explore. Crossword tournaments, treasure hunts, escape rooms, puzzles by mail, puzzles by email, puzzles on your phone.

But I guarantee you’ve never experienced anything like Club Drosselmeyer.

Imagine getting all gussied up in your best 1940s-era-appropriate garb and grabbing your tickets before heading out to a show in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

What kind of show, you ask? Well, a vaudeville-style variety show with live music, enchanting and exciting performances, and all sorts of mysteries and intrigue playing out before your eyes, all set during the heady days and nights of World War II.

And what if there was an elaborate puzzle hunt tying the entire event together?

In a nutshell, that’s a Club Drosselmeyer event.

And tickets are on sale now for their latest immersive show!

There are performances set for December 6th, 7th, 8th, 13th, and 14th for a two-hour whirlwind of puzzly theatricality. As the organizers themselves say, “Prepare yourself for another season of magic and mayhem, romance and revelry, champagne and sugarplums.”

Although I’ve never gotten to attend a Club Drosselmeyer event in person, a few years ago I participated in their virtual Club Drosselmeyer Interactive Radio Broadcast of 1943, and it remains one of my all-time favorite puzzle experiences.

I enjoyed two hours of wonderful music while tracking a rogue flying toaster, unraveling a criminal conspiracy during an air raid, decoding secret messages, helping a starlet choose the right lipstick for her show, and even performing a magic trick!

This year, they promise all sorts of fun surprises:

Our team is already hard at work choreographing dances and magic, crafting costumes, updating sets, building puzzles, writing insane stories and figuring out how to rope YOU into plots of espionage, military secrets, traitors, heroes, women’s rights, romance, technology, loyalty, ambition and movie stars. The band will be swinging, the drinks will be strong and you will look fabulous.

Club Drosselmeyer is run by a small and incredibly dedicated group of writers, performers, puzzlers, and musicians who put their all into this event every single year, and I simply cannot sing their praises loud enough.

Check out their website for more details and information on previous Club Drosselmeyer events. You will not be disappointed.