After our one-year anniversary post, some of the readers have been asking about my puzzle credentials. How did I become a puzzler? What strange, meandering road led me to the hallowed halls of puzzlesmithery? Could aspiring puzzlers follow the same path to puzzlewonderful adventures?
There’s no single path to puzzlerhood. Sure, there are some fairly universal commonalities. Do you have a great vocabulary? Mad trivia skills? Are you a whiz with palindromes, anagrams, or other forms of wordplay? These can all help. Also, a background or degree in English doesn’t hurt.
But every puzzler I know took a different route. It’s not as if we all awoke one day to a knock at the door, only to discover a small basket left on the doorstep, and tiny elfin footprints leading back toward the enchanted forest down the street.
Though, admittedly, that would have been awesome.
Here, let me take you through some of the highlights in my puzzle resume, and we’ll see if my experiences offer some guidance or inspiration for those with puzzletastic aspirations.
Unrecognized Wheel of Fortune Grand Champion, USA, 1988-present
Since I was about seven years old, family members have called me into the family room to see who can puzzle out the quotes, phrases, and punny answers behind the lovely Vanna White, and I regularly school both contestants and kin with ease.
While Mr. Sajak refused to recognize my decades-long reign as Wheel of Fortune Grand Champion (Stay-at-Home Division), and Mr. Seacrest has yet to return my calls, that doesn’t make it any less noteworthy.
Internship with the Riddler, Gotham City, 2000-2001
There are few puzzle personalities in the world with the flair, cachet, and renown of Edward Nygma, otherwise known as freelance detective and occasional criminal mastermind The Riddler. So when I had the opportunity to sit in with him and learn from his decades of riddle-centric shenaniganry, I leapt at the chance.
I studied the intricacies of mechanical puzzles, wordplay, and punsmithery while under Nygma’s wing. Although I frequently found myself in legal and moral gray areas — and on the receiving end of more than a few POW!s and BIFF!s — the experience was well worth it.
Tetris Foreign Exchange Program, St. Petersberg, 2002
There’s no better spatial awareness training than Tetris. I can feng shui the packages in the back of a UPS truck like nobody’s business, and don’t get me started on my legendary vacation-packing skills. And with the added pressure of that horrendous tension-inducing “you’re near the top!” music, I’m cool as Siberia under pressure.
Dungeon Tester, various, 2003-present
Is your Tomb of Horrors not horrorful enough? Is your Tomb of Elemental Evil lacking in some evil elements? Is your Ghost Tower of Inverness feeling a little inver-less?
I’ve ventured through some of the deadliest, trickiest, player-decimating-est dungeons in all of roleplaying, and my quality control and suggestions have made them even deadlier-ier!
That trick with the secret escape door in the third pitfall trap? Yeah, that was me.
You’re welcome, dungeon masters!
Escape Room Entrepreneur, Scranton, PA, 2006
Yes, the first official escape room opened in Japan in 2007, but I actually pioneered the genre when I accidentally tripped into a display at the Houdini Museum in Scranton just before closing time. Somehow the staff missed the clanking of chains and my totally-manly-and-not-at-all-shrill cries for help, and I found myself plunged into darkness, trapped haphazardly in several of Houdini’s most famous devices.
Thankfully my previous training with the Riddler had prepared me for this sort of dilemma. After several hours of maneuvering (and some unpleasant chafing marks from all the chains and manacles), I managed to extricate myself from all the Houdiniana around me and slip out the front door… and into the waiting arms of the police responding to all the motion sensor alarms I’d tripped with my heroic flailings.
Puzzle Summit with Will Shortz, New York City, 2007
Okay, it wasn’t so much a historic meeting of the minds as it was me yelling puzzle ideas at him with a megaphone as I chased him down the street.
But that totally counts.
Freelance Puzzle Historian, Self-Appointed, USA, 2009-present
Oh yes, puzzle history is a rich and varied field of study, one to which I have devoted a great deal of time and effort, unearthing some fascinating and surprising discoveries. For instance, did you know that Nero did not, in fact, fiddle while Rome burned? He was far too busy being frustrated by the extreme Sudoku puzzle he’d picked up in the agora.
Well, there you have it. A brief glimpse in my particular puzzle experiences and how they’ve shaped me. Here’s hoping you can blaze your own puzzlerific trail, be it through decoding Linear B with Cryptogram-ingrained proficiency or anagramming your friends’ names to your heart’s content.
One year ago today, my first post under the PuzzCulture name went live.
It’s been both overwhelming and gratifying to return to writing about the world of puzzles and games after a few years away, and I’m so so grateful to all of you who have joined me on this journey.
And although it’s only been a year, it sure feels like a LOT has happened over the last twelve months.
More deep dives into the history of puzzles and games. More puzzles to solve. More interviews. More reviews. And other things without the word “views” in them. (But hopefully ones that still inspire your views!)
Again, I’m so chuffed with the response PuzzCulture has garnered so far, and I’m excited to continue creating content for you to enjoy.
But what are you looking for, fellow puzzler? Is there something you would like to see that we haven’t done before? Or something you’d like to see more of?
Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.
If you’re unfamiliar, the Boswords Fall Themeless League is a clever weekly spin on traditional crossword tournament-style solving. Instead of cracking through a number of puzzles in a single day (or two), the Fall Themeless League consists of one themeless crossword each week, scored based on your accuracy and how fast you complete the grid.
Each week’s puzzle only has one grid, but there are three sets of clues, each representing a different difficulty level for solvers. Smooth is the least challenging, Choppy is the middle ground, and Stormy is the most challenging. (When you register to participate, you choose the difficulty level that suits you best.)
Each week’s puzzle is accompanied by a one-hour broadcast on Twitch, starting with a preseason puzzle and broadcast on Monday, September 29th at 9 PM Eastern.
The Fall Themeless League then runs the next nine Monday nights starting at 9 PM.
Don’t worry if you can’t attend the Monday night broadcasts. Solvers will have until the end of the day Sunday each solving week to complete that week’s puzzles!
As for the puzzles themselves, each year the Boswords team assembles a lineup of top-flight constructors, and this year is no exception.
This year’s constructors are Carina da Rosa, Barbara Lin, Ryan Mathiason, Sophia Maymudes, Paolo Pasco, David Quarfoot, Brendan Emmett Quigley, Jeremy Venook, Emily Yi and Wayne Zhao.
I’ve participated in the Spring and Fall Themeless Leagues in years past, and it always sparks a renewed appreciation for what talented constructors can do outside the traditional themed structures of a grid. The grid work, the fill, the cluing… these are all given greater focus.
Consider checking it out, you won’t be disappointed!
Will you be participating in this year’s Fall Themeless League, fellow solvers? Let me know in the comments section below, I’d love to hear from you!
We love a bit of wordplay around here. We get it in riddles, crossword clues, brain teasers, and the simple shameless joy of a well-executed pun.
I’m sure plenty of roleplaying game enthusiasts have encountered puns and wordplay in their travels. Sometimes it’s a funny reference or an offhand remark or even a character’s name that inspires groans or chuckles.
But some folks are unaware that there are puns lurking not just at the D&D table… but in the very mechanics of the game Dungeons & Dragons itself.
One of the interesting aspects of spellcasting in D&D is the inclusion of spell components. These are actual physical materials the character must carry on them and use in order to properly perform a given spell. When combined with verbal cues or physical actions, the material components help the spellcaster summon the magic to life.
Some material components are quite thematically appropriate. You need bat guano and sulfur — two ingredients in gunpowder — to produce Fireball. To cast Lightning Bolt requires either a glass rod or a piece of amber, plus a piece of fur to rub it with… just as you would in a science lab to make static electricity.
A pinch of sand for Sleep, a drop of molasses for Slow, a bit of copper wire for Message.
Looks like another tragic instance of out-sorcery…
But if you look at the material components used for some spells, you can’t help but notice a jokey recurring theme.
For instance, the material component for the spell Detect Thoughts is a copper piece, a coin of small denomination. The spell literally requires a penny for one’s thoughts.
To cast Confusion, it requires three nutshells. You know, like the ones you’d use in a shell game to make them lose track of the pea they’d just bet on.
All sorts of illusion spells require a bit of fleece or wool. Like the wool you pull over someone’s eyes.
To cast Feeblemind, you need a handful of clay, crystal, or glass spheres. Like the marbles you want your target to lose.
Levitate has several options, but one of them is a simple loop of leather. Like the bootstraps you’re expected to pull yourself up by. (Reinforcing the original meaning of that phrase by proving IT’S TOTAL FANTASY TO ACTUALLY DO SO.)
To cast Tongues, you have to smash a small clay tower or ziggurat. You need to symbolically smash the Tower of Babel.
Passwall requires sesame seeds. Open Sesame, anyone?
Rary’s Mnemonic Enhancer gives you the ability to retain additional spells. Its material component is an ivory plaque… because elephants never forget!
Perhaps the silliest is Gust of Wind. It was later changed to require a “tiny leather bellows,” but in different editions of the game, all it requires is a legume seed.
A bean. A bean to give you wind.
I told you earlier that many puns are shameless.
Still, it’s fun to find these little easter eggs tucked away in the D&D rulebook. It shows the playfulness and the level of attention to detail that helps make roleplaying games an immersive escape like none other.
Have you found any wordplay lurking unexpectedly in your games, fellow puzzler? Let me know in the comments section below, I’d love to hear from you!
Several friends started sharing this video with me not long after it was posted (and already going viral).
While so much of modern politics is mired in mudslinging, negativity, fearmongering, and hate speech, Zohran Mamdani opted instead to get his fellow New Yorkers moving, excited, and motivated in a healthy, fun, engaging way: a scavenger hunt.
This video got 114,000 views in one day. And as for the actual turnout:
We announced the #ZcavengerHunt *yesterday* …within 2 hours of dropping the first clue, nearly 3,000 New Yorkers came to the first stop to participate. https://t.co/C7IDbSN8cA
So many players documented their adventure across social media, not only excited about taking on this walking-friendly public challenge, but meeting fellow New Yorkers who were similarly buzzing about this fun, educational event!
I did the first two clues on the #ZcavengerHunt and got to bike home over the bridge after and I have to say, Zohran Mamdani making New Yorkers take in the beauty of this city is truly the best pic.twitter.com/qfxvIZOEtu
Ran around the city today (immediately after landing home at LaGuardia this morning…fitting the mayor theme!) for @ZohranKMamdani ‘s #ZcavengerHunt
Didn’t come in time to get a card, but still had a great time regardless. It was amazing seeing so many people come out for this! pic.twitter.com/Q4ZAUu3cP0
I have officially stopped doing the scavenger hunt after two clues, but in that time I ran into multiple friends and then found a small community garden I've never seen before so I'm counting the event as positive pic.twitter.com/EpMITVZax4
The tweet above brilliantly summarizes some of the joys that come along with a public event like this. It’s not all about winning or completing the challenge. Sometimes, it’s about discovering something new about a place you thought you knew, or exploring a place that you didn’t know before!
It was an absolute joy to follow all of the posts across Twitter and Bluesky about the event. It gave me flashbacks to The Great Urban Race from years ago!
At the end of the #ZcavengerHunt. Here at little flower in Astoria. There is a massive line where you get a photo with zohran as the prize pic.twitter.com/F7Q1ND2bh7
By any and all metrics, this was a huge success. THOUSANDS of New Yorkers came out to explore, enjoy the city, meet fellow puzzlers, and revel in a truly rare occurrence: a campaign event that left people smiling at the end.
Feels like all of enby NYC is out here doing the #ZcavengerHunt and that's rad
When I talk about puzzles bringing people together, this is the energy I mean. Whether it’s a tournament or a scavenger hunt or simply a few people gathered around a kitchen table, puzzles are community builders.
Yes, puzzles can be a solitary endeavor, and a delightful one at that, but so much of the joy of puzzling comes from solving together, sharing the experience.
Here’s hoping we see more of this energy in the future.
The eighteenth edition of Lollapuzzoola, as is tradition, arrived on a Saturday in August. (I was not in attendance, but I did purchase the Solve at Home puzzle pack.) I finally had a chance to sit down and try my hands at this year’s tournament puzzles, and I was certainly not disappointed.
Lollapuzzoola continues to push the envelope with inventive themes and unique spins on how to bring crosswords to life. (Never forget competitors MEOWING for milk at Lollapuzzoola 10!)
This year’s theme was “We Put the Zoo in Lollapuzzoola.” Every puzzle had something to do with animals and animal-based wordplay, and the constructors were clearly inspired in all sorts of ways. Let’s take a look at what they came up with.
Warmup Puzzle A: Twinletsby Brian Cimmet
This puzzle felt more like hitting the ground running than warming up, but it definitely got the creative juices flowing. The solver is presented with two identical grids and two sets of clues, and you have to figure out which grid each answer applies to.
This was complicated by the fact that several of the clues were the same for multiple entries. For example, the clue to 1 Across for both grids was “Mythical equine beast.” Naturally, the only thing to do is start writing in one grid and let the answers populate and push you toward the next entry.
I really dig Twin Crosswords or Twinlets puzzles, and Brian has a knack for putting just enough common letters in the same spaces in both grids to keep you guessing. (And for writing one exceptionally long clue that never disappoints.)
Beginning and concluding the acrosses with mythical beasts was a great hook, and I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle.
Interesting grid entries included our mythical beasts (SIMURGH, what a shout!), JANE DONE, ME THREE, and INTEGER, and my favorite clues were “Oscar Cimmet, to Brian Cimmet” for SON and “Amazing song or British sausage” for BANGER.
Warmup Puzzle B: Meet Cuteby Brooke Husic
An apt pair — HELLO KITTY and BYE BYE BIRDIE — ties together this themeless midi, although the meet cute of the title is slightly less cute with the crossing entry COULD GET IT. (While I was solving, I thought the other long down entry was a similarly saucy ARE YOU DOWN, before it turned out to be ARE YOU DONE, heh.)
Brooke is a pro at making the most of a tight grid, and this puzzle was clean and loaded with great trivia in its cluing, particularly for entries solvers have seen loads of times, like ORS or UNO. Breathing new life into crossword classics can be tough, but Brooke always goes the extra mile.
Interesting grid entries included SSRIS, CLUSTER, and ARE YOU DONE, and my favorite clues were “Last number shouted before “Feliz ano nuevo!” for UNO, “Group of stars, computers, or consonants” for CLUSTER, and “Percussive string instrument technique heard in funk music” for SLAP BASS.
I think creating a proper puzzle #1 is one of the toughest tasks in crosswords. It has to be challenging enough to engage the solver, but accessible enough to ease them into a full day of competition. It has to represent the spirit of the event and pique interest in the puzzles to come.
That’s a lot, but Hannah delivers a solid starting puzzle with a fun theme: entries that start with commands to a pet, like DOWN, STAY, or ROLLOVER. (I also appreciated the dog-centric cluing peppered throughout the puzzle. That’s dedication to the gimmick!)
I definitely need to look up more of Hannah’s puzzles going forward.
Interesting grid entries included STEM CELLS, TEWA, T-SHOT, and ITHACA, and my favorite clues were “Alvin and the Chipmunks or Josie and the Pussycats” for TRIO and “Latter member of a rhyming candy duo” for IKE.
Wait, wrong one…
Puzzle #2: Cave Dwellers by Mark Valdez
This puzzle combined a great visual element — lots of black squares and a squat, wide design to evoke the setting in the title — and paired it with a smart gimmick for the themed entries.
We’ve unknowingly ventured into a puzzly cave with bats hanging upside down from the ceiling… so all of the themed entries reading down start with TAB instead of BAT. Diabolical!
Mark crammed LOADS of these hidden bats into the cave, making for an impressive feat of puzzle construction.
Interesting grid entries included SO SUE ME, AM DIAL, and PAWNEE, and my favorite clues were “Tower on the sea” for TUG and “Short king?” for TUT.
Yes, all your favorite animals like helicopter and hat…
Puzzle #3: Balloon Animalsby Kate Hawkins
Size matters in this 19x stormer, where animal names not only appear in multiple entries, but each letter fills a 2×2 set of boxes! I was definitely confused on several of the down entries, since I knew the answers, but they didn’t fit. When it finally clicked for me, it was very satisfying to write those huge letters across the grid.
I’ve seen rebuses and shared letters and repeated letters, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen ballooned letters before. I can only imagine the a-ha moment happening in real time during the tournament!
Interesting grid entries included RAW SCORE, TESLA COILS, AND SCENE, and ARCHIVAL, and my favorite clues were “Curry popular in the Bay Area” for STEPH, “Bedizen with lace or ribbon” for TRIM, and “Took the wrong way?” for STOLE.
Puzzle #4: Shady Charactersby Brooke Husic
Brooke is one of the most inventive constructors in puzzles, and this 15x is no exception. Every clue that includes the word “red” required the solver to use the opposite of that word in the clue instead. For instance, “Hatred” clued the grid entry KINDNESS (a one-for-one swap) while “Spotted Serengeti predator” clued the grid entry GIRAFFE (swapping only “predator” and not the entire clue).
This was bolstered by the instruction in 63A (“what you should do, appropriately, when you see red”) for the revealer CALL BULL. Which is just lovely wordplay, hitting both the misleading cluing gimmick and referencing the classic concept of waving red to a bull.
This one was tough but quite clever, definitely the puzzle I struggled with most. (I was having flashbacks to a similarly devious #4 puzzle from Brooke in the 2021 edition of Lollapuzzoola.)
Interesting grid entries included GASOLINA, IN SEASON, CRITTERS, and PREFECT, and my favorite clues were “Useful paper for a trip” for LSD TAB and “Matter of record?” for VINYL.
Good job folks, we did it. We found my new favorite stock photo…
Puzzle #5: Wild Discoveriesby Kareem Ayas
This 21x two-page delight managed to fit two hidden answers (spelled out with circles), another scattered throughout the grid, an anagram, a rebus, and an answer beyond the grid itself, all tied together by the revealer SCAVENGER HUNT, tying together the animals and the puzzle gimmick perfectly.
This was SO MUCH FUN. The creativity is off the charts. Kareem had lots of clues that referenced the main gimmick, providing hints to our six crafty scavengers, and really making the puzzle feel unified and thoughtfully assembled.
Interesting grid entries included CARRYON, EXECRABLE, VOYAGER, and UV LAMP, and my favorite clues were “Glue bottle bull whose mate is Elsie” for ELMER and “Imitates nested spoons with a partner or pet” for SNUGGLES.
Puzzle #6: Championship Finalby Malaika Handa
As always, there were two sets of clues for the Finals puzzle, the Local and the more difficult Express clues. No matter which clues you were working with, you were in for an excellent tournament finale.
This grid fill was SMOOTH, offering a lot of strong vocabulary, interesting crossings, and devious cluing. Everything you could hope for, highlighting the strengths and possibilities of a smartly constructed themeless puzzle.
I had the privilege of interviewing Malaika years ago for the blog, and I’m overjoyed to see her continue going from strength to strength in constructing.
Interesting grid entries included SAYSO, TRIPSITTER, KOREAN TACO, and RAT CZAR. Both the Local and Express sets of clues had some gems, so I’ll list them separately below:
Local clues:
“Game whose box depicts someone covering their mouth” for TABOO
“It might help you treasure your chest” for TOP SURGERY
“Lead-in to tail or trial” for MOCK
Express clues:
“Possessive that becomes another possessive if you add a letter” for OUR
“Fictional Russian aristocrat portrayed by Garbo, Leigh, and Knightley” for KARENINA
“Way of getting something off one’s chest” for TOP SURGERY
“Body found deep in a forest, perhaps” for LAKE (SO DARK, I LOVE IT)
“Board present at a corporate event?” for CHARCUTERIE
“Target of much paper coverage” for ROCK
There was also a tiebreaker themeless midi by Sid Sivakumar. It was a quick and satisfying solve, offering the apt pair of TALKS TURKEY and CRIES WOLF (though I enjoyed the grid-spanning down entries more, STICK FIGURE and SO FAR SO GOOD).
My favorite clues were “Well-supported gp.” for OPEC and “Coin on which a star indicates it was minted in Hyderabad” for RUPEE.
I’m sure I sound like a broken record at this point, but that’s because there are only so many ways to talk about how GOOD things are. (It’s way easier to complain about the bad than to find ways to celebrate the good.)
The puzzles at Lollapuzzoola always impress, and this year was easily my favorite edition of the tournament so far. Every puzzle had a strong theme, good fill, and topnotch cluing. So many of the themes were creative, playful, and eye-opening in how they played with the solver’s expectations.
There are so many great puzzle tournaments each year, and constructors sweat over these brilliant grids for our enjoyment. But Lollapuzzoola truly remains its own unique flavor of puzzles, embracing imaginative themes and clever execution like none other.
I cannot wait to see what they’re cooking up for next year.
Did you tackle this year’s Lollapuzzoola crossword tournament, fellow puzzlers, either from home or live in person? Let me know in the comment section below, I’d love to hear from you!
PuzzCulture 