There’s a lot going on in the intertwined worlds of puzzles and games, so let’s skip the intro and get to it!
Conversations with the New York Times Games Team!
There are two events coming up for fans of NYT puzzles and games.
First, the 92Y is hosting a New York Times Games Night tomorrow night to celebrate the launch of the new Connections book.
Wyna Liu, Joel Fagliano, Sam Ezersky, and Tracy Bennett will be in attendance to talk shop and engage in some live gameplay with attendees.
Click here for ticket info and here to check out the new Connections book.
But that’s not all.
On Friday, October 30th, the Wordle Review comments section will be hosting a Q&A at 1 PM Eastern with Josh Katz and Tom Giratikanon, the designers behind Wordle Bot and Connections Bot!
Learn more about how the bots work, why they’re so sassy, and meet the team who makes the Bots go.
Cryptic Crossword Updates (and The Independent)
Speaking of crosswords, there has sadly been no sign that The Independent’s managing editor will reverse course on cancelling their daily cryptic crossword.
But even with that dark cloud hanging over the puzzle community, there is plenty going on in cryptic crossword chatter for solvers and setters alike to enjoy.
Chameleon posted a terrific article on MyCrossword about an interesting variation on the hidden-style clue. For example, a traditional hidden clue would have “Scottish snack offered in disco nearby” cluing SCONE, since it’s hidden in “diSCO NEarby.” But Chameleon’s version is slightly more difficult. (Personally, I love it!)
Setter Paul Henderson (known to Independent solvers as Phi) has announced he’ll be continuing his Phidays tradition on his website.
Duncan over at fifteensquared has shared the puzzles being distributed at this year’s York Sloggers and Betters 2026 gathering, so get solving. Feedback is welcome!
And if there’s more news in the cryptic world I’ve missed, please let me know!
Bonmo.app Releases Their 1,000th Puzzle!
We talked about Puzzmo celebrating 1,000 days back in July, but it turns out they’re not the only puzzle app crossing the millennium mark this year.
Bonmo.app just released their 1,000th puzzle, a delightful grid from constructor Carina da Rosa. If you’re an Apple user, check them out!
Reminder: Cultura Connector and the GRIT Ukraine Program Still Seeking Funds
A few weeks ago, I wrote about a charity effort to inspire Ukrainian youths through LARPing.
And the team at Cultura Connector have announced that they’re 60% of the way to unlocking a $20,000 match for the charity!
They are raising funds for their first GRIT Ukraine program, enabling Ukrainian facilitators to lead a 12-week LARP program with Ukrainian young people living in Poland to strengthen resilience, communication, emotional awareness, problem-solving, and connection with Ukrainian youths.
And with a week left to go, your help could make a huge difference.
Please share the link and donate if you can. It would be so amazing to reach out to young people halfway around the world and show them the magic of storytelling while helping build them up.
You can also click here for more details on Cultura Connector and the GRIT program.
The BackerKit Holiday Market Launches Soon!
Crowdfunding is a cornerstone of the puzzles and games industry these days, especially for smaller and independent creators, so I’m stoked to hear that the BackerKit Holiday Market is returning for a second year.
Hosted between November 18th and December 1st, numerous puzzle and games companies (among others!) will be participating.
Unlike most crowdfunding efforts, there’s no funding goal and products will be ready-to-ship immediately.
Some of my favorite shops like Scarlet Envelope and Morgan’s Escapes will be participating, so be sure to check it out!
What Puzzle Words Sent American Solvers to Google?
I love digging into data. It’s fascinating to see what you can learn from sifting through carefully cultivated information.
And I’m not alone in that. The team at UnscrambleX also love data, and they’ve shared some of their findings.
UnscrambleX is a free word scrambler, anagram solver, and Scrabble word finder all in one, and they’ve been crunching solver data for the last year.
And it turns out, between June 2025 and October 2026, the words that baffled or eluded solvers weren’t small, obscure ones, overly long entries, or crosswordese.
As Adrian Talvik, spokesperson for UnscrambleX told me, “The words that stop people aren’t the long ones. They’re words people have seen on a menu or a perfume label but never had to spell.”
NEROLI topped the list with 65,684 US searches on May 28, 2026, twice the next word (POMELO, 31,911 on May 18). Three of the five hardest came from the fruit bowl or the perfume counter, hard days come in themes (BÉCHAMEL, TERIYAKI and TZATZIKI on July 2)…
You can check out their full article here, including how they gathered and analyzed their data.
And we’ll have more interesting puzzle-data tidbits from UnscrambleX in the coming weeks!
Unfortunately I didn’t have time to test out any new puzzle apps or sites this week, but I promise that feature will return next Monday.
Did I miss any puzzly news or fun board game stories from the last few weeks? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.
