Tag Archives: Christmas

Ornamental Puzzling!

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Let’s do one last festive post before the new year begins!

Last week, a reddit user posted a picture of this Christmas ornament, and asked if the grid could actually be filled.

I happily accepted that challenge.

Now, there are a few caveats here. Obviously this is not a traditional crossword grid. It has no symmetry (either radial or axial), and it is littered with one- and two-letter entries, which are not allowed. There is also the small matter of the bottom left corner being completely disconnected from the rest of the grid.

Here is the empty grid with MERRY and CHRISTMAS preset (without the pencil blocking several squares):

Now, to stick to the reddit request, I left the grid mostly as is.

However, I could not in good conscience have part of the grid disconnected from the rest, so I removed a single black square in order to connect the grid fully.

There we go.

Oh. And one additional challenge: I only allotted myself ten minutes to fill the grid.

As usual in crossword construction, I tried to avoid abbreviations and variant spellings as much as possible (even with the two-letter entries), and keep the vocabulary as accessible as possible.

The only real challenge in this grid was finding a seven-letter word starting with R that aligned nicely with CHRISTMAS as the neighboring word.

In keeping with the holiday theme, I chose RAISINS, as the California Raisins and their long-lost classic Christmas special came to mind.

From that point, it was a pretty quick job filling in the rest of the grid.

There are more plurals than I’d prefer, and DYNAST is by far the most difficult entry in terms of vocabulary, but otherwise, I’m pleased with my nine minutes and thirteen seconds’ worth of work.

What do you think?

I might come back to this one and see if I could clean it up more. Eliminate all the plurals, or maybe put themed words for all the border words along the edge. Something to really challenge me.

But for now, I think this will do.

Please check out the reddit post to see other puzzlers’ attempts at filling this ornament’s unusual layout. Or maybe even accept the challenge yourself! If you do, I’d love to see your fill.

Happy puzzling, everyone! And Happy New Year!

A Puzzle for Christmas and the First Night of Hanukkah!

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Hello fellow puzzlers!

Christmas has come and gone, but Hanukkah has only just begun, and thanks to the creative minds of George Barany and Michael Hanko, I’m delighted to have an additional puzzle to share with you all at this festive time!

George and Michael have titled their puzzle December 25, 2024 (clued to midweek difficulty), and they’ve provided the following preface:

This holiday puzzle, with its dual time options and its two sets of clues, offers you the gift of choice. To accentuate your experience of your holiday–whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah–choose the clue set that corresponds to your personal tradition. Or, to ramp up your puzzle’s level of difficulty, choose a clue set that is outside your personal tradition. However you choose to approach our puzzle, we wish you a happy and/or merry solve!

George and Michael have playfully called the Christmas version of the puzzle HO and the Hanukkah version, OY. (You can download PDF versions of each by clicking the links provided.)

And for on-line solving with full “check” and “reveal” functionality, you can click on the links:

HO version

OY version

Reminder, a SINGLE answer grid is produced by solving from either clue set.  George and Michael are grateful to Noam Elkies, Charles Flaster, Theresa Horan, and Markand Thakar for taking time from each of their busy holiday leadups to test solve both versions and make helpful suggestions that improved it.

By request of the constructors, if you like the puzzle, please spread the cheer to your own circle.

Oh, and if you’re looking for other seasonal puzzles, check out this rectangular one created by Noam Elkies!

Thank you to George, Michael, and Noam for letting us share these puzzles with you all. Happy solving everyone!

Christmas Eve Puzzle to Solve!

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It’s Christmas Eve, fellow puzzlers, and it’s tradition around here to celebrate the holidays with a free puzzle to solve!

This year is no exception, as I’ve cooked up something festive and fun for you.

Our friends at Penny/Dell Puzzles have a puzzle called First and Last, and when I thought of it, I immediately had the idea to do a holiday-themed version of it.

As you might’ve already guessed, I called it…

First and Last Christmas!

You can click here to download a PDF copy of the puzzle to solve, and I’ve included the full details in this puzzle below so you know what you’re getting into!

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, friends. May the holidays be kind to you.

The answer to each clue can be found in the diagram. You can move up, down, backward, and forward, but not diagonally. Do not skip over any squares. The last letter of each answer is the first letter of the next answer; otherwise, each letter is used only once. The answer to the first clue begins in the outlined box, and the first and last letters of each answer are circled. Plus every word in the grid is festively themed. Good luck!

  1. This holiday song was the first song played in space (during the flight of Gemini 6A in December 1965)
  2. Stocking __
  3. Santa has eight or nine of these, depending on the song
  4. On the fifth day of Christmas, you get five of these
  5. There are 35 different shapes possible for this
  6. George Washington had a boozy recipe for this that included the instruction “Taste frequently”
  7. “The Elves and the Shoemaker” were just one story attributed to brothers by this name
  8. Holiday plant sometimes called “witches’ brooms”
  9. Good choice for a Christmas tree
  10. Scene featuring shepherds and magi (oh, and a baby, I guess)
  11. The Christmas season, of yore
  12. After leaving Bethlehem, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus traveled here
  13. This was originally made of hammered silver
  14. Holiday lights also known as farolitos
  15. __ calendar
  16. “Santa Claus is Coming to __“

Answers to our Reworded Holiday Songs Puzzle!

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village-carolers
Image courtesy of The Sun Papers.

A week ago, I shared a holiday puzzle rewording 31 different Christmas songs and carols. And now it’s time to reveal the answers!

1.) Move hitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief.

Oh Come All Ye Faithful

2.) Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds.

Hark, the Herald Angels Sing

3.) Proceed forth declaring upon a specific geological alpine formation.

Go Tell It on the Mountain

4.) Nocturnal timespan of unbroken quietness.

Silent Night

5.) Embellish the interior passageways.

Deck the Halls

6.) An emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good given to the terrestrial sphere.

Joy to the World

7.) Twelve o’clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival.

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

8.) The Christmas preceding all others.

The First Noel

9.) Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem.

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

10.) In a distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn children’s slumber furnishings.

Away in a Manger

11.) Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulums in inverted, metallic, resonant cups.

Jingle Bells

12.) The first person nominative plural of a triumvirate of far eastern heads of state.

We Three Kings (of Orient Are)

13.) Geographic state of fantasy during the season of Mother Nature’s dormancy.

Winter Wonderland

14.) In awe of the nocturnal timespan characterized by religiosity.

Oh Holy Night

15.) Natal celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as an hallucinatory phenomenon for me.

I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas

16.) Expectation of arrival to populated areas by mythical, masculine perennial gift-giver.

Here Comes Santa Claus

17.) Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of frozen minute crystals.

Frosty the Snowman

18.) Tranquility upon the terrestrial sphere.

Peace on Earth

19.) Omnipotent supreme being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

20.) Diminutive masculine master of skin-covered percussionistic cylinders.

Little Drummer Boy

21.) Jovial Yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas OR We Wish You a Merry Christmas

22.) Allow winter precipitation in the form of atmospheric water vapor in crystalline form to descend.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

23.) A first-person observer witnessed a female progenitor engaging in osculation with a hirsute nocturnal intruder.

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

24.) Your continued presence remains the sole Yuletide request of the speaker in question.

All I Want For Christmas Is You OR You’re All I Want for Christmas

25.) Permanent domicile during multiple specific celebratory periods.

(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays

26.) Diminutive person regarded as holy or virtuous known by the informal moniker shared by two former Russian tsars.

Little St. Nick

27.) More than a passing resemblance to an annual winter festival is emerging.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

28.) Are you registering the same auditory phenomenon I am currently experiencing?

Do You Hear What I Hear?

29.) Overhead at the summit of the suburban residence.

Up on the House Top

30.) Attractive or otherwise visually pleasing wood pulp product.

Pretty Paper

31.) Parasitic European shrub accompanied by a plant with prickly green leaves and baccate qualities.

Mistletoe and Holly OR The Holly and the Ivy

How did you do? Did you get them all, or did one or two stump you? Let me know!

So I received a box in the mail the other day.

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It seemed like your average Amazon box.

But then I looked a little closer.

Okay. It says it’s definitely not a mimic. That’s good enough for me.

But maybe I should examine the rest of the box.

More eyes. And a mouth. And a warning to roll for Initiative.

Clearly nothing to worry about. Let’s open it up!

Yup, I was right, nothing to worry about! There are even cookies lurking under the packaging paper!

Oh, hey, there’s a note:

YOU ATTEMPT TO RETRIEVE THE COOKIES BY REACHING DOWN THE GULLET OF A PARTICULARLY OBVIOUS MIMIC. BECAUSE, WELL… COOKIES!

And you know what? The note was right. I grabbed those cookies like Gollum going after the One Ring.

At least if the mimic eats me, I’ll go out doing what I love. Eating cookies.

*various munching noises*

Sorry. Cookies.

Hey, wait, I didn’t get eaten by the mimic. What gives?

Oh, another note! Let’s see what it says:

YOU RETRIEVE THE COOKIES. THE MIMIC CLEARS ITS THROAT. YOU’VE SAVED IT FROM CHOKING. IT’S GRATEFUL. ITS FORM CHANGES. YOU NOTICE A FALSE BOTTOM TO THE BOX.

And you know what? This note was right too! There was a false bottom.

I pulled it up and discovered a beautiful wooden box.

It also had a note attached:

BEYOND THE SUGARY GUTS OF THE MIMIC LIES… THE LAIR OF THE DUNGEON MASTER.

YOU HAVE MASTERED IT. IT REVEALS ITS TREASURES TO YOU.

I couldn’t resist. I’d gone this far, risked life and limb for the greatest treasure of all — cookies — and discovered another reward.

I opened the box…

Allow me to explain, fellow puzzlers.

I am a man of many puzzly pursuits, and roleplaying games stand very high on that list. I’ve been running RPG games like Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars RPG, Dread, GURPS, See You Space Cowboy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG, and many others over the years.

Although I have had the pleasure of being a player in a few games, for the vast majority of that time, I’ve been running the games for others. Be it as a Storyteller, a Dungeon Master, or any of the other terms used to describe game masters for roleplaying systems, running an RPG is one of my favorite things in the world to do.

I get to tell stories with my friends, build a world with them, surprise them with plot twists and villainous plans, and watch them solve puzzles, unravel conspiracies, and defeat great evils with only their wits and some dice rolls.

It’s the best.

I’m currently the Dungeon Master for several campaigns, one of which features some of my lovely coworkers. And they decided to surprise me this holiday season with a small treasure trove of delights, including a notebook, stickers, dice, and a very lovely card.

And one of them went the extra mile to not only package this wonderful gift up with cookies and careful packaging, but to include a small quest for me as well.

Beware of the mimic, people!

Would I brave the potential danger of a mimic for cookies?

As you can see, the answer is yes. Obviously.

I am incredibly lucky to have friends and players like this, and I’m equally blown away by the kindness and whimsy involved in this present. And I simply couldn’t resist sharing the story with all of you.

It’s amazing what people can do with a marker, some construction paper, and a boatload of creativity.

Here We Come A-Wassailing, With Some Reworded Carols!

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village-carolers
Image courtesy of The Sun Papers.

A few years ago, I posted a holiday puzzle that had been floating around the Internet for years. It was a list of Christmas songs and carols whose titles had been reworded, and it was up to the reader to identify the actual titles.

It was a popular post, but something about the list always bothered me. There were 21 reworded titles, which didn’t strike me as very Christmassy at all. I mean, why not 12? Or 24? Or, heck, 25?

So, I did something about it.

I added 10 new reworded titles to the list, bringing the total to 31, one for every day in December. Let’s see how many of you can crack all 31 titles, shall we? Enjoy!

1.) Move hitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief.

2.) Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds.

3.) Proceed forth declaring upon a specific geological alpine formation.

4.) Nocturnal timespan of unbroken quietness.

5.) Embellish the interior passageways.

6.) An emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good given to the terrestial sphere.

7.) Twelve o’clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival.

8.) The Christmas preceding all others.

9.) Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem.

10.) In a distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn children’s slumber furnishings.

11.) Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulums in inverted, metallic, resonant cups.

12.) The first person nominative plural of a triumvirate of far eastern heads of state.

13.) Geographic state of fantasy during the season of Mother Nature’s dormancy.

14.) In awe of the nocturnal timespan characterized by religiosity.

15.) Natal celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as an hallucinatory phenomenon for me.

16.) Expectation of arrival to populated areas by mythical, masculine perennial gift-giver.

17.) Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of frozen minute crystals.

18.) Tranquility upon the terrestial sphere.

19.) Omnipotent supreme being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males.

20.) Diminutive masculine master of skin-covered percussionistic cylinders.

21.) Jovial Yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us.

22.) Allow winter precipitation in the form of atmospheric water vapor in crystalline form to descend.

23.) A first-person observer witnessed a female progenitor engaging in osculation with a hirsute nocturnal intruder.

24.) Your continued presence remains the sole Yuletide request of the speaker in question.

25.) Permanent domicile during multiple specific celebratory periods.

26.) Diminutive person regarded as holy or virtuous known by the informal moniker shared by two former Russian tsars.

27.) More than a passing resemblance to an annual winter festival is emerging.

28.) Are you registering the same auditory phenomenon I am currently experiencing?

29.) Overhead at the summit of the suburban residence.

30.) Attractive or otherwise visually pleasing wood pulp product.

31.) Parasitic European shrub accompanied by a plant with prickly green leaves and baccate qualities.

How many did you unravel, fellow puzzlers? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you!