Tag Archives: crossword event

Lollapuzzoola 19 This Weekend (and More Tournaments Coming Soon!)

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Just a quick post today to talk about a puzzly event this weekend, two more coming up, and a brand-new one announced for next year!

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Lollapuzzoola always happens on a Saturday in August, and this Saturday, August 15th IS that Saturday in August.

Trenton Charlson, Carina da Rosa, Will Nediger, Ada Nicolle, Adam Wagner, and Amie Walker have constructed puzzles for this year’s event, “Around the World.”

(And those aren’t the only names contributing this year! Laura Braunstein constructed the tiebreaker puzzle, Crossword Gentleman Doug Peterson constructed the crossword meta suite, and Scott Weiss constructed the variety puzzle meta suite.)

There’s still time to sign up to compete from home! Click here for more details.

If you’re missing out on Lollapuzzoola, don’t fret. There’s another NYC puzzly event next month!

The 2026 Bryant Park Crossword Tournament returns on Saturday, September 19, with singles and pairs division solving available!

Mike Shenk has constructed all three puzzles for the event and will be co-hosting with Amy Goldstein, who is genuinely one of the nicest people in puzzles.

Click here for all the details!

Registration is open (and is nearly full, so sign up ASAP) for this year’s edition of the Midwest Crossword Tournament! Mark down October 3rd, 2026 on the calendar.

Shannon Rapp and Sally Hoelscher are organizing the tournament, and Christina Iverson and Tracy Bennett are signed up as editors, so you know the tournament is in good hands!

Click here for more details. Oh, and MWXWT merch as well!

2026 has been jam-packed with puzzly fun, and 2027 is looking just as bright. A new tournament will be debuting in March!

The Rain City Crossword Tournament brings puzzly challenges to the Pacific Northwest, as Seattle can now claim its own destination tournament!

Registration opens in early Autumn (I’ll keep you posted!) but you can click here for more details as the inaugural event approaches.

Will you be participating in any of these events, either in person or from home, fellow puzzler? Are you excited for a new tournament to be hitting the West Coast? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.

Registration for the Boswords 2025 Fall Themeless League Is Open!

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It’s that time of year again. The summer tournaments have come and gone (for the most part… thinking of you, Bryant Park!), and fall is near.

And that means the Boswords 2025 Fall Themeless League is almost here!

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!

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.