Fall is in full swing! The leaves are turning and falling, and Halloween is almost here! (Have you submitted any #SpookySolvingSelfies yet?)
We’re celebrating the season the way we know best: with some terrific Puzzle Sets for the Penny Dell Crosswords App!
That’s right, you have three fall combos to choose from! Each one is loaded with terrific easy, medium, and hard puzzles, plus seasonal theme puzzles as a bonus! That’s 70 puzzles in each combo!
And hey, would you like to pick up all three combos in one fell swoop AND save a little money on the deal?
We’ve got you covered there too, with our Fall Double Deluxe Bundle! All three Fall Combos together at last! That’s 210 quality crosswords, locked and loaded and ready to go, brought to you by the fine puzzlesmiths at PuzzleNation!
Plus they’re available for both iOS and Android users!
Happy puzzling, everybody!
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[An appropriately spooky crossword puzzle from 1927, London After Midnight.]
We love interacting with members of the PuzzleNation community, so we’ve cooked up something new that we think you’ll enjoy!
Welcome to our first round of Solving Selfies!
The game is simple! We’ll give you a theme, and you reply with a photo! We’ll randomly pick a winner each month for a terrific Daily POP Crosswords prize!
Ready to play? Great!
Today’s theme is “Spooky Solving Selfie!”
Show us your Halloween spirit! Do you deck out your house for the holiday? Or have a killer costume picked out? Do your kids or pets get involved in Halloween shenanigans? Or maybe your favorite place to solve is particularly spooktacular?
We’d love to see it! Send us your Spooky Solving Selfie today! And be sure to use the hashtag #SolvingSelfies or #SpookySolvingSelfies so we don’t miss it!
[Our resident office tentacle is getting into the Spooky Selfies spirit while solving!]
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Long-time readers know that one of my favorite things about the blog is that I can use it to spread the word about different worthwhile projects.
In the past, we’ve proudly provided a signal boost to folks adapting popular games for the visually impaired, game shops that could use more support, and campaigns to encourage and recruit constructors from more diverse backgrounds.
So when I heard about the Kickstarter campaign for The Inkubator, I knew it was another worthwhile project to put a spotlight on.
The brainchild of crossword constructors Tracy Bennett and Laura Braunstein, The Inkubator is a by-email subscription puzzle service where 100% of the puzzles will be constructed by women. (It follows in the footsteps of the wonderful Women of Letters project from last year.)
From the public announcement:
The editors invite women — cis women, trans women, and woman-aligned constructors — to submit themed and themeless crosswords or queries in any stage of development. (If you think you may be eligible to construct, but you’re not sure, you’re eligible to construct. Still not sure? Ask us!) If you’re new to constructing, we’ll make every effort to connect you with a collaborator.
Yes, The Inkubator is not only a publishing outlet for anyone who identifies as female, but it is intended to help and encourage new and inexperienced constructors, providing resources and advice in the hopes of publishing more women.
The Kickstarter has only been up for two days, and they’ve already passed their initial funding goal, proving that there is not only a market for women-driven puzzles, but a lot of support for female constructors as well. They’re currently brainstorming stretch goals for the project right now!
I wish The Inkubator not only luck, but success, and I can’t wait to see what new voices the project helps bring to the fore.
For more details or to donate to The Inkubator, check out the Kickstarter page for the project here.
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Although the crossword as we know it celebrates its birthday on December 21, tracing its roots all the way back to 1913, it was the 1920s where crosswords really caught the public eye.
By 1924, crosswords had officially become a fad, inspiring fashion trends (black and white patterns) and moral panics alike.
But it was also the year of the novelty crossword song. Yes, crosswords found their way into the world of music, serving as inspiration for numerous comedic ballads.
Perhaps the most famous of the 1924 crossword songs is the curious “Crossword Mama, You Puzzle Me (But Papa’s Gonna Figure You Out).”
The subject of the song is an ardent puzzle solver, but the singer of the song is more bothered by the fact that he doesn’t have her full attention, painting her as someone who ignores him or flirts with other guys. He is clearly suspicious of her, and expresses his suspicions through crossword clue references.
[Although written and arranged by James V. Monaco and Sidney Clare,
this version of the song was recorded in 1925 by Frank Crumit.]
For example:
Crossword Mama you puzzle me, But Papa’s gonna figure you out. You call me honey – that means bee! Looks like I’ll get stung no doubt.
Your Papa’s gonna crossword you right now, You better get your answers right. I heard you mention “butcher” – that means “meat”! Who you gonna “meet” tonight?
The singer is clearly confused by both crosswords and the object of his affections. It would be best if he just left them both alone for a while.
Given how difficult some people find crosswords, you shouldn’t be surprised that there was a blues song penned about crosswords the same year.
“Cross-Word Puzzle Blues,” penned by Fred Herendeen and performed by The Duncan Sisters, is surprisingly upbeat, as the sisters describe themselves as “criss-cross crazy” and discuss their difficulties solving puzzles. It’s very silly indeed.
Be careful not to confuse this with the jazzier song by D.J. Michaud and Marguerite Bruce, “I’ve Got the Crossword Puzzle Blues,” featuring such tongue-in-cheek downbeat lyrics as “I’m feeling awfully down and cross / I spend all day solving, but I still don’t have a clue.”
(Unfortunately I couldn’t find a decent public recording of this one to share with you.)
There’s a strange recurring theme with these songs where women are primarily the solvers, and the men in their lives are utterly baffled by the pastime.
In a similar vein to the first song, “Cross-Words (Between Sweetie and Me)” is all about a man who feels spurned and underappreciated by his crossword-obsessed lady.
Sorrow has torn at my heart strings I wonder who is to blame My sweetie never has time for me She’s deep in love with a game Crosswords have made me blue as can be, Cross, crosswords between my sweetie and me, She’s been puzzling, don’t seem to care Whether I’m near her or taking the air I’m jealous. How can I win sympathy? I’m hoping she’ll soon need L-O-V-E.
[Recording of Billy Jones from Edison Records, circa 1925]
He goes on to describe how a group of people solving crosswords were so quiet, he thought they had died, and he subsequently broke into the house to make sure they were all right.
Billy clearly has boundary issues, and although his sweetie might be spending too much time with crosswords, at least they’re keeping her away from her weird, weird paramour.
This is just a sampling from a single crossword-obsessed year. I’m sure there are many more puzzle-inspired songs out there. Do you know any? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you!
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Hello puzzlers and PuzzleNationers! Yes, we’ve got a second bonus blog post for you today, because there’s simply too much great stuff to announce today!
Start your mornings right with a hearty breakfast and some terrific crossword puzzles, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood constructors at PuzzleNation!
Offering 30 easy, medium, and hard puzzles, plus 5 breakfast-themed bonus puzzles to sate your puzzly appetite, no matter what your skill level, the Breakfast Deluxe puzzle set is part of a well-balanced day of solving!
Plus it’s available for both iOS and Android users!
Happy puzzling, everybody!
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It’s fun to uncover little puzzly bits of history, but when history, puzzles, and entertainment intertwine, it always makes for intriguing viewing.
So when friend of the blog Darcy Bearman showed me a Felix the Cat cartoon from the 1920s that centered around an unsolved crossword puzzle, naturally I was intrigued.
It wasn’t hard to track down a copy, given how practically everything seems to be on YouTube these days.
Here are the official details:
Felix All Puzzled (1924)
Director: Pat Sullivan
Animator: Otto Messmer
Distributor: M.J. Winkler Productions
Originally Released on January 15, 1925.
Felix is hungry, but his owner won’t feed him until he finishes his crossword puzzle. And he’s fixated on the down clue that will complete the puzzle, “Vertical. Found chiefly in Russia.”
Pondering what the answer could be Felix, the cat laments that he could eat if only he could get to Russia and uncover the missing word.
A nearby mule kicks Felix all the way to Russia, seemingly out of spite — clearly a Moscow Mule — and Felix lands in a small hut. Momentarily mistaken for a bomb, he leaves the hut and heads into town.
He sees two Russians leaning over some papers, and presumes that the answer will be on those papers. But after sneaking into the building, he’s accused of spying, shot at, and chased out. As it turns out, these two men are plotting a revolution, and they toss bombs at Felix.
After avoiding several of them, Felix is blown into the air by the last one, and ends up back in America.
His owner, the ungrateful boor, immediately asks if Felix found the answer. He doesn’t ask how his trip was, or if he’s alright, or hey, can I get you a bite to eat after your mule-and-bomb-propelled world tour. What a jerk.
And Felix’s snarky reply turns out to be the correct answer.
Felix laughs. His owner does a little victory dance. And the cartoon ends.
Naturally, I can’t help but ask… DID YOU FEED FELIX NOW THAT YOUR PUZZLE IS DONE, YOU SELFISH DOOFUS? I mean, come on. It’s the whole reason that Felix bothers going to Russia. He wants to eat. Feed him!
But I digress.
You may have noticed that the cartoon is a little choppy. If you did, kudos to you. As it turns out, most of the copies of this cartoon that are in circulation are from a Kodascope print where several scenes were cut. Given that the original run time listing was 5 minutes, suddenly the choppiness makes sense.
A half-dozen sequences or so are missing from this version, and they explain some of the weirder moments in the cartoon. For instance, the mule kicks Felix because the question marks (from his attempts to figure out how to get to Russia) tickle the mule.
Additionally, if you were wondering why the first Russian Felix meets thinks he’s a bomb, it’s because he got a letter from the revolutionaries earlier that reads “Today, you die!” (Which is admittedly a little grim.)
Now, let’s talk about that puzzle.
TRIPPLE is a pretty strange 1-Across. A chiefly South African term for a horse’s gait (according to Merriam Webster, anyway), you can’t help but wonder if they simply misspelled TRIPLE.
But the rest of the puzzle is fairly straightforward. It’s a 7×7 grid with a few two-letter entries (which wouldn’t fly in most crosswords these days). The combination of EASTERS and EVADERS crossing at the S is admittedly underwhelming.
The only other entry that jumps out at me is NVA, but only because I wonder how it would be clued. It’s not like a 1925 cartoon would be referencing the North Vietnamese Army.
Upon further digging, I suspect this would have been clued referencing the National Vaudeville Artists, a union formed by Edward Franklin Albee. The clue “Theatrical organization” is used for NVA in a 1953 New York Times puzzle, according to XwordInfo.
Of course, with obtuse cluing like “Chiefly found in Russia,” even a small grid like this could prove to be a challenge!
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