PuzzleNation Looks Back at 2015!

The year is quickly coming to a close, and as I look back on an eventful year in the world of puzzles and games, I’m immensely proud of the contributions both PuzzleNation Blog and PuzzleNation made to the puzzle community as a whole.

Over the last year, we explored dice games and tile games, apps and pen-and-paper puzzles. We met designers, constructors, and creative types of all kinds. We cracked brain teasers and tackled mind-bending riddles.

We explored the history of puzzles, broadened our understanding of how puzzles and games contribute to brain health, and celebrated the lives of puzzle greats Bernice Gordon, Henry Hook, Merl Reagle, and Leslie Billig, who were taken from us too soon.

We spread the word about numerous worthwhile Kickstarters and Indiegogo campaigns, watching with glee as a puzzle/game renaissance continued to amaze and surprise us with innovative new ways to play and puzzle.

We celebrated International TableTop Day, the debut of The Indie 500 crossword tournament, a new Star Wars movie, the 80th anniversary of Monopoly, new world records set by Rubik’s Cube solvers, and a puzzly wedding proposal, and we were happy to share so many remarkable puzzly landmark moments with you. Heck, we even solved the mystery of The Dress!

It’s been both a pleasure and a privilege to explore the world of puzzles and games with you, my fellow puzzle lovers and PuzzleNationers. I recently posted my 450th blog post, and I’m even more excited to write for you now than I was when I started.

And that’s just the blog. PuzzleNation’s good fortune and accomplishments in 2015 went well beyond that.

In January, we launched the Penny Dell Bible Word Search for iPad, and in March we started our monthly hashtag games. In May, we added Penny Dell Jumbo Crosswords 2 for iOS devices, and July saw the debut of our Crossword Clue Challenge every weekday on Twitter and Facebook.

But the standout showpiece of our puzzle app library has been the Penny Dell Crossword App. With our Dell Collection puzzle sets, our monthly Deluxe puzzle sets, and the 2015 Deluxe Combo (not to mention our various value packs and supreme bundles), we maintained a steady stream of quality puzzle content for solvers and PuzzleNationers.

We added a free daily puzzle feature for all users, and just before Christmas, we launched the Penny Dell Crossword App for Android devices, ensuring that more puzzle lovers than ever have access to the best mobile crossword app on the market today.

[Fred, our Director of Digital Games, shows off the Penny Dell Crossword App
at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in March.]

And your response has been terrific! We amassed over 1500 followers for the blog and we’re closing in on 1700 followers of the PuzzleNation Facebook page, numbers that are both humbling and very encouraging.

2015 was our most productive, most exciting, and most creatively fulfilling year to date, and 2016 promises to be even brighter.

Thank you for your enthusiasm, your support, and your feedback, PuzzleNationers. Have a fantastic New Year. We’ll see you in 2016!


Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on TwitterPinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: December Wordplay edition!

Welcome to Follow-Up Friday! And Merry Christmas!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, we’re returning to the twin subjects of puns and wordplay!

As everyone on our PuzzleNation Facebook page knows, we post memes and puns twice a day every Wednesday in a celebration of linguistic playfulness we call Wordplay Wednesday.

On Wednesday, I shared a few holiday-themed images. But I had so many left over that I thought I’d share them with you today! Please enjoy!

And, of course, I couldn’t resist tossing in a few Darth Vader-themed holiday puns to close out today’s post.

Have a very Merry Christmas, fellow puzzlers and PuzzleNationers!


Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on TwitterPinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

 

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Holiday Wordplay edition!

Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’m posting the results of our #PennyDellHolidayPuzzles hashtag game!

You may be familiar with the board game Schmovie, hashtag games on Twitter, or @midnight’s Hashtag Wars segment on Comedy Central.

For the last few months, we’ve been collaborating on puzzle-themed hashtag games with our pals at Penny Dell Puzzles, and this month’s hook was Penny Dell Holiday Puzzles, mashing up Penny Dell puzzles and anything and everything having to do with winter, Christmas, the holiday season, festive songs, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, Voodoo Day…whatever you celebrate in December!

Examples include: Oh Little Puzzler of Bethlehem, ChristMasterwords, or HoliDaisy!

So, without further ado, check out what the puzzlers at PuzzleNation and Penny Dell Puzzles came up with!


Come they told me, pa-rum-pa-Home-Runs, the Diamond Rings to see, pa-rum-pa-Home Runs…

Deck the Halls With Bricks and Mortar, fa la la la la…

We’ll frolic and play, the Eskimo Right of Way, Walking in a winter wonderland.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Simon Says

Chess Words Roasting on an Open Fire

Here We Come A-Puzzling

Anagramma Got Run Over By a Reindeer

Do You Hear What I Here and There? / Do You Hear What’s Left?

Places, Please Come Home for Christmas

Ups and Downs on the Housetop / Up on the Housetop to Bottom

All I Want for Christmas Is My Two-for-One Teeth / All I Want for Christmas Is My Two by Two

Take a Letter to Santa / Writing a Letterboxes (or Letter Tiles) to Santa

The Little Drummerman / The Little Puzzler Boy

The Three Wise Men of a Kind / These Three Wise Men

Merry Christmas to All Fours, and to All a Good Night!

God Bless Us Every One and Only!

It’s the Most Wonderful Timed Framework of the Year

We Need A Little Chinese Christmas / Yes, we need a little Pine Cone

So You Say This is Christmas

Try-Angles We Have Heard on High

March of the Wooden Quotefalls

‘Tis the season for Flower Power

Santa Classified Ads is coming to town / Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Spelldown

Away in a Double Occupancy

Good Time Wenceslaus

Baby, It’s Codeword Outside

Two-Step into Xmas

Guest Star of Bethlehem

Guess Whoville

I’ll Have a Blue Christmas Without You Know the Odds

Feliz NavidOdds & Evens

Fairy Heads & Tails of New York

There’ll Be No More Matchmakers to the King

Hark! The Sum Triangles Sing!

Blackout! Friday

Reindeer Word Games

Mannheim Steam Roll of the Dice

Crackerjacks Frost

The First and Last Noel

Shadowboxing Day

We’re on the Island of Four-Fit Toys . . .

The Scoreboard in hand bear I, bedecked with Sunrays and Syllability . . .

Salvation Army Ringers

The Polar Exploraword

Home Alone: Who’s Calling?

Home Alone: Step by Step, Brick by Brick—Battle!

A Christmas Story: Everything’s Relative

You’ll shoot your eye Out of Place!

I dedicate this house to the Griswold Family Christmas: You Know the Odds.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: Loose Tiles and Marbles


And, of course, no one could resist trying to do the Twelve Days of Christmas with puzzles:

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

Twelve Crypto-Riddles
Eleven Logic Problems
Ten Rapid Readers
Nine Picker-Uppers
Eight Build-a-Pyramids
Seven List-a-Crostics
Six Mini-Crosswords
Five Diamond Rings!
Four (Who’s Calling?) Birds
Three Perfect Tens
Two Turnabouts
And a Partners in a Pairs tree!

OR…

FIVE BY FIVE golden rings.
FOUR SCORE calling birds,
TRIPLETS French hens,
TWO FOR ONE turtledoves,
And a partridge IN A BIND tree!

OR…

…and a Partridge in a Picture Pairs Tree!


Have you come up with any Penny Dell Holiday Puzzles of your own? Let us know! We’d love to see them!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on TwitterPinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Celebrity View a Clue edition!

Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’m posting the answers to last week’s View a Clue Celebrity game!

I selected ten names that commonly show up in crossword grids to see if the PuzzleNation audience could identify them from pictures. So let’s see how you did!


#1 (7 letters)

Answer: Rip Torn!

#2 (3 letters)

Answer: Ono! (as in Yoko Ono)

#3 (4 letters) [I’ve provided two clues for this one.]

Answer: Rene! (As in Rene Russo or Rene Auberjonois)

#4 (3 letters)

Answer: Ari! (As in Aristotle Onassis)

#5 (3 letters)

Answer: Orr! (As in Bobby Orr)

#6 (4 letters)

Answer: Oona! (As in Oona Chaplin)

#7 (3 letters)

Answer: Ott! (As in Giants great Mel Ott)

#8 (3 letters)

Answer: Eno! (As in musician Brian Eno)

#9 (4 letters)

Answer: Esai! (As in actor Esai Morales)

#10 (3 letters)  [Again, I’ve provided two clues for this one.]

Answer: Eli! (As in inventor Eli Whitney or actor Eli Wallach)


How many did you get? Let me know in the comments below! And if you have ideas for another View a Clue game, tell us below!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on TwitterPinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!

Happy Thanksgiving!

lego-store-lego-november-turkey

Happy Thanksgiving, fellow puzzlers and PuzzleNationers!

Today is a day for family and friends, for celebrating togetherness, for appreciating good fortune, health, and happiness. And we here at PuzzleNation are so so grateful for each and every member of the PuzzleNation community. Whether you’re a puzzler or a gamer, a casual solver or a diehard devotee of all things puzzly, you can rest assured you are a welcome member of a very eclectic, charming, and downright likable group. =)

And so, in the spirit of giving thanks, I’ve cooked up a puzzle for my fellow puzzlers on this delightful Turkey Day.

tdayslide

Using the given letters, place the eleven Thanksgiving words and phrases below into the diagram above, one per row. When all the words and phrases are entered properly, one of the columns reading down will spell out an 11-letter word that is related to Thanksgiving.

Casserole
Corn
Cornucopia
Cranberry sauce
Giblets
Pumpkin pie
Rolls
Stuffing
Sweet potato
Turkey
Turnip

Let us know you solved the puzzle by contacting us here on the blog, or on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr and providing the word reading down! One intrepid solver will receive the Thanksgiving Wishbone and win a prize of their choice!

Have a marvelous holiday, PuzzleNationers! Be well and enjoy the day!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Wordplay-action pass edition!

Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’m posting the results of our #PennyDellFootballPuzzles hashtag game!

You may be familiar with the board game Schmovie, hashtag games on Twitter, or @midnight’s Hashtag Wars segment on Comedy Central.

For the last few months, we’ve been collaborating on puzzle-themed hashtag games with our pals at Penny Dell Puzzles, and this month’s hook was Penny Dell Football Puzzles, mashing up Penny Dell puzzles and the world of American football. Players, teams, plays, terminology, anything and everything!

Examples include: The San Francisco Three-From-Niners, Coin Tossing & Turning, or Joe Namathboxes!

So, without further ado, check out what the puzzlers at PuzzleNation and Penny Dell Puzzles came up with!


Tim Tebowl Game

Bricks and Marshawn Lynch

Up the Middle of the Road

Triple Play-action pass

Crozzle Dazzle

Pine Cone defense

Offensive Line ‘Em Up

Around the Bend Roethlisberger

Move the Chain Words

Punt reTurnabout

Running Throwbacks

End of the Line judge

Four Square pass

First and Last down

Places, Please kicker

St. Louis CryptogRams

Detroit Draw-the-Lions

Carolina’s Cam Scrambles Across Success

Tom Bull’s Eye Brady’s Perfect Spiral

Dallas’s Unlucky Star Quarterback

Beat the Clock: 2 Minute Warning Edition!

New York J-E-T-S Alphabet Style Soup

Tom Double Trouble Brady

Jim Brownders

Cris-crossword Carter

Mike Ditkakuro

Los Right Angles Rams

Fill-In-adelphia Eagles

Green Bay Crackers

Howie Many Triangles Long?

John Madd-One

San Francisco 49 of Diamonds

Emmitt’s Your Move Smith

Bart Starrspell

Michael Strahanagrams

Fearsome Foursomes

Complete-a-Word Pass

John El-Right-of-Way

Around the Blocker

Face to Faceguard

Halftime Show

Offensive Line ’em Up

QuarterPiggybacks

Endzone of the Line

St. Louis Anag-Rams

Walturnabout Payton

Gale Say-That-Again-ers

Joe Montanacrostic

Arizona Place Card-inals

Miami Dolphinish the Fours

Top to Bottom Brady


Our fellow puzzlers on Twitter also offered up some terrific entries themselves! @_screenhog contributed two great ones: Joe Montanagrams and Cryptograndstands

And @Francespuzzles blitzed us with many choice entries, including Extra Point the Way, Fourth & Aft, A Perfect Ten Yards, Gale You-Don’t-Sayers, Face to Facemask, Incomplete-A-Word, Across & First Down, Placekick Your Number, Solve & Sack, and my personal favorite, Fran Tar-KenKen-ton.

Have you come up with any Penny Dell Football Puzzles of your own? Let us know! We’d love to see them!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on TwitterPinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!