Tag Archives: Holiday

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!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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lego-store-lego-november-turkey

Happy Thanksgiving, fellow puzzlers!

Today is a day for family and friends, for celebrating togetherness, for appreciating good fortune, health, and happiness. And we here at PuzzCulture are so so grateful for each and every reader and solver.

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 community of puzzly people. =)

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

Can you provide the three-letter answers to these clues and fill the grid? Some words will be entered clockwise, some counterclockwise.

If you do it correctly, a word will read clockwise around the edges of the diagram.

And here’s a collection of previous Thanksgiving puzzles we’ve created over the years:

Let us know if you solved the puzzle! Happy Thanksgiving!

Hosting A Holiday Puzzle Hunt?

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If you’re looking to spruce up Christmas morning with a puzzly challenge, or maybe prevent the kids from tearing through that wrapping paper in record time, you could create a mini holiday puzzle hunt for them to extend the holiday fun a little longer.

There are several ways to do this. You could have Santa leave them a treasure map to follow. You could create a scavenger hunt with different places to check. Or you could create a puzzle hunt where each clue or puzzle leads to the next and has to be solved in order.

But how do you flesh it out and keep it seasonal? We’ve got a host of suggestions awaiting you. Sprinkle a few of these across the house on Christmas morning and you’ll be sure to delight the puzzly denizens of your home after Santa has come and gone.

Maybe they have to look for gifts wrapped in a particular type of wrapping paper. Perhaps there are clues written on them or hidden inside, or maybe the wrapping paper itself sends them on to their next clue.

If it’s more of a scavenger hunt-style of game, the wrapping paper approach is perfect. They could be stashed around the house, waiting to be found, and there’s no threat of them being mixed up with the actual gifts.

Perhaps there are puzzle pieces at the bottom of their stockings, and they have to work together to assemble them and figure out where to go next. (Craft stores have plain white mini jigsaw puzzles, you could write out or draw out clues, mix up the pieces, and distribute them in several spots with ease.)

Did Santa leave a clue when he sampled the milk and cookies left out of him? Maybe a gingerbread man points the kids in a certain direction, or Santa urges the children to have breakfast before the festivities start (pushing them toward another clue in the kitchen AND toward a healthy Christmas breakfast in the morning).

Your Christmas tree is also perfect for concealing clues and puzzly elements. With lights and ornaments galore, it’s the ideal spot to hide things, whether it’s letters that spell things out, or numbered clues to be solved in order. You could even hang different numbers of various objects (6 candy canes, 3 silver stars, 4 photo ornaments) that are used as a code later to unlock something.

Does the Elf on a Shelf have a clue? Did it see something, or can it point them in the right direction? Is there a paper chain of snowflakes where the different branches of the snowflake are highlighted like clock hands?

Once you start looking at the trappings of the holiday in a puzzly way, you’ll find more and more methods for stashing hints and elements of your puzzle hunt anywhere and everywhere.

Hopefully these suggestions got you off to a good start! Have you hosted a holiday puzzle hunt or celebrated the holidays in a puzzly way, fellow PuzzleNationers? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.

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What’s New in the Holiday Puzzly Gift Guide?

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It’s Black Friday, and I’m sure you’ve already been bombarded with emails and posts promising deep discounts and sales galore.

We could do that too. I mean, we’ve got terrific deals on puzzle bundles for all of our apps… but then again, we do that all the time. We’re nice like that. =)

And plenty of the companies that have products in this year’s Holiday Puzzly Gift Guide are going all out with discounts today as well.

If you sign up for their newsletter, Puzzometry is offering 21% off their puzzles. Calliope Games (makers of Tsuro and 12 Days and other great games) have great discounts, as do our friends at Penny Dell Puzzles (like their Winter Holiday Fun Pack!).

Don’t worry, we’ll be sharing every offer we find on social media to help you out today as well!

So instead, I thought I’d take this opportunity to discuss some of the new products in this year’s Holiday Puzzly Gift Guide. There were so many cool additions to the guide this year that it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

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For instance, not only is there now a digital version of the terrific Crosswords Club puzzle subscription service, but there were tons of new puzzle magazines worth your time!

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This year we also had a big contingent of UK companies included in the guide. A lot of cool puzzles and games are being developed across the pond these days, and we were happy to include them.

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And anyone who has been reading the blog regularly knows there are a few companies that are part of the gift guide every single year. We’ve partnered with our friends at Looney Labs, ThinkFun, Project Genius, and Bananagrams for the better part of a decade now, and we practically couldn’t have a gift guide without their puzzly contributions every year!

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As the lead blogger for PuzzleNation, the gift guide is one of my favorite projects all year. As you’ve no doubt noticed, I absolutely love spreading the word about great puzzles. (It’s what brought me to PuzzleNation in the first place: top-notch puzzling!)

So every year, I also throw a few of my own favorite puzzles and games into the guide. This year was no exception:

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So today, take a break from hectic storefronts and packed checkout lines, and just enjoy a scroll through our nice, peaceful gift guide. Hopefully you’ll find something for the puzzlers in your life. And if not, at least there’s no pushing and hollering.

Happy Puzzling, friends and fellow PuzzleNationers!

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Treat yourself to some delightful deals on puzzles. You can find them on the Home Screen for Daily POP Crosswords and Daily POP Word Search! Check them out!

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

A Puzzle for Thanksgiving!

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Today is a day for celebrating with family and friends, and giving thanks for all the good things in our lives.

We here at PuzzleNation want to thank you, our fellow puzzlers and PuzzleNationers, because you help make PuzzleNation one of the greatest puzzle communities in the world.

And when it comes to saying thanks, a Thanksgiving puzzle seems like the perfect offering. So we’ve cooked up a little instructional Thanksgiving puzzle for you to enjoy!

Can you solve this holiday puzzler?

What’s Leftovers?

Following the instructions, cross off words in the diagram. When you are finished, the remaining words will form a message reading left to right, line by line. Some words may be eliminated by more than one of the instructions.

1. Cross off all three- and four-letter words that can be spelled from the letters in the word THANKS.
2. Cross off all words that contain all five vowels (A, E, I, O, and U).
3. Cross off all words that form phrases when following the word TURKEY.
4. Cross off all words in columns A and B that end in ING.
5. Cross off all two-letter words in columns C and D.
6. Cross off all words that rhyme with the word YAM.
7. Cross off all words in row 4.
8. Cross off all words that contain the word ROLL spelled out.
9. Cross off all four-letter words that make a different word when reversed.
10. Cross off all words that name family members.

tday wl

[Click here to download the puzzle!]

Did you unravel this holiday puzzler? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you!

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Treat yourself to some delightful deals on puzzles. You can find them on the Home Screen for Daily POP Crosswords and Daily POP Word Search! Check them out!

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