Tag Archives: Holidays

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!

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!

The Puzzliest Hallmark Holiday Films!

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Unless you’re trapped under a rock, you’ve probably seen at least one of the barrage of Hallmark holiday films unleashed on the viewing public over the years. They release so many, in fact, that many times, they have more new holiday movies than there are days between Thanksgiving and Christmas!

And I’ve watched a LOT of them. This won’t surprise longtime readers, given my extensive reviews of Hallmark’s Crossword Mysteries series in the past.

But you might be surprised by just how many Hallmark movies feature puzzly themes as the hook on which to hang yet another holiday romance.

So today, let’s look at the puzzliest offerings of Hallmark’s holiday season!

The Christmas Quest

Debuting just this week and starring Hallmark movie royalty like Lacey Chabert, Kristoffer Polaha, and Erin Cahill, The Christmas Quest answers the question “What if Indiana Jones, but Christmas?”

They’ve got ripoff music, the map gimmick, and even a giant boulder joke, as Lacey’s treasure hunter recruits her ex-husband (an expert on dead languages) to complete the treasure hunt started by her mother years before.

Okay, so it’s less Indiana Jones than that one episode of MacGyver with the big sapphire, but it’s actually cool to see the mix of Scandinavian lore with standard Hallmark tropes… even if the ending doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Mystery on Mistletoe Lane

A historian and single mom moves into a historic home for her new job, and her children discover a Christmas mystery lurking in the walls of the house.

As our historian butts heads with the former head of the historical society, as well as the douche-hat deputy mayor, she tries to revive the town’s Christmas spirit (in a historical way), drive up interest in the historical society, and unravel the festive mystery she calls her new home.

The scavenger hunt with semi-riddle-y clues is pretty fun (and turns the obnoxious children into more engaging characters as they explore), and unlike many of the “puzzly” Hallmark films, you can enjoy solving along with the characters. Plus you get the big reveals, the perfectly timed snowfalls, and a romance that takes about two weeks to cook. Not bad.

On the 12th Date of Christmas

Two designers of puzzly scavenger hunts — a man who prefers working alone and a woman who needs to find her confidence and voice — are seeking the same promotion, but get thrown together to create a holiday scavenger hunt for a big client.

These might be the two least socially capable people in the universe, so seeing them bumble around Chicago as they come up with twelve festive events to coincide with the 12 days of Christmas is a little bit of a chore.

Honestly, this one is barely a story. She resolves her voice thing in the first twenty minutes, and the requisite 90-minute-mark misunderstanding is so cartoonishly simple to resolve, and yet, they both buffoonishly avoid doing so.

Unlocking Christmas

An injured air force vet returns home and meets a doctor just starting out in town, and sparks definitely do not fly at first glance.

But when they each discover a key and a riddle waiting for them that night, they work together to solve a Christmas mystery that requires them to perform a few acts of kindness for others along the way.

This one is relatively harmless fun, as this romance is clearly being orchestrated for the benefit of both lonely parties. Of course, that doesn’t stop the side characters from being much more likable than our protagonists. I’d rather watch hometown boy’s soon-to-be-father best friend and doctor lady’s new hospital pal solve Christmas mysteries instead.

Christmas in Evergreen: Tidings of Joy

Katie is vacationing in the famously (almost suspiciously) Christmassy small town of Evergreen, only to get roped into writing about the town for a magazine article.

But as she explores the town and gets wrapped up in its many Christmas stories (including a smashed magic snowglobe AND the mystery of a lost time capsule), she finds her cynical views on Evergreen fading and her affections for a particular Evergreen resident growing.

This almost feels like a parody of a Hallmark movie. They set up the out-of-towner, the Christmas mystery, the friends-who-clearly-like-each-other, the loved-one-who-will-miss-Christmas, and more within the first few minutes.

Plus there are so many Hallmark alums (many of them referencing OTHER Hallmark movies) that it feels intentionally wink-at-the-camera-y.

The puzzling here is very minor, but it’s worth watching for two reasons:

  1. the friends-who-clearly-both-want-more-but-don’t-want-to-risk-the-friendship who work together to fix the magic snowglobe
  2. one very funny bit of CGI moment you simply have to experience for yourself.

A Christmas to Treasure

We switch to Lifetime for this one, but most of the Hallmark tropes still fit.

Six childhood friends are reunited at Christmas by a treasure hunt, posthumously created the old woman who used to host their clubhouse.

While one treasure hunter hopes to find the money he needs to buy the property and bring it back to life, another wishes to find seed money for his growing business. And wouldn’t you know it, they used to date but things ended badly. Will one last treasure hunt be the key to everyone’s happily ever after?

Kinda cool to see a non-hetero romance take center stage for once. That being said, this one is incredibly saccharine-sappy, and the most entertaining character is the wacky villainous real estate agent trying to cash in on the property.

As for the puzzly hunt… it’s more of a walk through memory lane for the characters, so not much to solve here.

The 12 Games of Christmas

A film from the Great American Family channel takes up the final spot on our list today, as our protagonists actually get sucked INTO a Christmas board game and have to complete holiday tasks in order to return to the real world in time to enjoy Christmas festivities.

Sounds like a slam dunk, right? Cool concept, great cast, what’s not to love?

Well…

The “lessons” behind each festive task were so ham-fisted and the logic so lacking that I couldn’t even enjoy the campy fun of it all. It was a bummer, because I was sure we had a winner on our hands here.

So, when it comes to Hallmark holiday fare, are the puzzly ones any better than the average festive fare? It’s hard to say.

There are lots of Christmas scavenger hunts (like the one seen in the creatively-named Christmas Scavenger Hunt), but most of them are just lists of things to do, and not the more elaborate puzzly hunt of our first entry.

But I think they do make a nice scaffolding upon which to spend two hours watching attractive people fall in love. Add a smattering of snowfall, and you’ve got a recipe for Yuletide entertainment… or at the very least, fun background noise while you do a jigsaw puzzle or solve a crossword.