We’ve got two quick updates for you today from the world of crosswords. And both of them involve opportunities for you to get out there and show off your cruciverbalist talents!
On Monday night’s Boswords broadcast, Will Shortz joined Andrew Kingsley and John Lieb to announce some changes for the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.
In 2026, the ACPT will be held at the Stamford Marriott, possibly for the last time.
No, worry not, the ACPT is still going strong. So strong, in fact, that it will be moving to Philadelphia for the 2027 tournament! The new space will be able to accommodate up to 1,250 solvers.
It’s a sad moment for Stamford, but not entirely unexpected. Attendance has been pushing the Marriott’s limits for years, and registration for this year’s tournament closed more than a month early because of high demand.
It’s also not the first time Stamford has said goodbye to the tournament. From 2008 until its return in 2015, the ACPT was held outside Stamford.
You can check out the full announcement here:
Will Shortz joined us on our Boswords broadcast tonight to share news about a future location for the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT). You can watch the interview at https://t.co/b2iKNr7ExMpic.twitter.com/8Uv6oq6Hz0
Overall, I think this is a great move for the tournament. There’s greater opportunity to attend the tournament, plus a ballroom space fit for voracious solvers of all ages.
I can’t wait to see what 2016 and 2017 bring for the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.
Remember that registration opens on January 1st for former contestants and on January 8th for rookies!
Reminder: Puzzmo Open Submission Week is Fast Approaching!
From the mecca of in-person crossword solving to one of its most ambitious and welcoming online platforms, we move from one impactful puzzly institution to another that has very quickly made its mark on the world of puzzles.
Puzzmo is holding their next Crossword Open Submission Week from December 29th to January 5th, 2026, with new and established constructors all welcome to submit their puzzly creations.
Themed and themeless puzzles are welcome, as long as they fit Puzzmo’s specs, and the Puzzmo team has created an impressively thorough document to assist aspiring constructors with their efforts. Grid specs, examples of previously published puzzles, and more await anyone hoping to see their work pop up on Puzzmo.
It’s a very cool opportunity to test your puzzly mettle in a creative space known for strong crossword fundamentals as well as playfulness with language and themes (particularly their signature “apt pairs”).
I would highly recommend checking out Puzzmo, whether you’re planning to submit puzzles or not. The minis, midis, and big crosswords are all great fun to solve, and new constructors are bound to learn a thing or two from the terrific names on Puzzmo’s roster of puzzlesmiths.
Will you be attending next year’s ACPT or submitting to this year’s Puzzmo Open Submission Week? Let us know in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you!
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!
I had a chance to sit down and test my puzzly mettle with this year’s puzzles from the Boswords Summer Crossword Tournament. I look forward to Boswords every year, so I had high expectations going in.
But, of course, they knocked it out of the park.
Let’s put those puzzles under the PuzzCulture microscope and see what Boswords had in store for solvers this year!
Warmup Puzzle: Boswords, Inc.by John Lieb
Starting off with a smaller grid is a great idea for a warmup to a long day of puzzling, and this 12×9 symmetrical grid delivered a clever apt pair (as the Puzzmo crew would call it) with GREEN MONSTER and MIKE WAZOWSKI, but also tied in some bonus Boston trivia with the cluing.
It was super-accessible and the perfect intro for the tournament. I very much enjoyed!
The tournament proper kicked off with this 15x puzzle featuring a quartet of phrases with letters from the word YARN jumbled up inside (luNARYear, for instance). The revealer SPIN A YARN completed the set nicely.
A tight grid and fun theme made for a quick solve and a solid opener to the tournament.
Interesting grid entries included BASE JUMPS, CINCY, GOMEZ, and HYDRA, and my favorite clues were “Those disdaining bottles with screwcaps, maybe” for WINE SNOBS and “Great Caesar’s ghost!” for EGAD.
Puzzle #2: Life’s Little Ups and Downsby Ross Trudeau
We get a nice example of horizontal symmetry in puzzle #2, offering some lovely left-to-right flow and subconsciously pushing solvers in the right direction to unravel the puzzle’s actual hook.
There were rising geographical features like DOME and HILL hidden among the across entries (where one letter was above the others, using a black square to visually create a hill inside the circles in the grid).
But Trudeau didn’t stop there, as each geographical feature was contained inside a longer entry combining two across entries in that row, using that geographical feature to “climb” over the black square in the middle! (For example, 24A was LING and clued as such, but 22A was SPINECHI, but using HILL to connect them, you get the actual word clued as 22A, SPINECHILLING).
This was diabolical construction and my favorite puzzle of the tournament.
Interesting grid entries included YUPPIES, TRUE THAT, KINKSHAME, and THE SMURF, and my favorite clues were “4% of an Olympic 10k” for ONE LAP and “Apt way to get to a wine tasting?” for CAB.
Puzzle #3: The Sty’s the Limitby Quiara Vasquez
Quiara Vasquez never disappoints, and puzzle #3 was another terrific example. This puzzle had tons of clever cluing, all built around an interesting hook with animal answers in the grid that had to be inserted into the starred to turn them into more common phrases. (For example, when PIG is added into PASSENGEREONS, you get PASSENGER PIGEONS.)
And given that all of the animals were PIG, HOG, SOW, and BOAR, the center revealer BRING HOME THE BACON tied the whole puzzle together with style. The cluing, which was conversational and treated all the animals like escapees, was a delight.
This was the toughest puzzle so far, and probably the toughest puzzle of the tournament, save for the championship themeless.
Interesting grid entries included EXHIBIT A, MORPH, and AMAZON ECHO, and my favorite clues (hard to narrow this list down!) were “‘Carmen’ or ‘Elektra'” for OPERA, “Word before ‘Madre’ or ‘Leone’… or ‘Tango'” for SIERRA, and “Skirt length that hides your skinned knee but shows off your gladiator sandals” for MIDI.
Puzzle #4: Let’s Go Togetherby Chandi Deitmer
Chandi pulled double-duty on this 15x offering, loading almost all of the across entries with pairs of overlapping answers (like SLIM/MET overlapping at the M), and all of these overlaps spelled out vehicles or modes of transportation in the corresponding DOWN entries.
The revealer across the center, RIDESHARE, was the icing on this cleverly constructed cake. Really great cluing here and nice construction overall, especially with the symmetrical vehicle entries. It wasn’t as tough as Puzzle #3, but given the packed grid and very few black squares, it was probably an absolute beast to construct. Color me very impressed.
Interesting grid entries included GROUP DATE, I’M BATMAN, SALIERI, and FARSI, and my favorite clues were “Settler of old?” for DUEL and the very apropos pair at 25A of “Wimbledon champ Swiatek” for IGA right beside “Untouchable delivery by Swiatek” for ACE.
Puzzle #5: A Chorus Lineby John Harrington
After the three-puzzle barrage of Trudeau, Vasquez, and Deitmer’s offerings, Harrington offered a gentler cooldown puzzle with this 15×18 music-themed crossword that was all about the lyrics.
Each themed entry was clued as a type of line — “Assembly line? (Billie Eilish)” for WHAT WAS I MADE FOR, for example — prompting the solver to provide the appropriate song chorus. (I’d be curious to hear what prompted the artists and lyrics he chose. Maybe I should reach out and ask!)
This was a fun straightforward puzzle with really enjoyable grid fill, a marvelous way to conclude the tournament for solvers before the championship.
Interesting grid entries included CHOCOHOLIC, ABS OF STEEL, LINDT, SHANDLING, and PICKACARD, and my favorite clues were “One who’s into some pretty dark stuff?” for CHOCOHOLIC and one of his themed clues, “International date line? (Dean Martin)” for THAT’S AMORE.
Puzzle #6: Championship Themelessby Hemant Mehta
As always, Boswords concluded with a themeless puzzle, and this 15x grid was deftly constructed. The multiple long entries at every corner offered a lot of opportunities for good vocabulary, great fill, and a suitable challenge for solvers at either difficulty. (There were two sets of clues available for the championship themeless, the MILD and SIZZLING sets, depending on your preference.)
The grid flowed nicely, and it felt like the perfect sendoff for the whole event, a great set of hurdles to test the top solvers.
Interesting grid entries included OPEN TABLE, VIP PASS, PSY OP, SPIRO AGNEW, and ARE YOU MAD.
As for favorite clues, here’s a list:
MILD: “Engagement that could lead to an engagement?” for FIRST DATE
MILD: “Maximum athletic intensity, in slang” for BEAST MODE
SIZZLING: “If you’re in it, you’re out of it” for COMA
SIZZLING: “Telenovela plot driver” for AMOR
SIZZLING: “Red cap?” for CORK
SIZZLING: “It’ll likely be brought up in self-defense class” for KNEE
Overall, Boswords continues to impress. Between the summer and winter events, plus their seasonal themeless leagues, Boswords steps up their game every year, and as always, I was impressed by the array of puzzles assembled for this year’s tournament.
There were tricky themes, visual challenges, and even a barnyard escape, all of which made great use of both the cluing and the grids themselves. Every puzzle made an impact, and the tournament puzzles as a whole were challenging and creative in their design without being off-putting or getting too esoteric.
With so many terrific puzzly events on the calendar every year, I still think Boswords is the perfect tournament to introduce solvers to tournament-style puzzling, matching levels of difficulty with accessibility, playfulness, and straight-up solid grid construction.
Once again, I cannot wait to see what they cook up for us next year.
Did you attempt this year’s Boswords summer tournament puzzles, fellow solver? If so, I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!
And BosWords director John Lieb announced yesterday that they’re holding Open Submissions for one of the themeless puzzles in this year’s Spring Themeless League!
It’s only open to constructors who HAVEN’T had a themeless crossword published in The New York Times and also HAVEN’T constructed for a previous BosWords event.
Yes, it’s an opportunity for new faces and fresh talent to show what they can do!
You can find the full submission details on the BosWords website, including parameters for grid design, fill content, and words to avoid.
I think this is such a cool way to encourage interest in both the construction side of puzzles and the great fun to be had with themeless crosswords.
The submission deadline in February 15th, so if you’re feeling inspired, get to puzzling!
And if you haven’t already, please strongly consider checking out the Spring Themeless League. It’s a blast and really shows off the creativity and constructing skill it takes to make an enjoyable, compelling themeless crossword.
Good luck to all the potential cruciverbalists out there!
If you’re unfamiliar, the Boswords 2021 Fall Themeless League spreads out a tournament-style solving experience over nine weeks, one themeless crossword per week. Each puzzle is scored based on your answer accuracy (incorrect letters, empty squares, etc.) and how quickly you complete the grid.
While each week’s puzzle only had one solution, there were three sets of clues, each representing a different difficulty level for solvers. Smooth was the least challenging, Choppy was the middle ground, and Stormy was the most challenging. (When solvers registered to participate, they chose the difficulty level that suited them best.)
Hundreds of solvers signed up for the challenge of two months of themeless puzzle solving and a bit of friendly competition, and now that it’s over, I’d like to share a few thoughts about my experience in the League.
With the previous two Themeless League events under my belt, I had a good sense of what to expect both from the puzzles and from myself.
Although I rarely solve online — and I solve themed crosswords far more often than themeless crosswords — I now have a good base to build on.
Unfortunately, I accidentally signed up for the wrong difficulty level this time around. The previous two seasons, I’d opted for the middle ground, Choppy. I signed up for Stormy by mistake, and didn’t realize my error until I logged in and prepared to solve the season’s first puzzle.
As you might expect, being freed from the shackles of themed puzzle building allows constructors to really flex their creative muscle, indulging all sorts of curious and unexpected vocabulary as they cross long entries and employ fewer black squares in these impressive grids.
And since I’d mistakenly opted for the toughest level of cluing, I also saw the decidedly clever and devious side of each constructor as I navigated tricky wordplay and more challenging clue content.
The first puzzle of the season immediately showed me what I’d gotten myself into. I didn’t know the number of operas Beethoven had written, or who spoke what ended up being a Madonna quote, or what Mohsin Hamid’s “Exit West” was about.
I hit nearly half an hour with my solving time, which I think was a ten-minute increase from my performance in the previous League’s debut puzzle.
Although I would have better performances later in the season — my time averaged out to 24:48 across eight puzzles — that was definitely a shot right across the bow of my confidence.
I could have contacted the organizers and asked to be moved over to Choppy. I’m sure they would have accommodated me; the Boswords team is terrific.
But instead, I decided to throw myself into the deep end and stick with Stormy and see how it went.
As I expected, it was quite a challenge. But I trusted my instincts more — filling in more guesses at the start, rather than letting them sit empty until crossing words offered confirmation — and overall, I enjoyed the experience. Sure, I was a little disheartened at how my season started, but knowing that I was competing — however slowly — at the steepest level available pushed me to keep going.
I’ve never been the fastest solver to begin with — doesn’t matter if it’s pencil and paper or on a computer — and I rarely time myself when I solve in my free time. But I kept setting different goals each week. If I had half the grid filled by a certain time, I’d set a time to beat based on that. I didn’t always succeed, but more often than not, I kept my time below whatever goals I’d set.
(Still, I dare not look at the times of the top performers, lest I despair once more. Heh.)
In the end, my individual rank was 220 (out of 303 Stormy solvers), and my overall rank was 251 (out of the 871 individual solvers). Not too shabby. A staggering 1253 people participated in this season’s event,
As for the puzzles themselves, they were solid. The vocabulary — particularly the longer entries — was incredibly creative and unexpected. And the constructors were fantastic.
Each brought their own style and flavor to the competition, and it was great to see well-established names like Byron Walden, Evan Birnholz, Kameron Austin Collins, and the dynamite duo of Doug Peterson and Angela Olson Halsted mixed with newer names to the field like Mollie Cowger and Quiara Vasquez.
All in all, I enjoyed the Fall Themeless League. (Although I was more comfortable with the solving interface and I had a better handle on themeless solving, given that this was my third go-around, I still felt like a rookie tackling the Stormy-level clues.)
I think when the Spring Themeless League rolls around, I’ll try Stormy again. Now that I have a baseline to compare it to, I’d like to see how I can improve.
And with the promise of future Boswords-hosted events in 2022 like the Winter Wondersolve event on February 6th and the Spring Themeless League, it’s nice to have exciting puzzle events to look forward to in the near future.
They’ve already announced the teams for each! The Winter Wondersolve will be constructed by Kate Chin Park, Christina Iverson, Adesina Koiki, and Matthew Stock.
The Spring Themeless League will be handled by Adam Aaronson, Wendy L. Brandes, Katja Brinck, Julian Lim, Frank Longo, the team of Sophia Maymudes & Kyra Wilson, Ada Nicolle, Robyn Weintraub, and one constructor to be named later.
(Yup, a mystery constructor. They’re actually selecting them based on an open submission process, the details of which will be announced tomorrow, Wednesday 12/8! How cool is that?)
Kudos to everyone who helped bring this marvelous project together, and kudos to everyone who participated. It was tough, but also a great deal of fun.
The Boswords summer crossword tournament has been a highlight of the puzzly calendar for years now, but during the pandemic, they also made a splash with their Fall and Spring Themeless Leagues.
If you’re unfamiliar, the 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 solvers register to participate, they’ll choose the difficulty level that suits them best.)
Sign up, and you get two months of puzzly fun running through October and November!
Plus, they’ve already announced a dynamite lineup of constructors for this season’s puzzles. Here’s the full list: Evan Birnholz, Kameron Austin Collins, Mollie Cowger, Debbie Ellerin, Leslie Rogers, Quiara Vasquez, Byron Walden, Nam Jin Yoon, and the team of Angela Olson Halsted and Doug Peterson.
There’s a terrific mix of established names and up-and-coming constructors there, and I expect the season to be a terrific exploration of the best of themeless crosswords.
The project is once again being spearheaded by the dynamic duo of John Lieb and Andrew Kingsley, and Brad Wilber will be the puzzle editor.
It’s only $30 to enter as an individual participant ($40 for Pairs), but there’s also a student/discount level for participants who may find the $30 price tag too steep. (There are also puzzle packets from the previous Themeless Leagues available for $10 apiece.)
The Boswords Seasonal Themeless League events have not only opened my eyes to the creativity and skill required for themeless crosswords, but they’ve become some of my favorite parts of the puzzly calendar.
Be sure to click this link for more information, sample puzzles, instructional videos, and more.
Puzzling and charitable acts often intersect. This is true of the Boswords team with their wonderful discounted option for participants, as well as their donation to Boston-based charities from the proceeds of their summer tournament
And while we’re discussing the intersection of puzzling and doing good, it’s worth mentioning that there are numerous examples of crossword projects working hand-in-hand with social activism for the greater good.
Queer Qrosswords and Women of Letters are just a few examples. All of them provide puzzle bundles for you to enjoy if you show them that you’ve donated to worthwhile charities and other helpful groups and causes.
This puzzle packet, originally created to raise funds for the Baltimore Abortion Fund, contains the work of over a dozen constructors, and serves as a marvelous incentive to donate to abortion funds all over the country.
PuzzCulture 