I’ve solved puzzles from ACPT, Boswords, Westwords, Lollapuzzoola, and other tournaments throughout the years, but I’ve never solved puzzles from the Midwest Crossword Tournament before!
So when I had the chance to solve last year’s tournament puzzles, I was stoked for the opportunity to test my puzzly skill in a new arena.
Let’s put these puzzles under the PuzzCulture microscope and see what MWXWT had in store for solvers in 2025!
Puzzle #1: Where My Queens At? by Taylor Johnson
Johnson constructed a nice opener to welcome people to the day’s proceedings where the theme entries were all places you can find queens (BEEHIVE, ROYALFLUSH, HOMECOMING, etc).
The fill was smooth (especially those pairs of 10-letter down entries on each side), and the smiley face built into the grid was a nice touch.
Interesting grid entries included OPEN SOURCE, GOLF PRO, ONE LOVE, and RUNYON, and my favorite clues were “Iconic part of David Bowie and Queen’s ‘Under Pressure'” for BASELINE and “The longest distance between two places, per ‘The Glass Menagerie'” for TIME.
Puzzle #2: The Windy City by Hemant Mehta
The ten-letter stacks continued in this well-constructed themeless, where we had 3 10-letter entries in two of the corners, intersecting some longer entries and loads of great vocabulary.
Factor in all the Chicago-centric cluing and fill, and you’ve got a solve as breezy as promised.
Interesting grid entries included HARPY, DOUBLE DOINK, THIRSTILY, and REKT, and my favorite clues were “They might grab a meal” for TALONS and “One taking cover?” for BLANKET HOG.
Puzzle #3: Creature Features by Evan Birnholz
Oh man, I love a movie title pun, so I was all about this 21x wordplay-fest from Birnholz. (I got the first one immediately — Apocalypse Cow — because it was also the name of a villain in the live-action version of The Tick.)
With seven pun entries in the grid — several spanning most of the grid — and loads of great fill entries to flesh out the grid, this puzzle was a blast.
Interesting grid entries included ARTS DEGREE, ACKROYD, IDEA MAP, and ROTINI (my favorite pasta shape), and my favorite clues were “Crossword-solving Simpson” for LISA and “Large winged creature in a Sinbad story” for ROC.
Puzzle #4: Substitute Teaching by Lydia Roth and Christina Bodensiek
This 13×17 stormer was the hardest puzzle of the tournament so far, and I confess, the substitution game had me baffled for a bit before I realized what I was overlooking.
The cluing was straightforward, but several entries didn’t match their clues, while others that neighbored those entries in the same row included the note “(apply to 29-Across),” for instance. I thought I had to place the letters of the neighboring word INTO the larger entry, but it turned out the neighboring word WAS the instruction for that word. KISS wasn’t inserted into SINGSONG, K IS S explains how KINGKONG (which fits what was clued) becomes SINGSONG in the grid.
Diabolical!
I was a little thrown-off by the last “rule” only applying to one letter in the answer, not two, but otherwise, this was fiendishly fun to unravel.
Interesting grid entries included AR HEADSET, NABISCO, AFL-CIO, and HALIBUT, and my favorite clues were “Tiniest sound” for PEEP and “Tower of __ (classic math puzzle)” for HANOI (which I’ve written about in the past).
Puzzle #5: I Need Space by Kyle Dolan
Another thinker, here! What a one-two punch puzzles 4 and 5 were.
Dolan’s puzzle centered around common or familiar phrases that become a new phrase when a state abbreviation at the start of the phrase is removed. For instance, WIRED MAGAZINE becomes RED MAGAZINE.
For some reason, it took me FOREVER to figure out the gimmick here, and I’m sure many solvers would’ve wrapped this puzzle up faster than me at the tournament.
The clean fill and smart layout of the grid made this puzzle the perfect solve before the finals. Really great construction overall.
Interesting grid entries included GOOD VIBES, RITE AID, LA SPARKS, and CANTO, and my favorite clues were “Rinky-dink” for TWO-BIT and “Female in a song from ‘The Sound of Music'” for DOE.
Puzzle #6: Final Course by Katie Hoody
The final puzzle of the day was this 15x themeless and it did not disappoint. Strong grid construction built around the grid-spanning HOT DISH ON A STICK (crossing NINE 9- and 10-letter entries) really impressed.
There were two sets of clues available for the championship themeless, MINNESOTA NICE and CHICAGO FIRE, depending on your preference, and the cluing for each was on point.
All in all, this was a dynamite capper to a day of enjoyable challenges.
Interesting grid entries included BARITONE SAX, RINK RAT, BITE-SIZE, and GO VIRAL.
As for favorite clues, here’s a list:
- MN NICE: “Flying creature whose babies are called pups” for BAT
- MN NICE: “Apt epithet hidden inside ‘”I’ve had it with you!'” for TWIT
- MN NICE: “Children’s theater character that speaks from the sole?” for SOCK PUPPET
- MN NICE: “Bakery treat that becomes an ice cream treat when its first letter is removed” for SCONE
- CHI FIRE: “Plays on a raised surface” for STAGE SHOWS
- CHI FIRE: “Brings some cheeky energy to the dance floor” for TWERKS
- CHI FIRE: “Simple retirement option” for COT
- CHI FIRE: “Word that retains its meaning when preceded by ‘ni'” for TWIT
- CHI FIRE: “Superfamily whose extinct species include Gigantopithecus and Oreopithecus” for APES
Overall, I quite enjoyed my first time tangling with MWXWT.
The difficulty spike with Puzzle #4 was a welcome challenge (though I suspect others didn’t struggle with 4 and 5 like I did), and the construction across the tournament was strong. There were no unfair crossings or dubious bits of cluing. It was topnotch from start to finish.
Registration for this year’s tournament is open now! The event is on Saturday, October 3rd at the University of Illinois Chicago Student Center East.
I’m excited to see what they have in store for us this year!
Will you be solving this year’s Midwest Crossword Tournament puzzles (either in person or online), fellow solver? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.
PuzzCulture 