mysterious package company

There’s so much going on in the intertwined worlds of puzzles and games, so let’s skip the intro and get to the good stuff!

The Boswords Fall Themeless League Kicks Off Tonight!

There’s still time to register for this year’s Fall Themeless League, which officially starts up tonight! (There was a preseason puzzle last week.)

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 / freestyle 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.)

*Look how many people are participating this year!*

Each week’s puzzle is accompanied by a one-hour broadcast on Twitch, starting with a preseason puzzle and broadcast.

The Fall Themeless League then runs the next nine Monday nights starting at 9 PM.

Congrats to the Midwest Crossword Tournament Winners!

The 2026 edition of the Midwest Crossword Tournament was this past weekend, and by all accounts, it was a massive success.

Organized by Shannon Rapp and Sally Hoelscher, the excellent lineup of constructors and editors guaranteed a lively and occasionally devious experience for all involved!

*The Chicago Fire was the tougher division, and Minnesota Nice the less-tough-but-still-devious division.*

Congrats to all the winners and everyone who participated this year!

Oh, and if you want to watch the Chicago Fire live-solved finals, check out the video:

My deep dive into this year’s tournament puzzles will be posted on Thursday.

More on The Independent Cryptic Crossword

I have a quick update regarding Thursday’s post about the potential end of The Independent‘s daily cryptic crossword.

There is another email address you can contact to show your interest and support!

All you need to do is message trulyindependentcrosswords@gmail.com with the word “Truly” in the subject line.

Leave the body of the email empty, your email alone will count as another person who wants to see The Independent‘s cryptic crossword continue! You’ll get an automated reply letting you know that your voice has been heard.

Hopefully this will show the managing editor of The Independent that the crossword is worth saving!

Spooky Crowdfunding Roundup!

To close out today’s post, here’s a trio of games to support that fit the Halloween / horror / survival vibe nicely that are currently crowdfunding.

The Mysterious Package Company makes some of the coolest, most immersive puzzle-solving experiences on the market today, and if you were a fan of their Doomensions: Mystery Manor pop-up escape room puzzle game a few years ago, then you’re in for double the excitement this time around.

They’re currently running a Kickstarter for two new Doomensions pop-up puzzle experiences: Cursed Tomb and Crimson Castle.

You’ll get to explore these three-dimensional set pieces as you unravel the mysteries behind each puzzly setting.

The attention to detail with Mystery Manor was fantastic, and I really enjoyed the hours spent revealing the puzzle’s hidden secrets and facing each new twist and mystery as it emerged.

If you like at-home escape room puzzle games, you should definitely give one (or both) of these Doomensions a shot.

Another horror-themed sequel game is crowdfunding right now, as the smash hit game Don’t Go In There has gotten a die-rolling successor in, you guessed it, Don’t Go Back There.

This standalone expansion is built on the same template as the original, but with new foes and new effects to deal with.

Plus you can mix and match this game with the original and test yourself against BOTH games’ mechanics and monsters.

Don’t Go In There was part of my 31 Games of Halloween countdown last year, and rightly so. I have no doubt the Road to Infamy team have exceeded themselves with the sequel.

Click here to check out the Kickstarter!

And since we’ve been talking about The Oregon Trail in game form recently, it’s serendipitous that our friends at 9th Level Games have a Backerkit running right now for their new game, Portland, Oregon Trail.

Here’s the pitch:

Like in the OG Oregon Trail game, you might have to ford a river in your Ford and you’ll definitely be contracting a variety of illnesses. But the main obstacle between you and Portland will be capitalism. Your characters have limited resources (and no health insurance), and your roles as societal misfits will make you a target for capitalist villains who hate that you don’t follow their rules. In this game, though, conformity is as good as death.

This GM-less roleplaying game is a collaborative adventure to endure all the nonsense of road trips with modern day anti-capitalist rebel spirit, all in the familiar flavors of the original Oregon Trail we all know and either love, hate, or love and hate.

Check out the Backerkit campaign here!

Did I miss any puzzly news or fun board game stories from the last few weeks? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.

In the wake of puzzly public events like the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament being cancelled, as well as the shutdown of various school districts, workplaces, and businesses in order to limit exposure to the Coronavirus, it’s completely understandable that some puzzle fans may be feeling disappointed or even isolated from their fellow puzzlers.

But fear not! There are all sorts of options available to solvers looking to enjoy a puzzly experience from home, either on their own or with friends.

If you’re looking for crosswords, all you need is your computer. The New York Times, The LA Times, The Washington Post, and many other outlets offer online puzzle-solving, either by subscription or through watching ads before solving.

If you have access to a printer, you can print those puzzles out for the true pencil-and-paper solving experience.

And it’s not just newspapers. Many constructors — Brendan Emmett Quigley comes to mind — offer their own free puzzles semi-regularly (though you’re welcome to tip as a thank you). There is a world of puzzles out there on the Internet awaiting solvers.

But you don’t even have to go to a computer anymore. There are loads of terrific puzzles available right on your phone. Forgive us for tooting our own horn, but Daily POP Crosswords is a great puzzle app with a free puzzle every day and additional puzzle packets available for purchase or through our in-app coin system. (We also offer Word Seeks, Sudoku, and a marvelous story-driven puzzle mystery, Wordventures, if you’re looking for something different.)

Oh, and speaking of something different, if you’re looking to delve into more elaborate puzzles, there are some fantastic puzzle services by mail that offer all sorts of challenges.

Wish You Were Here by the Enigma Emporium conceals an entire mystery within a handful of postcards, challenging you to mine them for every scrap of information as you uncover a series of coded messages. It’s spycraft in an envelope, very clever stuff.

The Cryptogram Puzzle Post out of the UK offers something unique, mixing puzzles and encryption with bits of mystery and supernatural narratives to create standalone chapters in an ongoing story. So you can pick one season or an entire year, depending on how deep you want to go!

And for multi-month affairs, there are outlets like Hunt a Killer and The Mysterious Package Company, which create vast, immersive puzzle experiences by mail. (Though according to friends’ recommendations, Hunt a Killer works better without the month wait between installments.)

As you can see, there’s a wide variety of ways you can puzzle from home, whether you prefer to solve online, by email, on the phone, or by mail!

That’s all well and good, you might be saying, but what about the social aspect? Well, there are options there as well, even from the comforts of your home.

Some puzzlers actually livestream their puzzle-solving online through avenues like Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube. The New York Times periodically does this as well, often with celebrity guest solvers!

You can keep your eyes peeled on Facebook and Twitter for constructors and solvers who do so. It often adds a fun, communal element to puzzle-solving (especially if they struggle with the same tricky clues that you do). Some pub trivia outlets are also moving online to allow for participating from home!

But if you don’t want to wait for someone to livestream their solving, you can do it yourself! Between Facetime and similar apps on smartphones and all the online avenues for audio and video-chatting (Skype, Google Hangouts, Discord, etc.), you could pair up with a friend and tag-team a crossword puzzle or other puzzly challenge!

It’s like co-working, except with puzzles. Co-solving!

In times like this, where uncertainty abounds and our comfortable routines have been upended, puzzles can offer a wonderful refuge from all the stresses of the world. And with technology on our side, we can even keep the communal joys of puzzling in our lives.

Happy puzzling, friends.

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