Tag Archives: new years resolution

Happy New Year! Goals for 2026!

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New year, new… blog post. (Sorry for anyone who was hoping for a new me. It’s just the same ol’ friendly neighborhood puzzle nerd.)

Happy New Year cruciverbalists, gamers, RPGers, and puzzle enthusiasts!

Let’s ring in the new year right, with Lily Hevesh’s domino rendition of Auld Lang Syne:

So, with everyone thinking of New Year’s resolutions and (hopefully) feeling positive for the year to come, what does the future hold for PuzzCulture?

Honestly, I’m not sure, but I would like to share some of my goals (puzzly and otherwise) for 2026.

Ideally, writing them publicly will be an incentive to work harder and bring these goals to fruition! There’s nothing quite like braingaming yourself into genuine productivity!

Keep a running tally of puzzles solved

I’m genuinely curious how many puzzles I solve in a calendar year, so I’m going to keep track of my puzzles per week, just for the delightful data. Maybe I’ll learn something about myself or the puzzle world from it!

Read two books a month

When I commuted by train every day to work, I used to read an average of 5 books a week. (250 books a year was a regular occurrence!) But when the pandemic hit and I started working from work, my reading frequency PLUMMETED. I’m hoping to get back into it and read two books a month. (One a week feels a bit too ambitious, but who knows?)

Double the PuzzCulture readership and grow our social media presence

2025 was a good year for us across the blog and social media, but we can always do better. So if there’s something you’d like to see, or something you’re enjoying that you’d like to see more of, please say so!

Construct one puzzle each month for the PuzzCulture readers

I usually create a puzzle for the major holidays, but this year, there will be a puzzle to solve each month (probably near the end of the month for my own sanity). Any favorite puzzle types? Let me know!

Submitting a crossword for publication

Publishing a crossword is a lofty goal, one that is mostly out of my hands. But submitting something I think is publishing-worthy… that’s an achievable goal, even if it doesn’t end up making the cut at one of the major outlets.

Finish at least four short stories

Half-finished stories have piled up over the last two years, and I need to get these brainworms out to make room for exciting new brainworms!

Publish a game and/or RPG module

Over the last two years, I’ve published a game through 9th Level Games’ Level 1 promotional collection for Free RPG Day. I don’t know if that will happen again this year, but yea or nay, I will be self-publishing something in 2026.

I’m not sure if it will be a short standalone game or an RPG module for an established system, but I feel good about this goal.

#JusticeForSnow

This year, snow got robbed of its rightful place in the National Toy Hall of Fame, and I’m gonna do everything I can to get it back on the ballot AND into the Hall of Fame this year! #JusticeForSnow

Actually compete in a crossword tournament

I love solving tournament puzzles (as you can tell from my reviews), but except for Crossword Tournament From Your Couch, I’ve never competed. Travel is tough for me, but I think I’m gonna take a shot and attempt an At-Home solve for one of this year’s tournaments. I’ll keep you posted!

Do you have any puzzly (or non-puzzly) goals for 2026? Let me know in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you!

Puzzly New Year’s Resolutions

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happy-new-year-2020-with-lights

[Image courtesy of Dayfinders.]

It’s a new year, and with a new year comes new resolutions and goals, born from the welcome idea that the slate has been wiped clean and the next 365 days are full of possibilities.

That’s as true for puzzle solvers and constructors as it is for anyone else. On Twitter, I’ve seen puzzlers resolving to tackle every NYT crossword, or the daily Sudoku, or simply the jigsaw puzzles in their closets.

The folks over at the Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory (which is closing in on its two-year anniversary, by the way!) have also been sharing their puzzly resolutions. Writing clues faster, finishing crosswords or getting them submitted, improving the quality of their grid fill, publishing a cryptic or a themeless, and submitting to new editors or outlets were among the many worthwhile resolutions proposed.

There were also some marvelously open-minded suggestions, like employing proper Chinese PinYin to spell Lao-Tzu/Lao-Tze “Lao Zi,” or pushing for entries like NAAN, ROTI, DAL, and others to be considered acceptable fill, not crosswordese.

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And as you might expect, I have a few puzzly resolutions of my own.

In the coming year, I resolve to:

  • get through the backlog of puzzles that has slowly accumulated over the past year
  • keep track of the number of puzzles I solve each month
  • organize my voluminous library of puzzle books
  • (and complete the unfinished ones)
  • (and probably donate a bunch of the ones I haven’t touched)

Have you made any puzzly resolutions, fellow puzzlers and PuzzleNationers? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you!

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It’s Follow-Up Friday: New Years Resolutions edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, with the new year freshly started, it seems all too appropriate to return to the subject of new years resolutions.

Last year, I asked several prominent puzzlers about their resolutions for 2014. It’s one year later, so let’s see how they did!

Constructor Robin Stears resolved “to interact more with puzzle fans…, to attend some crossword tournaments and trivia nights and spend some time getting to know the contestants and finding out what kinds of puzzles they like.” How did that resolution go for her?

Well, I really missed the boat on that resolution. There weren’t any crossword tournaments in my area, and I couldn’t convince my local librarian to host one. But thanks to PuzzleNation, I’ve been able to keep up with what’s new in the puzzle world. The hottest thing this year was the emoji; in fact, emoji were so popular, I made up a bunch of emoji crossword puzzles.

And since I couldn’t attend any tournaments in person, I scoured the Internet for puzzle blogs and puzzle forums, and still managed to interact with puzzle fans in the virtual world. Puzzle fans are the nicest people, and they always have great ideas.

Constructor (and field marshal of The Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project) David Steinberg resolved to “finish the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project’s litzing stage and to construct more Sunday crosswords.” How did that resolution go for him?

The Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project’s litzing stage is now complete. We’ve litzed all the available puzzles–16,077 of them! We’re missing 148 puzzles, though, most of which weren’t published in New York because of newspaper strikes.

The proofreading stage is well on its way — 24 years of proofread puzzles are now up on XWord Info. A two-month proofreading contest is currently in progress, and we’re almost done proofreading the 1969 puzzles. I’ve also been busy constructing more Sunday crosswords, one of which was recently accepted by the Times.

Puzzle poet Peter Valentine resolved to “get up early and finish the poem before anyone else is awake.” How did that resolution go?

Sadly I did terribly on that resolution and can probably count on one hand the number of times that happened. Nevertheless, still keeping up with them daily when kids are in school! (Holidays are a wash.)

Baffledazzle creator Rachel Happen made several resolutions for 2014. How did she do?

1. Exercise brain as much as body — I’d give myself an 11 out of 10 on this one. The first Baffledazzle Kickstarter campaign was a problem-solving obstacle course that demanded all sorts of brain agility! Now that I’m post-campaign, I’m back in puzzle research/development mode and maxing out my library card again. So yes, mission accomplished there.

2. Make puzzles for friends / family birthday gifts — I’d give myself 7 out of 10! I did make a ton of custom puzzly things for gifts though I missed a few months when I was in the thick of Baffledazzle production. Next year, summer-birthday-friends, there will be puzzles for all!

3. Try a new puzzle / puzzly game each month — Oh man I get a 3 out of 10 for this one, but maybe a 5 out of 10 for intention!! My pile of Springboks [jigsaw puzzles] has only gotten taller… sigh. 😉

4. Make puzzles the new black — Ah, ∞ out of 10. This one’s a life-long mission!! Full speed ahead into another year of puzzling!

What about you, fellow puzzlers? Did you make any resolutions this year, puzzly or not? Let me know! I’d love to hear about them!

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