Tag Archives: Puzzle to solve

Upcoming Crossword Tournaments (Plus a Puzzle to Solve!)

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Just a quick post today to remind you of TWO big crossword events coming soon!

Firstly, Boswords is just a few short weeks away, and they recently announced the constructors for this year’s tournament puzzles.

Chandi Deitmer, Kathleen Duncan, Peter Wentz, Joon Pahk, Damon Gulczynski, and the team of Emily Biegas & Sala Wanetick will be constructing this year. With a rogue’s gallery of top-flight constructors like this, the tournament is sure to be a great time!

Also Lollapuzzoola is coming!

Lollapuzzoola will be happening on a Saturday in August — Saturday, August 15th, in fact — and registration is now open!

This year’s event, Lollapuzzoola 19, has been titled “Around the World,” and promises all sorts of puzzly challenges:

Travel the globe with us through crosswords and games — the day includes tournament puzzles, warmup puzzles, a variety puzzle meta suite, a multi-crossword meta suite, and more!

Plus pizza!

There are two solo divisions for competitors: the Local Division (for newer solvers, more casual solvers, or those with less tournament experience) and the Express Division for “hardcore speed solvers with tournament experience.”

For those who solve with a buddy, the Pairs Division is always an option, and of course, the At-Home Division is available for players who can’t make it to NYC. (I’ll be solving from home for sure!)

A great summer of puzzles continues with two back-to-back highlights of the cruciverbalist calendar year.

And since we’re talking crosswords, I’ve got a 13x puzzle for you to solve today.

I tried something a little different this time around, but hopefully you enjoy! (Once you figure out the gimmick, it’ll probably be a pretty quick solve.)

[Click here to download a PDF of the puzzle!]

Will you be participating in either Boswords or Lollapuzzoola this year, fellow puzzler? Let me know in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you!

Twenty Years of the Wordplay Documentary!

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2026 continues to be a year of big anniversaries in the world of puzzles. Yesterday marked the 155th birthday of Arthur Wynne, the creator of the first modern crossword puzzle in 1913.

And today marks twenty years since the Wordplay documentary first hit theaters.

Wordplaymp

The documentary chronicled the 2005 edition of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, bringing national attention to the tournament (and inspiring a Simpsons episode about crosswords).

Wordplay introduced a wider audience to several famous names in crossword tournament circles, like Ellen Ripstein, Trip Payne, Tyler Hinman, Jon Delfin, and Al Sanders, as well as highlighting many celebrity crossword solvers like Jon Stewart, Ken Burns, Bill Clinton, and more.

And the impact Wordplay had on the tournament itself, and interest in crosswords in general, cannot be overstated.

Wordplay sparked a 40% increase in attendance the year after it aired, and the growing interest in the yearly event caused the tournament to actually change locations from the Stamford Marriott to a larger venue in New York City for 7 years.

And it’s delightfully apropos that this year marked the tournament’s last year in Stamford, once again moving to a larger venue (in Philadelphia this time!) in order to accommodate increased attendance. Synchronicity!

There was even a song for the documentary…

I think my favorite part of the documentary was Will Shortz reading some critical responses (aka hate mail) in good spirits, though getting a glimpse into the creative process of Merl Reagle was also a treat.

Over the last twenty years, Wordplay has gone from introducing many people to crosswords and tournament solving to a time capsule of a particular era in puzzles.

A time when the hundredth anniversary of the crossword hadn’t arrived. A time before crosswords on The Simpsons, before online tournaments and apps like Daily Pop Crosswords or Puzzmo. A time when crosswords were still weirdly considered a niche interest, despite the tens of millions of people solving them every day.

And we can thank Wordplay for helping welcome a new generation of solvers to our puzzly world.

In honor of the anniversary, I’ve got a puzzle for you!

I had the idea for the theme while writing this post and thinking about puzzle history, and I hope you enjoy.

[Click here to download a PDF of the puzzle.]

How did you find your way to crossword solving, fellow puzzlers? Was Wordplay your gateway, or was it a friend or a family member? Or did you simply accept the challenge of a grid in your local paper on a whim one day?

Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.

Bonus Puzzles for June 1st!

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Let’s start off the month right with a few bonus puzzles for you to solve!

Inspired by one of the many puzzles featured by our friends at Penny Press, I’ve constructed two Escalators for you today.

Instructions: Write the 5-letter answer to clue 1 in the first space. Drop one letter and rearrange the remaining letters to answer clue 2. Put the dropped letter into column A. Drop another letter and rearrange the remaining letters to answer clue 3. Put the dropped letter into column B. Follow this pattern for each row in the diagram. When completed, the letters in column A and column B, reading down, will spell an appropriate phrase.

Here’s the clues for Puzzle #1:

I’ve also included an empty sample grid for you to fill!

Here’s the clues for Puzzle #2:

And again, an empty sample grid, if needed!

The answers reading down in both puzzles are equally appropriate for this month (and next month), depending on your mood!

Happy puzzling, everyone!

Celebrating Mystery Science Theater 3000 with a Special Crossword!

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At this point, Mystery Science Theater 3000 is a comedy institution.

This simple idea — a man and his robot pals watching movies with the audience and gleefully poking fun at them — has spanned decades and generations.

And it’s been a good year for MST3K fans.

Not only has a copy of the last lost episode of the show been found — the KTMA-era version of Star Force: The Fugitive Alien 2,” which hasn’t been available since its original airing in November of 1988 — but the RiffTrax team of Bill Corbett, Mike Nelson, and Kevin Murphy have successfully crowdfunded a new quartet of episodes, MST3K: The RiffTrax Experiments.

A glimpse of the new set!

Over the years, this show has gone from local cable to Comedy Central, then to the Sci-Fi Channel. It left terrestrial cable for a while, until crowdfunding resurrected it. Then it streamed on Netflix, and moved to its own private streaming platform (The Gizmoplex, which is sadly shuttering soon). Along the way, it has toured with live shows, inducted new hosts and new robot voices into the cast, and now has constant livestreams running on YouTube.

It has spawned spinoffs like The Film Crew, Cinematic Titanic, and most famously RiffTrax, and new generations of fans are continuing to discover the show. (Plus a very lucky few joined the writing crew in some of the latest seasons.)

And new episodes on the horizon aren’t the only reason to celebrate.

Today marks the start of Halfway to Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving marathons have been an MST3K tradition going back to the ’90s, and the Turkey Day Marathon is so beloved that fans simply can’t wait until November to celebrate.

So Halfway to Turkey Day was born. A marathon of all the previous Turkey Day events, Halfway to Turkey Day starts today and will run through June 2nd. It’s available on Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, RokuChannel, the CW app, plus Samsung, LG, VIZIO and Google Smart TVs and more.

And I’ve been working on a puzzle celebrating Mystery Science Theater 3000, so what better day to share it than today, I ask you?

I hope all of the MSTies out there delight in a puzzly little journey through the history of one of my all-time favorite TV shows.

(Click here to download a PDF of the puzzle.)

I’ve tried to make it as inclusive as possible, so no matter who your favorite host is or what your favorite episode is, there should be something for you to enjoy. (Plus I couldn’t resist coloring in a few black squares when I spotted Gypsy/GPC in the grid.)

Happy puzzling, MSTies! And Happy Halfway to Turkey Day!

[Thank you to Jennifer Cunningham, Troy Bond, and Crossword Gentleman Doug Peterson for your testsolving and input!]

May the Fourth Be With You

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Happy Star Wars Day, fellow puzzlers!

I usually make brain teasers for Star Wars Day — check out these ones from 2021, 2018, and 2017 — but this year, I felt inspired to create a crossword puzzle!

Now, this 19x puzzle might be a little challenging if you’re not steeped in SW knowledge, since the theme involves bits of Star Wars-specific wordplay.

But hopefully the crossings will help you unravel what’s going on here!

[Click here to download a PDF of the puzzle.]

After decades of movies, TV shows, novels, comic books, and all sorts of adventures, the saga of Star Wars still remains one of my favorite fictional universes. And I’m happy to bring two of my most enduring passions — Star Wars and puzzles — together again today.

Happy solving, puzzlers!

A Logic Puzzle Worthy of the Fey for Monster Week!

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Some of the many fey creatures that populate Dungeons & Dragons
(image courtesy of WOTC / Nerdarchy)

It’s Monster Week, a yearly celebration of the many creatures and beings that make the world of fantasy roleplaying games so immersive. Created by D&D content creators Ginny Di and Pointy Hat, Monster Week is a celebration of roleplaying game creativity, and this year’s theme is the Fey.

Otherwise known as fairies, fae, the fairyfolk, or a number of other names, fey are known for making bargains, outwitting unsuspecting mortals, and toying with tricky words and devious deceptions.

So naturally, I couldn’t resist crafting a puzzle celebrating fey bargains and fantasy-fueled frippery. Please enjoy this deduction puzzle loaded with D&D-friendly flavor!

And be sure to check out ALL the awesome fey-inspired content over on YouTube.

A party of adventurers stepped into a fairy ring and found themselves transported to another realm: the mysterious domain of the fey. Each sought to acquire something from this strange place, well aware of the dangers that come with bargaining with the fairyfolk, but hoping to escape without any dangerous debts or unpleasant consequences.

Can you determine what each adventurer sought (one adventurer is Ludo the Quick, one adventurer sought the gift of eternal youth), in which order they were forced to bargain with the fey for their goal, and what cost or promise they made in exchange?

  1. On the night of the first day, while they were setting up camp for the evening, one adventurer promised a year of their life to the fey. It wasn’t Makavia Magehound, although Makavia also made their bargain that first night.
  2. On the morning of the second day, one adventurer made their bargain, promising to perform a song that would lure others into the fairy ring. Later that day, both Handsome Jak Two-Axe and the adventurer who sought a bountiful harvest made their fey bargains.
  3. On the second day, one adventurer made a pact with the fey, promising to spread a harmful rumor around his city when he returned. On the same day, the adventurer who sought an enchanted lute that could bring fame and fortune made their bargain with the fey.
  4. One adventurer promised their firstborn child to the fey. This was sometime after the adventurer who sought eternal beauty, but before Elowen Sharpthistle made their bargain.
  5. Either Bethany the Bold (who wasn’t the adventurer who sought a bountiful harvest) or the adventurer who sought a rare medicinal flower from the fey bargained away a treasured memory (which was not the first or second bargain made), and the other promised to perform a song that would lure others into the fairy ring.
  6. The adventurer who sought the rare medicinal flower did not make their bargain immediately before or immediately after Bethany the Bold.

Did you unravel my fey-filled logic puzzle? Do you have a favorite fairy or fey creature in your game? Let me know in the comments below! I’d love to hear from you.