Tag Archives: puzzle

The Winter Wondersolve Is Coming!

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I did a roundup of Crossword News last week, but one important bit of news came through too late to be included, so it gets its own post today!

BosWords has only been around since 2017, but every year, they deliver several outstanding puzzly experiences.

Their flagship event has long been the Summer Tournament, but you’re missing out if you don’t participate in their other events. Their Spring and Fall Themeless League events are all-virtual weekly puzzles to solve over a two-month period. It’s a great way to stretch your solving muscles without the pressure of in-person tournament-style solving.

And speaking of at-home solving, they just announced that registration is open for the 2025 Winter Wondersolve event.

It’s taking place on Sunday, February 2, from 1-4:30 PM Eastern, and features three themed puzzles and a themeless. The best of both worlds!

Plus they’ve lined up a terrific team. You’ve got event directors John Lieb and Andrew Kingsley, puzzle editor Brad Wilber, and a quartet of constructors handling the puzzling this year: Alina Abidi, Kareem Ayas, Carly Schuna, and Andrew White.

Check out the Boswords website for all the details (including a video narrated by John Lieb).

Will you be participating in the Winter Wondersolve (or any other Boswords events this year), fellow puzzlers? Let us know! We’d love to hear from you.

Crossword News Roundup!

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In today’s blog post, we’ve got a trio of crossword-related news items for you!

shortzoffice

Welcome back, Will!

Earlier this week, The New York Times announced that Will Shortz was back at work editing the Times crossword (beginning with the December 30th puzzle).

This is wonderful news, as Will had to step back from his editing work in February to attend to his recovery.

For those who were unaware, Will suffered a stroke that affected his mobility — he offered details on both the stroke and his recovery to Brain & Life magazine — but he is back to editing and playing table tennis.

From the NYT article:

In addition to completing hours of physical therapy and rehab, Will slowly returned to puzzle making and editing throughout the year. He directed the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, returned as the creator of NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday Puzzle in April and resumed choosing puzzles for The Times in May.

We wish Will all the best in his continued recovery and return to puzzling. I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with Will a number of times — mostly at the ACPT, though I did interview him for the blog years ago — and I’m very glad to hear that he’s well enough to enjoy both of his favorite pastimes again.

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And speaking of Will Shortz news, registration is open for the 47th edition of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament!

Once again being hosted in Stamford, CT, the ACPT is a weekend-long puzzle extravaganza of solving, puzzle-themed events, fun, and community.

This year’s tournament runs from April 4th through the 6th, and you can click here for more details (and to register for this year’s event, should the spirit move you).

Are you planning on competing this year? Let us know in the comments below! We’d love to hear from you.

Our last bit of crossword news was brought to our attention by friend-of-the-blog DGhandcrafted.

The jewelry crafting supply website Lima Beads has a puzzly promotion going on that might interest the craftier members of the readership.

There is a crisscross grid featured on the site for the entire month of January, and the numbered answers correspond to what’s on sale that particular day!

There’s even a chance to win a bonus prize if you solve the entire puzzle early!

It’s a pretty clever way to bring solvers and crafters back to the site throughout the month, and hopefully it’s a success for both the customers and Lima Beads.

Happy puzzling (and crafting) everyone!

The 2024 GCHQ Christmas Challenge Launches Tomorrow!

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One government agency in England celebrates Christmas a little bit differently than most.

The GCHQ — or Government Communications Headquarters — provides security and intelligence services for the British government. Back when they were known as GC&CS — Government Code and Cypher School — they were responsible for funding Bletchley Park and its successes cracking the German “Enigma” code during World War II.

And now, they provide one of the coolest and puzzliest challenges of the year, designed for solvers aged eleven to eighteen to test their skills, hoping to inspire the next generation of puzzle solvers.

Yes, it’s time once again for the GCHQ Christmas card.

GCHQ card
A look at 2021’s GCHQ Christmas Card.

We provided detailed breakdowns of their Christmas cards in 2016 and 2021, and if you’d like a sample of the GCHQ Christmas Challenge, they have an archive of the last three years ready for you to solve!

The 2024 edition of the GCHQ Christmas Challenge launches tomorrow, Wednesday December 11th for the general public. (Schools were able to register for early access to the puzzles, complete with lesson-planning materials, which is very cool.)

Here’s what the GCHQ has to say about the event:

At GCHQ, we love creating puzzles and breaking codes. That’s why every year we create the GCHQ Christmas Challenge, a series of fiendish brainteasers and puzzles, designed by our very own team of codebreakers. It encourages children aged 11-18 to think laterally and work as a team, as well as showcasing some of the skills they might need to become a spy.

The puzzles are not designed to be solved alone, and each student will bring something different to the challenge. At GCHQ, we believe the right mix of minds enables us to solve seemingly impossible problems.

I’ve always been impressed with what festive puzzly efforts GCHQ brings each year, and I can’t wait to see what the 2024 edition has in store for solvers.

So, fellow puzzlers, do you accept this year’s Christmas Challenge? Let us know in the comments section below!

Product Review: Roman Lock Box and Archimedes’ Gear

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[Note: I received a free copy of these puzzles in exchange for a fair, unbiased review.]

Forgive these somewhat shorter reviews, but it’s really hard to talk about brainteasers and puzzle boxes without accidentally spoiling them for users. So you get a two-for-one review today!

The perfect puzzle gift box needs to walk a difficult tightrope. It has to be challenging enough to justify the cost, intuitive enough that a person understands the basic idea without instructions, and yet not difficult enough to ruin the holiday or event by causing frustration.

(Cue a vivid Christmas memory of my sister shaking a puzzle box so hard she accidentally solved it and sent a gift card flying across the room.)

The Roman Lock Box walks that tightrope deftly. It manages to combine classic puzzle box elements (symbol clues, moving elements requiring careful positioning, parts that look seamless but aren’t) and combines them nicely with a sliding-block puzzle that offers a far different challenge than the usual puzzle box tricks.

Factor in the clean design, the well-made pieces, and the delightful slot in the side (allowing non-solvers to place their gift inside without actually having to solve the puzzle themselves!), and you have a suitably challenging way to keep your giftee busy for a bit.

[The Roman Lock Box is for ages 8 and up, and it’s available from Project Genius and participating websites, starting at $17.99.]

Our second brain teaser is a total 180 from the previous one. The Roman Lock Box has a number of moving parts and things to fiddle with and try out, offering a plethora of options to a solver.

Archimedes’ Gear, on the other hand, is mind-scramblingly rigid. Brutally challenging in its simplicity. Twist and turn it, flip it, rearrange it, hold it at all angles, and it seems to give you nothing. I don’t know that I’ve ever been left so baffled at the start of a solve like I was with Archimedes’ Gear.

Naturally, that’s part of its genius. It really feels like a piece of ancient technology that fell into your hands, and you’re missing some valuable bit of insight that would help you operate it.

That initial bafflement does give you ample time to admire this absolutely beautiful puzzle, though. The color choices, the materials, the feel of the puzzle as you examine it from all sides. There’s even a lovely auditory quality to it, hinting at what awaits the solver inside if its secrets are uncovered.

This puzzle is ranked a 4 out of 5 in difficulty, and I think that’s very fair. I’ve solved a number of brain teasers and puzzles from Project Genius, and Archimedes’ Gear felt a step beyond most of them.

Of course, that only makes it more satisfying when you finally realize what’s going on here. Not a puzzle for the faint of heart (or those lacking in patience and determination), but still one definitely worth your time.

[Archimedes’ Gear is for ages 14 and up, and it’s available from Project Genius and participating websites, starting at $29.99.]

Let’s Try Within-onyms!

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The heart of this blog is celebrating puzzles and wordplay in as many forms as possible, so for today’s blog, here’s a puzzle for you to solve!

I call this puzzle “Within-onyms” and the concept is simple. I’ll give you a combination of letters and blanks. Each blank represents a missing letter. The given letters spell out not only a word, but your clue as well. Because when you fill those blanks with the missing letters, you’ll spell out a larger word that’s a synonym of the given word.

For example, I give you this Within-onym:

G I _ A N T _ _

The given letters spell GIANT, but if you add a G, I, and C, you spell the word GIGANTIC, a synonym of GIANT!

Ready to try it for yourself? Careful, they get tougher as we go!

WITHIN-ONYMS

L A _ _ S T

_ _ N O _ _ B L E

_ _ T _ _ O M B

H _ _ _ I E S

M A _ _ _ L _ _ E

S P _ _ _ _ E D

_ _ S E _ _ E

U _ _ _ G _ _ L Y

_ _ H E _ I _ _ R

_ _ _ T A _ I N _ T _

_ R _ _ _ _ _ _ A _ I _ N

B _ _ _ _ I _ G _ _ _ _ _ _

Happy puzzling!

How many did you get? Let me know in the comment section below!

The Crosswordese Champion?

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Crosswordese is an omnipresent part of crossword discussion online.

It’s a scourge! It’s annoying! It ruins the solving experience! Can’t constructors just somehow avoid these particular three- and four-letter combinations, no matter how convenient or crucial they are to the grid?!

Rarely a week goes by without a Reddit post dedicated to the subject or a prominent complaint about some aspect of grid fill in one of the blogs/outlets dedicated to covering the daily crosswords.

And it’s understandable. Whether it’s yet another directional clue or a team’s abbreviation on a scoreboard, some entries just irk people. It raises their ire.

Oh no! The crosswordese is slipping into my everyday vernacular!

Quick, summon some longer vocabulary that’s not conducive to crosswording. Gumption. Hurly-burly. Syzygy. Defenestration.

Phew! That’s better. Now where was I?

Right, crosswordese.

I was pondering the plague of crosswordese, and it occurred to me that there’s probably one particular source that has contributed more crosswordese than any other.

But what could it be?

There’s the music industry, of course. There are loads of musicians common to crosswords: ARIE, ENO, SIA, ARLO, ENYA, DRE, ETTA, ELLA.

The same thing goes for celebs. UMA, ANA, ESAI, INA.

The sports world has its own infamous crosswordese as well: ORR, OTT, PELE, ELS, ITO, ALOU, AROD, ASHE, ILIE, SOSA, YAO, ISAO AOKI.

But those are huge swathes of pop culture. Is there a single pop culture property that has helped (or hindered, according to critics) crosswords the most?

There are a few that come to mind.

Peter Pan offers not just PAN, but SMEE, HOOK, TINK, and NANA.

The Beatles gave us ONO, STARR, and SGT (for Pepper).

Lord of the Rings is certainly worth mentioning, adding ORC, ENT, and LOTR.

Game of Thrones was ubiquitous at one point, helpfully resurrecting OONA and adding ARYA (and to a lesser extent BRON, SANSA, HODOR, and CERSEI).

Then there are some serious heavy-hitters.

The Simpsons has NED, MOE, APU, OTTO, EDNA, and STU (of the Disco variety).

On the sci-fi side, Star Trek offers WORF, TROI, LEVAR, LUC (as in Jean-__), and options for USS. Star Wars is handy as well, with ARTOO, REY, EWOK, POE, HAN, and LEIA.

Not to be outdone, M*A*S*H has plenty to offer: SWIT, ALAN ALDA, FARR, RADAR, and of course NEHI.

I considered awarding the Crosswordese Crown to one of the franchises above, but it occurred to me that I might have to look back a little farther to find the Crosswordese Champion.

Okay, a lot farther.

Some might take issue with me calling the Bible part of pop culture, but there’s no denying its influence in crosswords: LEAH, CAIN, ABLE, ADAM, EVE, ESAU, NOAH, ENOS, EDEN…

That’s a pretty impressive list of crossword regulars.

And yet…

My gut says I might have to give credit to Roman Numerals as a whole. I mean, has any single cultural/pop cultural entity saved more cruciverbalists who’ve constructed themselves into a corner?

And has ANY solver cheered or celebrated when seeing a clue featuring a math equation AND Roman Numerals?

The balance of crosswordese gibberish and solver disinterest just might tip the scales here.

What do you think, fellow puzzlers? Is it the Bible, Roman Numerals, or another source that I missed? Let me know in the comments section below!