Crosswords and Crossword Tools
PUZZLE LINKS: iPuz Download | Online Solver Exciting news from Jeff Davidson – his crossword scraper and kotwords tools now support iPuz export! I’ve also worked with Jeff to extend the iPuz definition to allow for coded crosswords like today’s, so I thought I’d celebrate by releasing such a puzzle today! Do you remember…
Read More “Puzzle #90: Put Some Pep In Your Step (kaidoku)” »
Thanks to all of you who solved our last contest crossword, whether or not you figured out the meta and submitted an answer. Writeup, solution, and winner below the spoiler space, which will consist of adorable kittens. (kittens make everything so much better) Looking at the theme entries, we can see that all of them…
PUZZLE LINKS: iPuz Download | Online Solver Marx Brothers puzzle #8, and it’s a contest crossword! The meta answer is a beverage. If you think you know the answer, send it to us at ****@crosswordnexus.com (email redacted as the contest is now over) by noon Eastern on Wednesday, April 19th. We’ll randomly choose one…
Let’s try something new today: I’m not attaching the JPZ to this email. Instead I’m just using this post to let you know that the puzzle is live at https://acrostics.crosswordnexus.com/ and with a click you can go over there, get a PDF or JPZ, or just solve in the browser. If you very much prefer…
PUZZLE LINKS: iPuz Download | Online Solver Marx Brothers puzzle #7, with special guest Dan Schwartz, whose blog you should definitely check out if you’re unfamiliar. We’re both big Marx Brothers fans, so it was synergy to get this together. My favorite type of collaborative theme is when both parties bounce ideas around until…
Read More “Puzzle #88: A Day at the Races (with Dan Schwartz!)” »
PUZZLE LINKS: iPuz Download | PDF Download | Online Solver It’s my first foray into diagramless puzzles! I think this is a fun puzzle type and this should be a relatively gentle introduction to them, if this is your first. In case you don’t know what these puzzles are: they’re just regular crosswords except…
It’s no secret I like to use stand-up comedians as fodder for my acrostics. One issue, I find, is that I often have to chop up the text somewhat to get a usable acrostic. Comedians sometimes ramble, or repeat things, not always getting straight to the point. Well, I am proud to announce that this…
PUZZLE LINKS: JPZ Download | Online Solver Last year we raised some money for Children’s Hospital L.A. by offering a suite of crossword and variety puzzles to anyone who donated, and we’re happy to say we’re doing it again this year! Donate any amount at my personal fundraising page and we’ll send you a…
Read More “Puzzle #86: Kirby (and charity puzzle pack announcement!)” »
PUZZLE LINKS: iPuz Download | Online Solver Marx Brothers puzzle #6, once again featuring one of my absolute favorite collaborators, Shannon Rapp, who you may know as Norah Sharpe. The theme here is all Shannon’s, as is the theme density she was able to wrangle into this one. Too many good clues of hers…
Read More “Puzzle #85: Animal Crackers (with Norah Sharpe!)” »
PUZZLE LINKS Easier: iPuz Download | Online Solver Harder: PDF Download | Online Solver Eric Berlin invented a puzzle type called “Patchwork” (example puzzle here) in which entries go in the grid either in rows, or in “patches” like the following It’s a cool puzzle type, but we’re doubling down on the patches in this…