Crosswords and Crossword Tools
PUZZLE LINKS: Online Solver Inspired by our friend Tyler’s performance on a game show (um, seven years ago) we’re proud to present a gridlock puzzle! Kelsey gave this one a test-solve, thanks Kelsey! Here’s how it works: This puzzle consists of five grids with some letters pre-filled. In each grid, you must use letters from…
PUZZLE LINKS: PDF | RG file | Online Solver We’re very happy to bring you, for the first time ever on this site, a Rows Garden puzzle! This was a puzzle type invented by (who else) Patrick Berry, and it’s a fun one. Kelsey test-solved this one (thanks Kels!) and she agrees! Here’s how it…
PUZZLE LINKS: PDF | Online Solver Friend of the blog Kate Chin Park suggested we run a Flower Power puzzle, since it’s been a while, so here it is. She even tested it for us! What a pal. Do you remember how flower power puzzles work? Here’s the lowdown: The answer to each clue in…
Read More “Puzzle #121: Oopsy-Daisy (and special announcement!)” »
PUZZLE LINKS: JPZ Download | Online Solver We like coded crosswords on this site, especially those with a mini-theme. We hope you’ll like it too! Do you like acrostic puzzles? Join our Patreon! Do you want a place to discuss puzzles? Join our Discord! Enjoy the solve!
PUZZLE LINKS: JPZ Download | Online Solver Coded acrostic? What the heck is such a thing? Well, here’s how it works: In this puzzle, the numbers 1 through 26 each stand for a different letter of the alphabet, and instances of a given number stand for the same letter throughout the entire grid. The upper…
Read More “Puzzle #117: Vital Discrimination (coded acrostic!)” »
PUZZLE LINKS: JPZ Download | Online Solver In case you hadn’t heard, These Puzzles Fund Abortion 4 is out now! If you want some really good puzzles for a very good cause, go check it out! Today’s acrostic can be considered a companion piece for the TPFA4 set. It’s along the same lines but with…
PUZZLE LINKS: iPuz Download | Online Solver I’m trying to wean myself off of CrossFire and move to Ingrid full-time, because Ingrid is an excellent (and free!) crossword construction tool. One thing Ingrid does that CrossFire does not is make barred crosswords, and our friend Quiara noted recently that this ability makes “Going Too Far”…
Read More “Puzzle #111: Joke’s On Me (a “Going Too Far” puzzle)” »
PUZZLE LINKS: iPuz Download | Online Solver Good news everybody! The Crossword Nexus solver now supports puzzles where the clues are decoupled from the entries in the grid. This makes a lot of variety puzzles possible in there that weren’t before. I’ll have more to say about this in the future — including a how-to…
Read More “Puzzle #109: Route 66% (a “Two Outta Three Ain’t Bad” puzzle)” »
PUZZLE LINKS: JPZ Download | Online Solver Hey, if you like variety puzzles, you should definitely go subscribe to Outside The Box puzzles. Year 9 starts soon! And of course you should be subscribed to Nathan Curtis’s Patreon if that applies to you as well. Today’s variety puzzle from us is a Kaidoku, and as…
PUZZLE LINKS: JPZ Download | Online Solver Do you like puzzle books? Then I can highly recommend Francis Heaney’s Brain Games for Word Nerds (eBay link because I think maybe it’s out of print). In it he shows off some puzzle formats of his own invention, including this one. How does it work? This puzzle…
Read More “Puzzle #105: Compete’s Sake (Dropquote/Floatquote)” »