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PUZZLES FROM THE BEST SOURCES!
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about the database
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This week, The New Yorker brings you their Holiday Crossword series: five puzzles that look back at the people, stories, and trends that defined 2024. The daily links are (or will be) below:
Dec. 23, 2024: "2024 In Language" by Patrick Berry
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CNN has added a daily crossword puzzle to the mix and Patrick Blindauer is at the helm! For now he's constructing all of the puzzles, but he’ll need a diverse group of other constructors to help out very soon. More info to come. This is the daily link to the puzzle: CNN Crossword Hint: You can use Crossword Scraper to save the puzzle in Across Lite (.puz) and other formats. See the post down below about Crossword Scraper. |
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What if every month was a crossword? The 2025 Crossword Calendar is a folding wall calendar where each month's grid doubles as an American-style crossword puzzle, with one letter to write in each day's square. Above the fold, each month has a set of clues for you to puzzle your way through. Creator: Adam Aaronson
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New Puzzle Database WordList Feature
Cruciverb database users have previously been able to download the "all publishers" and the "nyt only" wordlists. There are four new files being offered. Both the "all" and "nyt" files now have a version that includes only words that have appeared at least three times in the database. Another includes only words that have appeared at least five times. This will take things a step further in eliminating unusable or less-than-ideal words in the wordlists.
| File | Publisher | Min. Count | Unique Words |
| all | All Publishers | 1 | 165,601 |
| all3 | All Publishers | 3 | 78,539 |
| all5 | All Publishers | 5 | 56,041 |
| nyt | New York Times Only | 1 | 106,318 |
| nyt3 | New York Times Only | 3 | 43,674 |
| nyt5 | New York Times Only | 5 | 29,009 |
You may have noticed that it's not straightforward when trying to export a Crossword Compiler file such that it is properly formatted for submissions to the NYT. There is a solution. Try the NYT Submission Editor tool. You can export from Crossword Compiler to a .puz (Across Lite) file, then use the NYT submission editor for desired formatting. This tool was inspired by Alex Boisvert's PUZ to NYT Converter found on his Crossword Nexus site.
We are looking for fun, fresh, well-constructed crosswords that will appeal to a wide variety of solvers. 15x15 daily ($125 per puzzle); 21x21 Sunday ($300 per puzzle).
Full guidelines, including email address for submissions, can be found here.
Patti Varol, Editor
Christina Iverson, Assistant Editor
Some crossword puzzle sites no longer offer puzzles in Across Lite (.puz) format. Many solvers do not like the Javascript option. What to do? Look no further than the Crossword Scraper browser extension, available for both Chrome and Firefox.
The extension allows you to pull up a Javascript page, then click on the extension's icon (it's a small, black "down arrow" icon). You are then given a choice of saving the puzzle in .puz, .jpz or .pdf formats. Brilliant!
Find out more about the Crossword Scraper extension here:
- Kevin
Here's another interview from among today's most prolific crossword puzzle constructors.
This second interview is with Gary Larson.
Like Paul Coulter (see previous intervew), Gary has not been constructing for that long but he sure pumps them out.
I've been doing interviews with some of today's most prolific crossword puzzle constructors. Some have not been at this game for that long but seem to be able to pump out puzzle after puzzle at an astonishing rate.
My first interviewee is Paul Coulter.
BONUS: Paul has provided one of his unpublished puzzles (see link at end of interview).
It's nice to have the Today's Puzzles links on the right-hand column, but let's not forget about the subscription-based puzzles out there! If you want quality puzzles by some of the best in the business, look no further. The subscription fees are next-to-nothing, so please give your support and subscribe!
| Name | Editor/Constructor | Delivery Day | Size | Cost | Action |
| Hub Crosswords | Pahk & Quigley | Sunday | 21x21 | From $3 per month | Subscribe |
| Crossword Nation | Liz Gorski | Tuesday | 15x15 | $19.99 per year | Subscribe |
| Matt's Crossword Contest | Matt Gaffney | Friday | 15x15 | From $3 per month | Subscribe |
| American Values Club | Ben Tausig | Thursday | 15x15 |
One year - $20.00 Two years - $36.00 |
Subscribe |
| Fireball Crosswords | Peter Gordon | Thursday | 15x15 | $26.00 per year (45 puzzles) | Subscribe |
| Classic Canadian Crosswords | Barb Olson | Wednesday | 15x15 | $19.99 per year | Subscribe |
| Crucinova | Lisa Bunker | ? | Various | $29.99 per year | Subscribe |
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LA Times 101 - first time submissions
by Hysc
December 21, 2024, 04:55:01 PM |
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CrossFire communication issues
by mmcbs
December 16, 2024, 02:57:42 PM |
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Auto generated minis
by otis123
December 04, 2024, 09:11:01 PM |
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NYT ink saver
by TommyMcGuire
November 28, 2024, 10:24:13 PM |
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Clue styling
by mariahcarey23
November 07, 2024, 10:26:06 PM |