These are PDFs of cryptic crosswords I made to hand out at conventions of the National Puzzlers' League in the years 1998–2020. I didn't have soft copies of some Con cryptics (notably, the early ones), so the ones marked * have been retypeset to give the approximate (though not exact) appearance they had originally (The Village and 8x10 Cryptic, in contrast, were redone to look snazzier and more New Yorkerish, respectively, than the originals). As for non-Con cryptics: Miscellaneous cryptics are here, any cryptics among my MIT Mystery Hunt puzzles are here, and my Mystery Hunt warmup cryptics and American Crossword Puzzle Tournament cryptics are on my home page.

Since each of these was written for a specific time and place, there are a few instances where the final step may require explanation. In these cases I have provided an "Endgame Explanation" link; however, it is probably best to solve the puzzle first, since the explanation contains SPOILERS.

(Also note that in 2004 I was one of the constructors for the Charlie-on-the-MTA-themed Saturday night extravaganza at the Con, where solvers were directed, by puzzles like this one, to different parts of the Con hotel to get various items and information.)


(1995–1997, Portland, OR, Chicago, IL, and Washington, DC: I didn't bring cryptics to these Cons, but see "2012, Portland, OR" below.)

1998, Atlanta, GA: 1999, Big Sky, MT: 2000, San Francisco, CA: 2001, Newark, NJ: 2002, Vancouver, BC: 2003, Indianapolis, IN: 2004, Cambridge, MA: 2005, Los Angeles, CA: 2006, San Antonio, TX: 2007, Ann Arbor, MI: 2008, Denver, CO: 2009, Baltimore, MD (forming a four-puzzle group): 2010, Seattle, WA: 2011, Providence, RI: 2012, Portland, OR (forming a three-puzzle group): 2013, Austin, TX (forming a three-puzzle group): 2014, Portland, ME (forming a three-puzzle group): 2015, Vancouver, BC (the first three form a three-puzzle group): 2016, Salt Lake City, UT (the first three form a three-puzzle group): 2017, Boston, MA (forming a three-puzzle group): 2018, Milwaukee, WI (the first three form a three-puzzle group): 2019, Boulder, CO (forming a three-puzzle group): 2020, Toronto, ON did not occur; an online not-officially-NPL con called Conline 2 did, preceded weeks earlier by the "warm-up" Conline 1, and followed in October by Conline 3. (The Conline 2 puzzles form a three-puzzle group.) 2021, Washington, DC, preceded in February by Conline 4. (The DC Con puzzles form a three-puzzle group.) 2022, Nashville, TN (forming a three-puzzle group). 2023, Montreal, QC (forming a three-puzzle group). 2024, Dallas, TX (forming a three-puzzle group). Back to my home page