These are most of the cryptic crosswords I have made for various
miscellaneous occasions; more will be put up at some point.
(As for nonmiscellaneous occasions:
My NPL convention 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.
And not by me, but for me: The very nifty cryptic
Festschrift
I received for my 40th birthday.) Birthday, wedding, etc.
cryptics posted with permission of their recipients. Puzzles marked with
* are slightly edited from their original form; those marked with @ have
more inside references than usual.
- Oscar-watching party cryptics from
2005,
2006 (be sure to see the
explanation afterwards),
2007,
2008,
2009,
2010,
2011,
2012,
2013,
2014,
2015,
2016,
2017,
2018,
2019,
2020,
2021,
2022,
2023, and
2024 (some of these are *).
- Thanksgiving cryptics: Movable Feast,
Chestnut Stuffing,
Full House,
14-11-23,
Happy an Thanksgiving!,
Big Ram Roast,
Feast For The Senses *,
Back in Time,
House to House to House @,
Main Courses,
Thyme Savor, and
Sides and Legs, from 2005, 2008,
2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023,
respectively.
- Seasonal cryptics:
The -9th Day of Christmas,
On The Night After Hanukkah,
With Bao And Hollywood,
Auld Lang Design,
We Three Things,
It's Not Odd, True,
Under Those Lights,
On Da-sh/nc-er! @ (warning: the endgame
involves very inside references),
Christmas Games,
The World's Deepest New Year's Cryptic,
12/15/12,
Twenty-Second Puzzle,
Evening Out *,
Time and 'Tide,
No.→L *,
Shells and Bells,
绝地 At Last,
Poppins Across The Pond,
The Rise of Skywalkers,
All Greeks To Me,
12 Across Threes,
Steady Stream +,
Guardians,
Wind Up With Santa +,
Jolly Old Elf,
from 2006, 2009, 2009, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2011, 2011, 2011, 2012, 2012,
2012, 2013, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021,
2022, 2022, 2023, and 2023 respectively. (Not to be confused with seasonal
non-cryptics, like this one.)
Puzzles marked with + were solved on
Hayley Gold's Twitch stream.
- Class Protector, which was
written for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer series-finale-watching
party. (Note: It contains no spoilers for the finale itself, but does
make reference to various events of the preceding seven seasons, so
be careful.)
- From the Enigma:
Twelve Fifty (July 1997 — my first
variety cryptic, in fact),
Harry Potter and the Various Objects
(October 2001), 9A 39A (May/June 2002), and
Getting Valentines (February 2003;
flat/cryptic combo). Note also the cryptic word squares I did with Xemu,
available in
National Puzzlers' League Cryptic Crosswords (puzzles 43 and 45).
- From the Foggy-organized extravanagnzas Intercoastal
Altercations 3 and SpaceFight (both accessable from the
P & A Magazine website)
Knowledge is Power (And Contrariwise) and
Flying
Kings respectively.
- Birthday cryptics for Jenergy (22 Across,
Many Happy Returns,
Where In Blazes Did I Put My Cake Mix?,
Triple Threat,
Karaoke Party,
Quick-Change Partyist,
Quantitative Methods in Social Research,
¿Es Sin Un Diagrama?,
I'll Have One Of Those,
I've Got a Brand New Cryptic Room Escape …,
SVVeet Nothings,
Decade of Reflection,
A Lighter Challenge),
530nm330hz
(20, (40), 60, 80),
Sue++ (Surprise Twist,
Attendance Numbers,
Birthday/Anniversaire),
La Do La Li/Ti (42,
Reflectivity),
Eric (Birthday Jubilation),
Pinecone (To Pin Or Not To Pin),
Iambic (A Time Of Decision,
Serling Silver),
Spelvin (The Old One-Two @,
Strangers on a Grid),
Doug Orleans (A New Decade,
I, II, XLIX),
Saxifrage (Entering Standard Orbit @,
Multiples of Pie),
Tortoise (°Tri Set°,
A Well-Lined Grid,
In the Year 2175 *,
A Quick One For [18 Across],
Which Way Lie Menus @,
T or T-oise?,
Afternoon Event),
Phylum (Triplet Around @), Mosayc
(Puzzling Mosaic, coauthored with Jangler),
Alastair Thompson (Let There Be Lightness),
B-Side (German Food,
Eggs!, Beast of Buridan,
Apple and Rosebud,
The Di- in Dim Sum,
Symmetrically Framed),
YoMama (Not Yet 6-0 *),
Sparrowhawk (11·11 Hnefatafl,
Play Till You're Loopy),
Story (Reaching New Heights), and
myself (Various Types,
Just a Number).
- A Merry Dance, a wedding cryptic for
Foggy and Ana, Bachelor Sunday, a bachelor
party cryptic for Spelvin, and Wedding Toast,
a wedding cryptic for Spelvin and Striker.
- Oh, The Places You'll Go!, a high school
graduation cryptic for Iambic.
- Go To The Head Of The Glass and
Farewell and Amend, college
graduation and moving-away cryptics for Hooligan.
- House-Cooling Party, written for
a house-cooling party for etc. and whatnot.
- Getting To Win, a miniextravanganza
(one element of which is cryptic) from the 2003 NPL minicon in NYC.
- A Bit In Advance, written for
a planning party one year before the 2004 NPL convention.
- One Two Two, written on the train down
to NYC for the 2005 Haystack puzzle hunt (the one
described here).
- New England Real Ale Xword,
alluding to the 2006 New England Real Ale Exhibition
(NERAX).
- Variety Triptych, an art installation
from a salon held in 2008; it accompanied the following picture:
with each square being the same size as the cryptic grid.
- DC Hunt,
Class Reunion,
DCipherment,
À la recherche du mot perdu,
The Hinger Games,
Sixth of All,
Catching Four,
Saturday? Unknown, and
Drop Out or Get In,
brought to the 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016
Post Hunt
respectively.
- September Septet,
6/7,
Oct. Gone,
Many a Day,
Holiday Picnic *,
Vict-arr-y!, and
Skipping Ahead,
from NPL Minicons in September 2008 (NYC), June 2009 (NYC),
November 2009 (NYC), and November 2014 (Cambridge, MA), and
puzzle picnics in June 2015 (Cambridge, MA), August 2015 (Cambridge, MA),
and August 2016 (Cambridge, MA), respectively.
- Sunday Palmers,
Square Route, and
BCPT & E, brought to the
Boston Crossword
Puzzle Tournament held at Harvard in 2009 (on Palm Sunday), 2010,
and 2011 (on Easter Saturday), respectively.
- Conversation Piece, inspired by
a dream Hooligan
had about a conversation leading into a puzzle.
- N In One,
It Just Keeps Coming Down,
Cave, At,
Events of Confluence,
Fray Tracing,
Search, in General,
Goddessy,
One for 8/27,
Bold Choices,
5/20 (somewhat revised),
On One Condition (somewhat revised),
Glorious Fourth,
Side Products,
Largish Quiz Thing,
Games on the 17th,
Septem by Septem (retypeset),
Baccarat, Etc.,
More Flippin' Games @,
Tripling Hither, Tripling Thither,
6/28 *,
11/30 Game Session *,
Eat, Drink, Give, Take @,
Waves of Grains,
Figuring Newton,
Lirath Puzzle *,
Enigmata & Solutions,
Poly-Esther,
Purim Retrospective *,
127 Letters,
Beach Blank Bingo,
Last, Minute,
Four-Part Party,
E and F, and
Megillah Gorilla,
a few random party handout cryptics.
- The puzzle linked to by the first post
on my LiveJournal blog.
-
Cryptic campus crossing, a puzzle written for The University of
Chicago Magazine (Jul-Aug 2009).
- Worth Three Dozen Words, linked to by
my first Facebook post.
- Deducers Wild, inspired by a recent
film.
- Bolt Construction, gridded on
my first ride on the Bolt Bus.
- Perimuppetic
and Pink Elements
written for film expeditions (a Muppet triple feature at the
Brattle Theatre
and half a "double feature" at the
Capitol Theatre).
- Restaurant Week, written for
Boston Restaurant
Week (Summer, 2011).
- I Scrambled Here (revised version),
Both Ways on the 6,
Fearful Symmetry,
8/.8,
Seventeen-Year Trip *,
Smarter, More, Be *, and
Expansion Team *,
brought to Lollapuzzoola
(an annual crossword tournament in New York) in 2012, 2013, 2014,
2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, respectively.
- Forensics & 7 & 7, written
for the first 2012 Presidential Debate. (I also wrote a
couple of non-cryptics for
Election Day 2012, and
one for Election Day 2016.)
- The Little Marathon Thing, brought
to the Big Quiz Thing marathon in
December 2012.
- In a Century of Letters . . .,
written for the 100th anniversary of the first crossword puzzle.
- Puzzle No. 12132425,
written for a visit by Hot (coauthor of the cryptic in The Nation)
to Boston.
- Nymnastics, written for a certain NPLer's
nom change.
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