Crossworld News and Notes, July 2022
Tournament updates and more from around Crossworld
Boswords 2022 Summer Tournament is July 24 in Boston, MA with live and virtual options. Registration is open now.
Lollapuzzoola is August 27 in New York with live and virtual options. Registration is open now.
The Tenth Annual Finger Lakes Crossword Competition is September 24. Puzzles are solved offline after a livestreamed kick-off event. Registration is open now.
Congratulations to Joel Johnson, winner of the St. Louis Crossword Puzzle Tournament and to second- and third-place finishers Will Eisenberg and Dan Schwartz. Tournament puzzles are available for purchase.
Congratulations to Linda Barron, winner of Sharp Again Naturally’s 2nd Annual Crossword Puzzle Competition.
Seneca Spurling with Word Play Cafe at Burning Man is soliciting free puzzles from “BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, female, young, and otherwise underrepresented constructors”. Puzzles will be available for in-person attendees to solve. Unconventional puzzles welcomed. They would also like to connect with constructors who will be attending Burning Man and may be interested in participating in Constructor Conversations. Email them for more info or to submit a puzzle. Submissions open through August 19.
The Rackenfracker is a joint cryptic crossword partnership of Sean Weitner (dadgumituh) and JonMichael Rasmus (jmsr525). Friends since high school, Sean and JonMichael have been involved in several puzzle-adjacent media such as writing pub trivia quizzes on Sporcle and designing board games but recently returned to their shared love of cryptic crosswords. Their variety cryptics are aimed at American audiences in the styles of Cox & Rathvon and GAMES World of Puzzles Magazine, while nudging the envelope in small ways of their own fashion. Sean and JonMichael want to get more people interested in solving cryptics and to that end, have produced clue explanation videos on Twitter and a how-to guide on their blog. Those who want to get into constructing, editing, or collaborating on future Rackenfracker puzzles can respond to the Help Wanted sign. They have yet to publish a traditional 15x15 cryptic crossword, but August is looking pretty interesting.
Since the last News & Notes, Dan Ziring (6/9), Robert Won (6/10), Rob Baker (6/15), Parker Higgins (6/16), Scott Graham (6/28), Jared Goudsmit (6/29), Malgorzata Nowakowska (7/5), Eileen Williams (7/5), Sam Koperwas (7/6), Philip Wolfe (7/7), Scott Hogan (7/10), Roy Greim (7/11), and Addison Snell (7/13) made their NYT debuts. Congrats to everyone! Check out some of their other work we have enjoyed: Robert’s daily NYT solves on YouTube, Parker’s Low Scores (with Malaika Handa) at AVCX, Jared’s Universal Freestyle 21, Scott’s In for It (with Christina Iverson) at Universal, Roy’s Canceled Reservations.
We want to take a moment to recognize and celebrate the increase in gender diversity at the L.A. Times crossword since Patti Varol has become the editor. In 2020, 71%* of puzzles were written by men. In the first months of 2022, that number was 75%. Since April 18, 2022, when Patti took over, the number of puzzles written by men is now 45%. We appreciate that Patti is making an effort to publish more women, and we encourage women and non-binary constructors to submit their puzzles to the L.A. Times. (*All percentages are approximate.)
Will Nediger and Hayley Gold will be streaming on Twitch monthly, doing a series on different prolific cryptic constructors featuring special guests. Next streams are tonight July 13 about John De Cuevas and August 18 about Stephen Sondheim. Follow Will on Twitch and Twitter for notifications and more details.
Twists & Turns is a pack of 16 new Twist & Turns puzzles by Andrew J. Ries. No one else makes Twists & Turns to our knowledge, but they’re Matt’s favorite variety format. Puzzles vary in size and difficulty and will be sent as .pdf and .jpz. Pre-order through July 31 for the discounted price of $10.
Regex Crossword by Maria Hagsten and Ole Michelson is a crossword puzzle game where the crossword clues are defined using regular expressions. These genre-bending puzzles are fun for regex newbies and pros alike, with difficulty levels varying from tutorials to experienced and a variety of shapes and styles.