Crossworld News and Notes, May 2022
Tournament announcements and more from the world of crosswords
Congratulations to Erik Agard, winner of the 2022 Boswords Spring Themeless League, and to second- and third-place finishers Andy Kravis and Tyler Hinman. Spring Themeless League puzzles are available for purchase.
The Boswords Summer Tournament will take place on Sunday July 24, with online and in-person options. The constructor lineup is: Lisa Bunker, Rob Gonsalves & Jennifer Lim, Parker Higgins, Ruth Bloomfield Margolin, Paolo Pasco, and Erica Hsiung Wojcik. Registration opens mid-June.
The STL Crossword Puzzle Tournament will take place Saturday June 18 in St. Louis, MO. Hosted by veteran constructor Patrick Blindauer, the one-day event is free to register and limited to the first 100 participants.
Since the last News & Notes, Li Ding (4/25), Erica Hsiung Wojcik (4/29), Aaron Ullman (5/6), and Lou Weiss (5/10) made their NYT debuts and Madeline Kaplan (5/2) and Kelsey Dixon (5/9) made their USAT debuts. Congrats to everyone! Check out some of their other work we have enjoyed: Erica’s “Themeless #21” from The Inkubator, Madeline’s “Border States” from The Inkubator, Kelsey’s “themeless no. 14”. Erica and Madeline also both have puzzles in “Inkubator Crosswords: 100 Audacious Puzzles by Women and Nonbinary Creators” available now.
Atlas Obscura has begun offering weekly puzzles, presenting a mix of crosswords, logic puzzles, and more. Crosswords will appear on alternating Mondays, written by Brendan Emmett Quigley and members of the Inkubator team.
We really enjoyed their first crossword from Stella Zawistowski, which is a great example of the unique possibilities afforded by this partnership and we look forward to what’s to come.
Atlas Obscura is also hosting a course on crossword construction led by Natan Last and Brooke Husic. The four-part weekly series begins May 24 and takes place via Zoom. It is open to all students regardless of experience and offers a tiered pricing model.
In the second entry from The Lab, a New York Times series that “examines a nontraditional puzzle that pushes boundaries,” Wyna Liu reviews “I Fold,” a puzzle by Malaika Handa. Wyna writes, “The puzzle plays on our natural inclination to group things together, and I loved comparing its free-form and intuitive nature with the tidiness of solving a traditional crossword, all rigid formatting and answers inside boxes.” We totally agree! If you missed this the first time around you can print the puzzle and solution to get in on the fun.
Will Nediger and Hayley Gold will host a Twitch stream Wednesday, May 11 at 9:00pm Eastern featuring guest solvers and crossword notables. Follow and tune in here. They will group-solve a Margaret Farrar-inspired variety cryptic constructed by Will that ties in with Hayley’s book Letters to Margaret.