PuzzCulture

Good morning! If you didn’t catch it @vixiebelle.bsky.social and I started a Discord for BIPOC folks in TTRPGs to build community! Hopefully we can chat, laugh, cry, share ourselves, and play games together. I’m starting this thread to ping folks who I follow. Join here! discord.gg/hEsUf9zpec

A Tragedy, an Urban Legend-turned-Real, and a Mysterious Crossword: 100 Years Later Trigger warning: discussion of suicide Yesterday marked a sad anniversary in the history of crosswords, but one that I think is worth talking about. On March 4th, 1926, a 25-year-old waiter in Buda…

In today's post, we mark a sad anniversary and explore a sobering crossword mystery.

puzzculture.com/2026/03/05/a...

[Trigger warning: discussions of suicide]

Shell Hutts were a big surprise to my players!

These Puzzles Fund Abortion 6! Crossword season is here and all sorts of events for solvers are approaching fast. The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is a little more than a month out, registration is open for Westwords, th…

In today's post, we spread the word about the sixth edition of These Puzzles Fund Abortion!

puzzculture.com/2026/03/03/t...

Swears for Cares remains a good idea.

The Continued Uncertainty of Tariffs on Board Games The ongoing stupidity, insanity, and outright graft involving the US’s approach to tariffs has been one of the most unpleasant subjects to cover in this blog. The implementation of broad glob…

In today's post, we explore the effects of tariffs on the board game industry in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling and Trump's response.

puzzculture.com/2026/02/26/t...

You can stress yourself out… or you can spend the evening watching free silent movies from around the world

Science fiction taught me that being smart and creative was valuable.
Fantasy taught me that monsters can be defeated by both champions and brave common folk.
Roleplaying games taught me I could make friends.

The Results from the 14th ORCAS Awards! The ORCAS are the Oscars of the crossword community, dedicated to celebrating excellence in crosswords, and that was certainly the case during last night’s awards ceremony! Clocking in at jus…

In today's post, we recap last night's ORCAS crossword awards!

puzzculture.com/2026/02/24/t...

More nonnocking, please!

Bookmark D&D alignment chart grid for the ways you use to bookmark a page

@bdavewalters.bsky.social @erinmevans.bsky.social @thetreavor.bsky.social After listening to the latest ep of WAD&S, thought that you'd like this.

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝟐𝟓𝟔-𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐤 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫; 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐞.

Such a Lyrical Tease, This Fresh Crosswordese Ah, crosswordese. The double-edged sword of cruciverbalism. Crosswordese is the catch-all term for those words that appear frequently in puzzles, and for the most part, only in puzzles. That’…

In today's post, we've got some lyrical crosswordese for you!

puzzculture.com/2026/02/19/s...

To Wong Foo, Tarrasque for Everything, Julie Newmar

Always love a Six-String Samurai shoutout!

A Hidden Message Word Search, with Musical Accompaniment by im sad alex! Who doesn’t love stumbling upon a puzzle where you didn’t expect one? I’m sure many of us do. I certainly do! So when musician and YouTuber im sad alex dropped a new song that inc…

In today's post, we look at a musically inspired word search from im sad alex!

puzzculture.com/2026/02/17/a...

Valentine’s Framework For You to Solve! Hello fellow puzzlers! Happy Valentine’s Day! Or Happy Day After Friday the 13th! Or Happy whatever else you might be celebrating today! To commemorate the day, I’ve constructed a littl…

In today's bonus post, we've got a Valentine's Framework for you to solve!

puzzculture.com/2026/02/14/v...

Puzzly Suggestions for Valentine’s Day! Valentine’s Day is only a few days away, but there’s still plenty of time to whip up a puzzly treat for the special someone in your life! And naturally we’ve got a few suggestions… Jigsaw puzzles a…

In today's post, we've got some puzzly suggestions for you for Valentine's Day!

puzzculture.com/2026/02/12/p...

Gonna spoil this now! (No. 304)

The “revealer” answer is SONNET [Young fellow make the thing we’ve written here] (6)

Me: “What do you mean? How have you written a sonnet?” Me: ten seconds later: “hoooly shit”

(clues=perfect Shakespearean sonnet, and somehow every clue also works perfectly…unreal)

Comic. [2x2 chart. Top left quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of dinosaurs stegosaurus, triceratops, tyrannosaurus, velociraptor, and long-neck dinosaur. Top right quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of mosasaur, quetzalcoatlus, dimetrodon, plesiosaur, and pteranodon. Bottom left quadrant: don’t seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of penguin, egret, ostrich, pigeon, falcon. Bottom right: don’t seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of squirrel, stapler, plant, person, and bicycle.]

Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs

xkcd.com/3204/

The “No ICE in Minnesota” Charity Bundle! Fuck ICE. Hi! You might not have known my feelings, either morally or politically from reading this blog, so please allow me to get my stance out of the way bluntly and clearly. Fuck ICE. I’v…

Support the good work happening in Minnesota, and get some awesome games as a bonus!

puzzculture.com/2026/02/10/t...

Download the latest indie games itch.io is a simple way to find, download and distribute indie games online. Whether you're a developer looking to upload your game or just someone looking for something new to play itch.io has you co...

Gamers! There's a big bundle of games on sale on Itch.io to support the Immigrant Law Center of Minneapolis.

itch.io/b/3484/no-ic...

No ICE in Minnesota by jesthehuman and 651 others No ICE in Minnesota: 1439 items for $10.00

🚫🧊We're part of the itch jam No ICE in Minnesota! Grab SO MANY GAMES for a good cause!!! 

This is so cool. Do you know of any early cinematic references to crosswords? The earliest I've been able to find is a 1925 Felix the Cat cartoon short.

Pinscreen animation in HERE AND THE GREAT ELSEWHERE, a modern silent short film.

Pinscreen uses the light and shadow of a pinboard made of thousands of steel pins. It is destructive, one frame must be at least partially destroyed for the next one to be created.

If you like learning and then getting to demo some TTRPGs get your ass to Open Space this Friday, Lino and I are gonna kill it. Pls pls pls bring your friends who are RPG-curious, they are my fav kind of people

YouTube video by James Ernest How to Play Meat on Swords, by Cheapass Games

Watch the video! 😊 🦀
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdVs...

Then pick up our new Cheapass Game, Meat on Swords - with or without the custom coasters! - at our shop:
crabfragmentlabs.com/shop/p/meat-...

Prounouns in the #crossword in *1930*!

Delving into the 2026 Boswords Winter Wondersolve Puzzles! Tuesday night was my first chance to sit down and try my hand at the puzzles from this year’s Winter Wondersolve event. Given the talent involved amongst the organizers and constructors — as …

In today's post, we explore this year's Boswords Winter Wondersolve puzzles!

puzzculture.com/2026/02/05/d...