A Logic Puzzle Worthy of the Fey for Monster Week!

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Some of the many fey creatures that populate Dungeons & Dragons
(image courtesy of WOTC / Nerdarchy)

It’s Monster Week, a yearly celebration of the many creatures and beings that make the world of fantasy roleplaying games so immersive. Created by D&D content creators Ginny Di and Pointy Hat, Monster Week is a celebration of roleplaying game creativity, and this year’s theme is the Fey.

Otherwise known as fairies, fae, the fairyfolk, or a number of other names, fey are known for making bargains, outwitting unsuspecting mortals, and toying with tricky words and devious deceptions.

So naturally, I couldn’t resist crafting a puzzle celebrating fey bargains and fantasy-fueled frippery. Please enjoy this deduction puzzle loaded with D&D-friendly flavor!

And be sure to check out ALL the awesome fey-inspired content over on YouTube.

A party of adventurers stepped into a fairy ring and found themselves transported to another realm: the mysterious domain of the fey. Each sought to acquire something from this strange place, well aware of the dangers that come with bargaining with the fairyfolk, but hoping to escape without any dangerous debts or unpleasant consequences.

Can you determine what each adventurer sought (one adventurer is Ludo the Quick, one adventurer sought the gift of eternal youth), in which order they were forced to bargain with the fey for their goal, and what cost or promise they made in exchange?

  1. On the night of the first day, while they were setting up camp for the evening, one adventurer promised a year of their life to the fey. It wasn’t Makavia Magehound, although Makavia also made their bargain that first night.
  2. On the morning of the second day, one adventurer made their bargain, promising to perform a song that would lure others into the fairy ring. Later that day, both Handsome Jak Two-Axe and the adventurer who sought a bountiful harvest made their fey bargains.
  3. On the second day, one adventurer made a pact with the fey, promising to spread a harmful rumor around his city when he returned. On the same day, the adventurer who sought an enchanted lute that could bring fame and fortune made their bargain with the fey.
  4. One adventurer promised their firstborn child to the fey. This was sometime after the adventurer who sought eternal beauty, but before Elowen Sharpthistle made their bargain.
  5. Either Bethany the Bold (who wasn’t the adventurer who sought a bountiful harvest) or the adventurer who sought a rare medicinal flower from the fey bargained away a treasured memory (which was not the first or second bargain made), and the other promised to perform a song that would lure others into the fairy ring.
  6. The adventurer who sought the rare medicinal flower did not make their bargain immediately before or immediately after Bethany the Bold.

Did you unravel my fey-filled logic puzzle? Do you have a favorite fairy or fey creature in your game? Let me know in the comments below! I’d love to hear from you.

Delving into the 2025 Midwest Crossword Tournament Puzzles!

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I’ve solved puzzles from ACPT, Boswords, Westwords, Lollapuzzoola, and other tournaments throughout the years, but I’ve never solved puzzles from the Midwest Crossword Tournament before!

So when I had the chance to solve last year’s tournament puzzles, I was stoked for the opportunity to test my puzzly skill in a new arena.

Let’s put these puzzles under the PuzzCulture microscope and see what MWXWT had in store for solvers in 2025!

Puzzle #1: Where My Queens At? by Taylor Johnson

Johnson constructed a nice opener to welcome people to the day’s proceedings where the theme entries were all places you can find queens (BEEHIVE, ROYALFLUSH, HOMECOMING, etc).

The fill was smooth (especially those pairs of 10-letter down entries on each side), and the smiley face built into the grid was a nice touch.

Interesting grid entries included OPEN SOURCE, GOLF PRO, ONE LOVE, and RUNYON, and my favorite clues were “Iconic part of David Bowie and Queen’s ‘Under Pressure'” for BASELINE and “The longest distance between two places, per ‘The Glass Menagerie'” for TIME.

Puzzle #2: The Windy City by Hemant Mehta

The ten-letter stacks continued in this well-constructed themeless, where we had 3 10-letter entries in two of the corners, intersecting some longer entries and loads of great vocabulary.

Factor in all the Chicago-centric cluing and fill, and you’ve got a solve as breezy as promised.

Interesting grid entries included HARPY, DOUBLE DOINK, THIRSTILY, and REKT, and my favorite clues were “They might grab a meal” for TALONS and “One taking cover?” for BLANKET HOG.

Puzzle #3: Creature Features by Evan Birnholz

Oh man, I love a movie title pun, so I was all about this 21x wordplay-fest from Birnholz. (I got the first one immediately — Apocalypse Cow — because it was also the name of a villain in the live-action version of The Tick.)

With seven pun entries in the grid — several spanning most of the grid — and loads of great fill entries to flesh out the grid, this puzzle was a blast.

Interesting grid entries included ARTS DEGREE, ACKROYD, IDEA MAP, and ROTINI (my favorite pasta shape), and my favorite clues were “Crossword-solving Simpson” for LISA and “Large winged creature in a Sinbad story” for ROC.

Puzzle #4: Substitute Teaching by Lydia Roth and Christina Bodensiek

This 13×17 stormer was the hardest puzzle of the tournament so far, and I confess, the substitution game had me baffled for a bit before I realized what I was overlooking.

The cluing was straightforward, but several entries didn’t match their clues, while others that neighbored those entries in the same row included the note “(apply to 29-Across),” for instance. I thought I had to place the letters of the neighboring word INTO the larger entry, but it turned out the neighboring word WAS the instruction for that word. KISS wasn’t inserted into SINGSONG, K IS S explains how KINGKONG (which fits what was clued) becomes SINGSONG in the grid.

Diabolical!

I was a little thrown-off by the last “rule” only applying to one letter in the answer, not two, but otherwise, this was fiendishly fun to unravel.

Interesting grid entries included AR HEADSET, NABISCO, AFL-CIO, and HALIBUT, and my favorite clues were “Tiniest sound” for PEEP and “Tower of __ (classic math puzzle)” for HANOI (which I’ve written about in the past).

Puzzle #5: I Need Space by Kyle Dolan

Another thinker, here! What a one-two punch puzzles 4 and 5 were.

Dolan’s puzzle centered around common or familiar phrases that become a new phrase when a state abbreviation at the start of the phrase is removed. For instance, WIRED MAGAZINE becomes RED MAGAZINE.

For some reason, it took me FOREVER to figure out the gimmick here, and I’m sure many solvers would’ve wrapped this puzzle up faster than me at the tournament.

The clean fill and smart layout of the grid made this puzzle the perfect solve before the finals. Really great construction overall.

Interesting grid entries included GOOD VIBES, RITE AID, LA SPARKS, and CANTO, and my favorite clues were “Rinky-dink” for TWO-BIT and “Female in a song from ‘The Sound of Music'” for DOE.

Puzzle #6: Final Course by Katie Hoody

The final puzzle of the day was this 15x themeless and it did not disappoint. Strong grid construction built around the grid-spanning HOT DISH ON A STICK (crossing NINE 9- and 10-letter entries) really impressed.

There were two sets of clues available for the championship themeless, MINNESOTA NICE and CHICAGO FIRE, depending on your preference, and the cluing for each was on point.

All in all, this was a dynamite capper to a day of enjoyable challenges.

Interesting grid entries included BARITONE SAX, RINK RAT, BITE-SIZE, and GO VIRAL.

As for favorite clues, here’s a list:

  • MN NICE: “Flying creature whose babies are called pups” for BAT
  • MN NICE: “Apt epithet hidden inside ‘”I’ve had it with you!'” for TWIT
  • MN NICE: “Children’s theater character that speaks from the sole?” for SOCK PUPPET
  • MN NICE: “Bakery treat that becomes an ice cream treat when its first letter is removed” for SCONE
  • CHI FIRE: “Plays on a raised surface” for STAGE SHOWS
  • CHI FIRE: “Brings some cheeky energy to the dance floor” for TWERKS
  • CHI FIRE: “Simple retirement option” for COT
  • CHI FIRE: “Word that retains its meaning when preceded by ‘ni'” for TWIT
  • CHI FIRE: “Superfamily whose extinct species include Gigantopithecus and Oreopithecus” for APES
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Overall, I quite enjoyed my first time tangling with MWXWT.

The difficulty spike with Puzzle #4 was a welcome challenge (though I suspect others didn’t struggle with 4 and 5 like I did), and the construction across the tournament was strong. There were no unfair crossings or dubious bits of cluing. It was topnotch from start to finish.

Registration for this year’s tournament is open now! The event is on Saturday, October 3rd at the University of Illinois Chicago Student Center East.

I’m excited to see what they have in store for us this year!

Will you be solving this year’s Midwest Crossword Tournament puzzles (either in person or online), fellow solver? Let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to hear from you.

Crossword News Roundup: Tournaments, Classes, Videos, and New Puzzles!

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The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament was this past weekend, and once again, it was a highlight of the puzzly year! Congratulations to new champ Erik Agard and everyone who competed for Stamford’s last hurrah hosting the event.

If you want to watch the live-solved finale, you can check it out here:

While ACPT has come and gone, more tournament fun is on the way! Registration is now open for both Lollapuzzoola and the Midwest Crossword Tournament.

lolla-logo

Saturday, August 15 will be the Saturday in August for this year’s Lollapuzzoola 19.

New York City will again host the event, which features divisions for Express solvers (speed solvers), Local solvers, and Pairs solvers!

You can check out our thoughts on last year’s tournament puzzles here!

Saturday, October 3 marks the next edition of the Midwest Crossword Tournament.

The University of Illinois Chicago Student Center East will host this year’s event, which features divisions for Individual and Pairs solvers at two difficulty levels: Chicago Fire for the experienced solvers and Minnesota Nice for newer solvers. And you’re welcome to participate online as well!

Not only that, but they’re seeking a constructor from the Midwest or with ties to the Midwest to construct a themeless puzzle for this year’s event. What an opportunity!

And if you’re looking to get a better sense of MWXWT in a nutshell, I’ll be delving into last year’s tournament puzzles next week!

If you missed out on this year’s Crossword Con panels, they’ve been posted online for you to enjoy. Please make some time for them, they’re a glimpse into the present AND future of puzzles.

And while we’re discussing Puzzmo-centric events, they’re selling a Puzzmo Plus subscription for just $39.99. Click here to more details!

In other puzzle news, The Boston Globe has launched their own PuzzleMania-style publication in honor of the 130th Boston Marathon.

The Puzzle Marathon is only $8 and features 26 puzzles crafted by topnotch constructors from the Boston area.

It’s too late to get it in time for the Boston Marathon, but there’s still plenty of time for some mental athletics!

We’ve also got a few updates from the world of crossword constructors!

Veteran constructor Robin Stears has just launched her Patreon!

Robin is one of the most prolific cruciverbalists working today, with puzzles ranging from super-easy to deviously difficult. There’s literally something for everybody under Robin’s umbrella.

Be sure to check it out!

Constructor and author Eric Berlin has launched his new crossword variant, Patchwork.

This grid puzzle has entries reading across AND entries reading out in various patches that fit into the grid. So you have two overlapping chances to fill out each grid!

You can try out the puzzle for yourself here. Give it a try!

Finally, have you considered taking a class on the history and construction of crosswords?

Well, Natan Last has got you covered!

This four-session course runs throughout May at Union Hall in Brooklyn, NY, and costs $150 for all four sessions.

His book Across the Universe is a treasure trove of information about crosswords, so I have no doubt this course will be worth every penny!

Click here for more information and tickets!

Any crossword news we missed this week? Let us know in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you!

The River Crossing Puzzle

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Hey there, fellow puzzler. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:

Image courtesy of Nuts & Volts.

A farmer with a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage must cross a river by boat. The boat can carry only the farmer and a single item. If left unattended together, the wolf would eat the goat, or the goat would eat the cabbage. The farmer must help them all cross the river without anything being eaten.

This is known as a river crossing puzzle, and there have been many versions over the years. In fact, the earliest known variation, printed in Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes (Problems to Sharpen the Young), dates back to the 9th century!

Depiction of the riddle from the Ormesby Psalter, dating back to 1250-1330

Sometimes the puzzle features missionaries and cannibals crossing a river, and you cannot allow the missionaries to be outnumbered at any point on either shore, lest they be eaten. Sometimes it features jealous husbands crossing a river with their wives, where none of the men will allow his wife to be alone with either of the other men. Sometimes it is knights and squires, and the squires are afraid to stay with the other knights.

I’m going to ignore the racial and misogynistic energy of those examples and focus on the wolf, goat, and cabbage version, which is the one people are most familiar with. (Although the animals do change from riddle to riddle. Sometimes it’s wolves, sheep, and cabbages, other times it’s foxes, chickens, and grain, or foxes, geese, and seeds.)

The traditional answer works for any variation:

  • you take the prey (goat, sheep, chicken) across
  • you come back with the boat otherwise empty
  • you take either the predator (wolf, fox) OR the prey’s food (grain, cabbage, seeds) across
  • you come back with the prey in the boat
  • if you took the predator first, you bring the prey’s food this time. If you took the prey’s food first, you take the predator this time. Either way, you leave the prey behind on this trip
  • you come back with the boat otherwise empty
  • you take the prey across

It’s fairly simple as brain teasers go, but the main trick is realizing that you can bring things back with you.

Image courtesy of Marek Bennett

Now, logistically speaking, I have to ask something. Whether it’s a goat or a chicken or a sheep, whether it’s a wolf or a fox, they can all swim, so why not tie a rope to one on one side of the boat, a rope to the other on the other side, and tow them along as you row the grain/seeds/cabbage across?

Yeah, I am one of those all-the-groceries-in-one-trip guys. How did you know?!

The impracticality of this has crossed the minds of others as well. My friend Krud wrote on Twitter:

The folks at XKCD also found a simpler way while asking a very reasonable question:

In an episode of the TV show Fargo, the riddle was posed involving a fox, a rabbit, and a cabbage, and one of the characters immediately gets stuck on the details before offering the following solution:

Pepper: A Turducken.
Budge: A what’s that now?
Pepper: He stuffs the cabbage in the rabbit and the rabbit in the fox, and he eats all of them.
Budge: That’s not the answer.
Pepper: It’s an answer.

Someone online noticed that Martin Freeman’s characters have encountered this riddle twice between The Office and Fargo:

I also found a post online where someone suggested this delightfully impractical solution: “He puts the fox and the seed in the boat and pushes it to the other side. Then he finds the nearest ledge and glides across with the chicken.”

You know what? It’s innovative. I’ll give ’em that.

This riddle has naturally made its way into pop culture. (Apparently it even appears in a Peppa Pig cartoon!)

In The Simpsons episode “Gone Maggie Gone,” Homer must solve the river crossing riddle. Santa’s Little Helper can’t be left with Maggie, or he’ll chew on her favorite stuffed animal. Maggie can’t be left with the jar of poison because it looks like candy.

Naturally, they manage to create their own variation on the riddle and lampoon the original all in one fell swoop:

In an episode of Dropout’s Make Some Noise, they actually reference the river crossing puzzle WHILE making fun of the Riddle of the Two Guards:

And of course, sometimes the wolf-sheep-cabbage problem escalates with the introduction of more factors to be considered.

XKCD shared how complicated the river crossing becomes with a few more unexpected additions:

An episode from the 2010s Powerpuff Girls TV show also dealt with a more elaborate version of the river crossing riddle. In the episode “Splitsville,” Bubbles tries to solve the riddle while dealing with further complications like tourists, a robber baron, and the Raptor King:

At this point the river crossing riddle has essentially become pop culture shorthand for any problem that is getting out of hand through overworked analysis.

Writer Cleolinda Jones referenced the problem while discussing the abject ridiculousness of The Twilight Saga:

Yeah, it’s like, Bella wants to be a vampire but she doesn’t want to be a vampire before she’s had sex as a human, and Edward doesn’t want her to be a vampire but he wants to get married, but Bella doesn’t want to get married unless she can be a vampire, but Edward won’t have sex with her until they get married, and then you put the fox and the grain in the boat and you leave the goose back on the riverbank.

XKCD has similarly used the problem as a punchline to a comic strip about overthinking things:

As you can see, while most of us will never encounter a real-life use for the river crossing puzzle in our lifetimes, at least we’re prepared for the possibility.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get this beaver, this kite-eating willow tree, and my favorite kite across the street to the park in time for the picnic. See ya!

American Crossword Puzzle Tournament Weekend!

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Good luck to everyone participating in Stamford and at home in this year’s Nerd Olympics, aka the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament!

The mix of camaraderie and competition is so unique at ACPT, and there’s a general joyfulness that permeates the entire event. (Yes, even during the dreaded Puzzle #5.)

While I was unable to attend this year sadly, I did celebrate in my own way… by constructing a puzzle for you to enjoy!

Consider this a VERY easy icebreaker to shake off any puzzly ring rust you might have before diving into the devious and delightful puzzles of this year’s tournament!

[Click here to download a PDF of the puzzle.]

This is probably my fastest turnaround ever for a puzzle, from initial idea to finished product, and I hope you enjoy.

Happy puzzling, friends and competitors! Break a leg!

Wait, that’s for actors. What’s a good luck term for cruciverbalists? Break a pencil tip? That seems like a cruel jinx to put on someone.

Possible options:

  • May all your crossings not be cross!
  • Get your fill!
  • Happy rebus hunting!
  • Grid and bear it!

Wow, those are awful. Anyway, good luck and enjoy the puzzle!

Puzzles in Pop Culture: The Simpsons (re-revisited!)

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The TV show The Simpsons is part of the fabric of American culture at this point. It has been on for decades, and although the show doesn’t put out banger after banger like they did in their heyday, they can still be counted on to put out fun shows and the occasional home run.

As part of their cultural influence, naturally puzzles have featured prominently from time to time.

Probably the most famous puzzly moment was when Lisa became a competitive crossword solver and Homer’s apology puzzle to her appeared in The New York Times. But they’ve also featured brain teasers, anagrams, and a Da Vinci Code-esque series of riddles.

And that legacy of puzzle-fueled storytelling hasn’t stopped since I wrote that post over a decade ago.

But it wasn’t through crosswords or brain teasers that puzzles have appeared on the Simpsons more recently. It was through Wordle.

Wordle has been mentioned enough times on The Simpsons that it actually has its own entry on the Simpsons Wiki.

We get a glimpse of a Wordle game in episode 2 of season 37, entitled “Keep Chalm and Gary On.”

Supernintendo Chalmers is fired from his job, and ends up working at the Nuclear Power Plant with Homer. After seeing how hard Chalmers was working, Homer teaches him how to APPEAR like he’s working hard.

During this montage, we get a glimpse of Chalmers playing Wordle.

But this was actually the second instance of this exact same Wordle game appearing on The Simpsons.

A few seasons earlier — episode 2 of season 34, entitled “One Angry Lisa” — Lisa finds herself on a jury, and is annoyed when she spots Judge Constance Harm playing Wordle during court.

Lisa points out that she’s playing games on the bench, and the judge realizes the answer word is, in fact, BENCH.

Wordle is also mentioned in episode 8 from season 36, entitled “Convenience Airways.” The pilot is making announcements:

Just a reminder, folks, the call button is only for real emergencies, like if you’re down to your last guess on Wordle.

The Simpsons also inspired their own variation on Wordle, Simpsle, where you try to figure out which Simpsons character the game has chosen.

You get hints — are they the same gender as your guess, older or younger, related to your guess, or had more or fewer appearances than your guess — in order to deduce the character’s identity in six tries or fewer.

It’s a good time, depending on your familiarity with the show. I’m a huge fan, so I managed to guess Kearney (one of the older bullies/miscreant kids in town) on my sixth guess.

(There was actually another Simpsons-inspired Wordle game at one point, Doh-dle, but it no longer appears to be active.)

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a personal anecdote involving puzzling and The Simpsons.

I was removing a repeat from a Penny Press crossword grid, and as I was working on the puzzle, I thought I’d found the perfect quick fix to fill the space.

I showed Patti Varol, future editor of The LA Times Crossword, my correction, and she pointed out that my fix, EMBIGGENS, despite being a perfectly cromulent word, wouldn’t be accepted.

It had not even occurred to me that EMBIGGENS wasn’t standard jargon. We both lamented that fact, and I got back to work on the grid.

Still, it shows the cultural impact of the show in general. From “Yoink!” and “meh” to “saying the quiet part out loud” and “old man yells at cloud,” it has literally changed how we speak.

And that goes for how we puzzle as well.

Do you have any favorite puzzly Simpsons moments? Or puzzly moments from other TV shows? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.

I mean, a little more legibly than this, if you don’t mind…