Visit our puzzles page to see our newest puzzles!
[Online puzzles require Across Lite.
Get it now!]


SIMON & SCHUSTER MEGA CROSSWORD BOOK #7 (Out Now!)
"Themeless" (17x Themeless)
(Dave)

2010 ACPT Pictures

Galleries of Recent Events

BOSTON CROSSWORD PUZZLE TOURNAMENT
April 11, 2010
Boston, MA

2nd ANNUAL CHICAGO CROSSWORD TOURNAMENT
April 17, 2010
Chicago, IL

CROSSWORDS LA TOURNAMENT
May 1, 2010
Loyola Marymount University
Los Angeles, CA

WILL SHORTZ' WONDERFUL WORLD OF WORDS (Created by Gloria Rosenthal)
November 12-14, 2010
Mohonk Mountain House, New Paltz, New York

CRUISEWORD
December 5-12, 2010
aboard Celebrity Solstice
Email for details

STAN NEWMAN'S CROSSWORD UNIVERSITY CRUISE
January 9-16, 2011
aboard Holland America Line's Ryndam

34th ANNUAL AMERICAN CROSSWORD PUZZLE TOURNAMENT
March 18-20, 2011
Brooklyn, NY

Most Recent Posts Archives

Contents © 2007
The Puzzle Brothers

Masthead Photo by
Nancy Shack

Powered by Blogger

Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]



BOB AND DAVE MACKEY

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Case Of The Missing Acrostic

Here, from the Wall Street Journal, which blithely makes room on Friday for a Sunday-sized puzzle which is often very good, is a report on the disappearance of the Hex acrostic from the Sunday New York Times print edition.

Labels: , , , , ,

posted by Dave Mackey at 7:09 AM | 0 Comments

Monday, November 17, 2008

Merl's NYT Simpsons-Related Puzzle

Transparently, it is your basic Merl Reagle puzzle... but I recommend you do this puzzle before watching the show to enjoy all the surprises of this puzzle.

http://query.nytimes.com/premium/xword/Nov1608.puz (Subscription to NYT Premium Crosswords required)

Labels: ,

posted by Dave Mackey at 6:36 AM | 0 Comments

Saturday, August 23, 2008

NYT Black Square Record Broken

Kevin G. Der broke the record for fewest black squares with Friday's New York Times puzzle. The new low-water-mark is 18, beating Manny Nosowsky's old record by one.

NYT 8/22 puzzle (requires subscription to NYT puzzles)

Labels: , ,

posted by Dave Mackey at 10:15 AM | 0 Comments

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

New York Times - Wednesday, May 21, 2008

We are sorry to give you late notice on this but our web hosting provider - who we are considering dumping over this - would not let us update our blog for the past several days, and we were unable to promote Wednesday's New York Times puzzle in a timely manner. Anyway, we sure hope you enjoy this puzzle.

Across Lite Puzzle File - for New York Times Crossword Subscribers Only

Labels: ,

posted by Dave Mackey at 6:40 AM | 0 Comments

Monday, April 07, 2008

New York Times Puzzle Today!

By Dave Mackey of the Puzzle Brothers

Here is the puzzle - available to New York Times crossword subscribers only.

Labels: ,

posted by Dave Mackey at 10:22 PM | 0 Comments

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Important Medical News!

Well, that's what they say in commercials, but this may hold some water. It's been long thought that mental exercises such as crossword puzzles help keep the brain active and may help ward off later-life dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Now, the author of "The Memory Cure", Dr. Majid Fotuhi, has teamed up with Will Shortz to present "The New York Times Crosswords to Keep Your Brain Young: The 6-Step Age-Defying Program".

This was one of two new NYT books issued by St. Martin's Griffin last week. The other, "Crosswords for Two", compiles 200 puzzles (including, I hear, one by yours truly) designed to be shared.

Labels: , ,

posted by Dave Mackey at 4:39 AM | 0 Comments

Friday, January 04, 2008

It's MEGA-Tastic!

Just got my copy of the new Simon & Schuster MEGA Crossword Puzzle Book, Volume 1. This just came out in bookstores today. Wow! This is enough to keep me busy for weeks on end. For the list price of $13.95, you get 300 original crosswords, including a healthy selection of 75 15x's, 75 mixed 17x's and 19x's, and 150 21x's. Many of your favorite authors in the old Crossword Puzzle Book series are represented here, and there are some new names too (including - and correct me if I'm wrong - the construction debut of Amy Reynaldo).

John Samson still continues as editor, now with three times the workload, as there will now be 900 puzzles used per year - approximately three times the amount required by a New York Times or Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

While I'm plugging things, I must put in a word for the 2008 New York Times Sunday Puzzle Appointment Book, from Pomegranate Press. It's a neat compilation of all the Sundays from October 2003 to October 2004, including a neat Leap Day puzzle by Patrick Merrell. One puzzle is misattributed to Kyle Mahowald instead of Joe DiPietro, but that's just a minor quibble. Neat package, nice paper that takes my favorite gel pen quite well. Got it for a gift in '07, bought it for myself in '08.

Labels: , , , , , , ,

posted by Dave Mackey at 9:43 PM | 0 Comments

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Will Shortz Raises The Rates Again

I just got word that Will Shortz has once again raised his rates for puzzle contributors.

The lucky person who constructs the June 3, 2007 Sunday puzzle will be the first to enjoy the new rates, which for Sunday puzzles will be a cool grand, up from $750. The daily rate is increasing too to $200. These once again put the Times at the forefront of the puzzle industry as far as contributor rates (until, of course, Peter Gordon decides to go his traditional one dollar more for Sun dailies).

Labels: ,

posted by Dave Mackey at 5:56 AM | 0 Comments