Puzzles
Puzzlesnacks
Snack-sized puzzles for beginning and intermediate solvers, from kids to adults. Not too easy, but never too hard, in dozens of different varieties. Available in a number of different ways:
- Simon & Schuster’s volume of Puzzlesnacks
- Direct-to-print volumes exclusively at Amazon: Bonanza and Carnival
- Downloadable print-and-solve collections
- Some free puzzles, in case you’d like a taste
- Puzzlesnacks Plus: If you’re looking for something more than “snacks,” I’ve put together several small collections of larger, more challenging variety puzzles
Puzzle Hunts…
…for Kids
These mini puzzle hunts are ideal for kids 9 and up. Depending on your child’s solving level of ability, a grown-up might need to provide a nudge or two along the way.
- Race Around the World: Intended to be a little more introductory, you can probably give this one to kids as young as 8. Originally commissioned by the Trivia Championship of North America.
- Crime For Breakfast: The puzzle hunt I used to bring with me on school visits — I’ve run this one for thousands of kids around the country. Now it’s been updated and is available for at-home solving.
- Rise of the Robots: Why are the robots misbehaving?? Solve their six puzzles to figure out the answer.
- Pirates: Of course we’re going to have an old-fashioned treasure hunt in the mix. Can you figure out what Captain Kidder has hidden?
- A Boatful of Puzzles: The boat in question is Noah’s Ark, and many of the animals have brought puzzles along to entertain their shipmates.
- Trick or Treat: The largest hunt in the line-up: ELEVEN interlinked, candy-themed puzzles!
- Summer Camp Color War: Each of the nine puzzles will give you two answers, for each of the Color War’s two teams.
…and for Adults
Each year I create a team puzzle event for the Wonderful World of Words, a weekend-long celebration of language at the Mohonk Mountain House, a stunningly beautiful resort in New Paltz, NY. I then make my puzzles more widely available.
- Wild Goose Chase: Originally called “Mo-HONK!” in honor of where it was first presented, this hunt takes the mischievous goose from “Untitled Goose Game” and lets him run amok. Can you catch him?
- The Amazing Inventions of Eureka K. Jones: The would-be celebrated inventor would like to demonstrate for you his latest brilliant ideas. Brilliant to him, anyway…
- Into the Words: The Witch of the Woods is feeling a little cranky, and that is bad news for anybody who gets in her way. With the help of some fairy-tale friends, can you figure out how to appease her?
- The Secret Ingredient: On TV’s hottest cooking show, chefs have to solve a puzzle to figure out the secret ingredient they must include in their dishes.
Charity Projects
- The Social Distancing Puzzles: Created at the height of the pandemic, these puzzles raised over $20,000 for Feeding America. The set was designed to be solved over Zoom — two solvers (or teams of solvers) receive two slightly different sets of puzzles, and must work together to complete them.
If you wish to solve this, make sure one person downloads Set A, and the other person downloads Set B. I will ask that you also please make a donation to Feeding America.
- Puzzles for Democracy: One puzzle for every state plus Washington, D.C., created by dozens of the most adventurous puzzle creators in the country. This set of puzzles raised over $40,000 for Common Cause, a non-profit fighting for voting rights and for our democratic institutions. I organized the project and contributed four puzzles myself.
Other Projects
Click to read about puzzle events I’ve put together for museums and other organizations.
- Rule The Word! (Scripps National Spelling Bee)
- Escape The Ballroom (American Crossword Puzzle Tournament)
- Escape From the Haunted Library (Connecticut Library Association)
- Quests in the Enchanted Forest (Milford Public Library)
- Catch That Ghost! (The National Museum of Mathematics)
- The Farm-to-Table Puzzles (The Stepping Stones Children’s Museum)
- Paging Dr. Enigma (The Hackley School)
Crosswords
New York Times
I’ve had close to 50 crosswords and variety puzzles in the New York Times.
- My first-ever NYT crossword: “Components” (June 23, 2002)
- A crossword co-constructed with “Weird Al” Yankovic: “The Cheesy Film Festival” (April 4, 2018)
Crossword Suites
A bunch of crosswords on a particular theme.
- A Crossword Lover’s Salute to “Mad Magazine” (2004)
- A Tournament Grows in Brooklyn (2008): Commissioned by Will Shortz for the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.
- Game Night Crosswords (2009): The sixth-ever project funded on Kickstarter.
Variety Puzzles
I try to bring an original puzzle to each year’s convention of the National Puzzlers’ League. Here are some of my offerings.
- 2021: Patchwork
- 2020: Mad Dash
- 2019: Puzzle of the Day
- 2018: Ninefold Path (and then some)
- 2017: Wry Tangles
- 2016: Ninefold Path
- 2014: Palindrome Wannabes
- 2013: Circular Reasoning
A Whole Lot of Other Stuff
- The MIT Mystery Hunt: For fifteen years, I was the captain of Palindrome, which started participating in this enormous and super-challenging puzzle event just a few years after it started in the late 80s.
Palindrome won the Hunt in 2021, which gave us the responsibility of creating the 2022 version, which we set in a fictional land called Bookspace.
Some of my puzzles from that Hunt include: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Kid Start-Up, Just a Dream, The Mad Scientist’s Assistant, Rack ‘Em Up, Scream, The Enchanted Garden, Hell’s Kitchen, Ice Cream Roll, Swingin’, Spy Game, and You Took The Fifth.
- Puzzled Pint: A monthly puzzle event, held in pubs and bars worldwide, intended to be on the easy side. I’ve created two sets for Puzzle Pint over the years: Circular Reasoning in February 2020 and Shopping Spree in October 2024.
- Palindrome Practice Hunts: For a few years there, my Mystery Hunt team, Palindrome, made a small “practice hunt” to get our brains lubricated before the main event. Two of these practice hunts are available: Ya Buncha Yo-Yos and Damn This Traffic Jam.
- BAPHL of the Bands: Run in Boston, MA, in September of 2012
- My puzzles: Fun Size, Calendar Guy, Close Enough For Jazz.
- Intercoastal Altercations 5: An online puzzle event run in October of 2011.