Quiz Guy John Chaneski has devised another take-off puzzle, meaning that taking off the first letter of a word results in a second word. This time, the initial letter is the letter O. For example, if someone has unlatched the gate to the pigsty...
Unparalleled misalignments are pairs of phrases in which the words in one phrase are each synonyms of the words in the other, but the phrases themselves mean different things. For example, the phrase blanket statement can be paired with cover story...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a version of cryptic crosswords: double-definition clues for four-letter words. For example, what might the answer be if a punny crossword clue is “Sad feathers”? This is part of a complete episode...
Crossword puzzles are a marvelous mental workout. A delightful new book about them shares plenty of crossword lore and puzzle-solving tips. Also, performers who tell each other break a leg aren’t really hoping someone gets hurt. The phrase...
Crosswordese: A Guide to the Weird and Wonderful Language of Crossword Puzzles (Bookshop|Amazon), by puzzle constructor David Bukszpan, explains the history and odd little vocabulary of crosswords. The book has a playful format, with bolded words in...
Crossword puzzles are great mental exercise, partly because they’re less about how much you know and more about whether you can think creatively about what you already know. For example, what’s the three-letter answer to the clue It has...