Games World of Puzzles

The Magazine for Creative Minds at Play

Games World of Puzzles2 min read
…from The Edit
We were working on this issue back in mid-March, when daily life suddenly changed. And just like you, we had to adjust to a new reality overnight. As everyone hunkered down, we couldn’t help but notice how many people turned to games and puzzles, eit
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Games World of Puzzles
Editor in Chief Janis Weiner Senior Editor Jennifer Orehowsky Editor Raymond Simon Contributing Editors Scott Appel, Thomas L. McDonald, Jonathan Schmalzbach Supporting Players Gabrielle Fabioneri, Joel Nanni Email Address [email protected] S
Games World of Puzzles2 min read
Mixed Doubles 1
Each answer word in this crossword variation has two clues leading to it, using different meanings of the word. The clues are separated into Across and Down, but are otherwise ordered randomly. When you find two Across clues or two Down clues that se
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
52-skiddoo
There is one place for each letter of the alphabet in the 26 empty squares of each blank column in the diagram below. Fill in each letter so that a word of at least five letters is formed reading across only. Not all of the letters to the left and ri
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Syllabism
The answer to each Syllabism clue is a word or words made up of some of the syllables listed above the clues. The number of syllables in each answer is in parentheses following the clue. The dashes indicate the number of letters in the answer. After
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Pencil Pointers 1
In this crossword puzzle, the clues appear in the grid itself. Enter the answers in the direction of the pointers.
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Game Show
Okay, here’s the game plan: If you take the name of each item pictured below and change one letter, you’ll get the name of a game. For example, a picture of a HEARTH would represent the game HEARTS. All sorts of games are included, from board games (
Games World of Puzzles2 min read
Hipsterville
1 Yearning 5 Netflix alternative 9 Charlotte’s Web girl 13 Londoner’s baby buggy 14 Verve 15 Jai ___ 16 Common building material: 2 wds. 19 Word before joint or art 20 JFK posting 21 Lawn bowling game 22 ___ Cruces 23 Letter after sigma 24 Hercule Po
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Nurikabe
WWW.CONCEPTISPUZZLES.COM In these puzzles, your goal is to create isolated white areas surrounded by black walls, such that each white area has only one number and the number of cells in a white area is equal to the number in it. A few other rules mu
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Sixes And Eights
All of the words and phrases listed below are either six or eight letters long. Can you fit them all into the grid so that they intersect in standard crossword fashion? ACT TWO AC UNIT AIRMEN AMUSED AZO DYE ALT TAB BAOBAB BUDDHA BULK UP CARFAX DESPOT
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Two By Two
These two miniature crosswords are partially filled in for you—that is, all the vowels have been placed. All you have to do is add the consonants. Pick two consonants and repeat them as often as necessary to complete the grid. Proper names are not us
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Quote Boxes
To solve Quote Boxes, drop the letters from each vertical column—not necessarily in the order in which they appear—into the empty squares below them to spell a quotation reading from left to right, line by line. Words may continue from one line to th
Games World of Puzzles1 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Kid Stuff
Hidden in this scene from outer space are 18 out-of-place items. Can you spot them all? 1. BANANA 2. BASEBALL BAT 3. BELL 4. BUNCH OF CARROTS 5. COAT HANGER 6. CUP 7. DOUGHNUT 8. EYEGLASSES 9. HOT DOG 10. LIGHT BULB 11. MAN IN THE MOON 12. PENCIL 13.
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Scullery Made
If your day is going to pot, give this word search a try. All of the words and phrases listed below contain either POT or PAN. Find them all in the diagram below, reading horizontally, vertically, and diagonally, always in a straight line. When you c
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Solitaire Hangman
As in the two-player version of Hangman, the object of this solitaire challenge is to guess a word before being “hanged.” To begin, choose any letter that you think might appear in word I below. Suppose you pick E. Go to the Letter Chart on the facin
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Cryptolists
Below are four lists of related words and phrases that have been translated into simple cipher alphabets. The letter substitutions remain constant within any one group of words (for instance, if V represents G in one word, it will represent G in all
Games World of Puzzles2 min read
It’s A Cover-up
1 Exploit, as power 6 Portly 11 Jackrabbits, for example 16 Goes off on a tirade 17 Really steamed 18 NBA game venue 19 Meineke competitor 20 Intimate: 2 wds. 21 Denoted 22 Upstaged everybody: 3 wds. 25 Fitting 26 Matthew Walker, e.g. 27 Unbeatable r
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Pencil Pointers 2
In this crossword puzzle, the clues appear in the grid itself. Enter the answers in the direction of the pointers.
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
The Spiral
This puzzle turns in two directions. The spiral’s Inward clues yield a sequence of words to be entered counterclockwise in the spaces from 1 to 100. The Outward clues yield a different set of words to be entered clockwise from 100 to 1. Keep track of
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Battleships
WWW.CONCEPTISPUZZLES.COM The six puzzles on this page are solitaire versions of the classic paper-and-pencil game of Battleships. Each grid represents a section of ocean in which a fleet is hiding. This fleet consists of one battleship (four grid cel
Games World of Puzzles2 min read
Mixed Doubles 2
Each answer word in this crossword variation has two clues leading to it, using different meanings of the word. The clues are separated into Across and Down, but are otherwise ordered randomly. When you find two Across clues or two Down clues that se
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Art On The Square
This is the easiest way we know of to create art without the benefit of formal training. All you have to do is copy each square in the proper place in the empty grid, following the coordinates. The square marked A3, for example, should be drawn in th
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Code Crosswords
In the puzzles below, the numbers in the grid squares stand for letters of the alphabet; your task is to crack the code. Once you’ve figured out the letter that matches a certain number, place that letter in every square containing the same number an
Games World of Puzzles5 min read
Wild Cards
Many well-known authors have gone by initials rather than their actual first names. Can you match each author’s initials (1–13) with their surname (a–m), and then with one of their most famous works (A–M)? 1. A. A. 2. C. S. 3. E. B. 4. E. M. 5. H. G.
Games World of Puzzles2 min read
Mathematical Bull’s-eye 20 Questions
Here’s a test of your mathematical marksmanship. The answer to each of the 20 questions below is one of the 24 numbers in the bull’s-eye target. Each correct answer scores a hit, which you may cross off the target, since no answer word is used more t
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Sumoku
In these puzzles, the completed diagrams will include each of the numbers from 1 to 9 in the squares of every row and column. The numbers in the little rectangles within the diagram indicate the sum of the digits they contain. Use the limited variety
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Helter-skelter
Helter-Skelter is a crossword variation in which the answers interlock in any of eight different directions. To solve, write the answer to each clue starting in its numbered square and proceed in a straight line toward—and if necessary, beyond—the ne
Games World of Puzzles2 min read
One, Two, Three
Solve this puzzle as you would a regular crossword, except that each space may hold one, two, or three letters. The number of letters in a space is for you to determine, using logic and the crossing of words. The answer to 1-Across, F-AT-HOM, has bee
Games World of Puzzles9 min read
Tricks In The Bricks
In this article, we will explore a specific niche of Lego design: puzzle boxes. If you missed my last article, you might wonder why we are devoting space in this magazine to discuss what is regarded by some as a mere child’s toy. Let’s bring you up t
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Your Word Against Mine
In the following puzzles, you are presented two or more “islands” of words. Your job is to build a bridge between these disconnected islands using the seven tiles provided, so that you are ultimately left with a scrabble-style crossword, where all th
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Fill In The Details
FROM OCTOBER This contest was straightforward: Solvers were presented with a crossword diagram ("Original Diagram," shown at right); the goal was to fill the diagram with 42 uncapitalized, unhyphenated, unabbreviated single English words. Our rules s
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Coded Crisscross Xi
This contest is similar to previous Coded Crisscross contests (December 2019 and June 2019 GAMES WORLD OF PUZZLES). The grid below, if decoded properly, contains a set of 14 items reading across and down in the white squares. The three shaded entries
Games World of Puzzles10 min read
The Learnedleague: Trivia Crusaders
So much of what we’ve learned—and forgotten—is but a Google search away. Instead of thinking about what an answer might be, we pull out the phone and look it up. Or, when presented with a question that we don’t know the answer to, instead of trying t
Games World of Puzzles3 min read
Tabletop Game Reviews
DICE QUEEN GAMES: $25 AGE RANGE: 8+ PLAY TIME: 30 MINUTES PLAYERS: 2–4 In our May issue, we reviewed Copenhagen, a light and colorful family game that has become a breakout hit. In keeping with the recent trend of recasting board games as dice games,
Games World of Puzzles4 min read
Electronic Game Reviews
STEALTH PANIC PC, MAC, SWITCH, XB1, PS4: $20 AGE RANGE: 8+ PLAY TIME: 2 HOURS PLAYERS: 1 Untitled Goose Game enjoyed brief internet fame, and one of the screenshots that went viral perfectly summarized the experience. It shows a nearsighted little bo
Games World of Puzzles2 min read
500 Rummy
Can you score 500 or more points in Word Rummy hands from the card layout at right? Find as many common seven-letter words as you can whose cards form Word Rummy hands. A Word Rummy hand is a seven-letter word whose letters appear on cards that make
Games World of Puzzles2 min read
The Comical Game Of “Who?”
The Comical Game of “Who?” is not really a game at all. Rather, it is an opportunity to act out predetermined answers to questions—questions written in 1915. These questions, which are printed on numbered cards, are primarily designed to poke fun at
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Flustered
In the familiar word game Fluster, players are given 16 letters (some of which may be duplicates) arranged in a 4×4 grid. They try to form words by moving from letter to touching letter—horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. All letters of a given
Games World of Puzzles2 min read
Siamese Twins
This puzzle gives you two grids for the price of one. And two sets of clues to go with them, so you can work both crosswords at the same time. What’s the catch? Each clue number is followed by two different clues to two different answers. The puzzle
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Double Cross
Answer the clues on the numbered dashes, one letter per dash. Then transfer the letters on the dashes to the correspondingly numbered squares in the puzzle grid to reveal a quotation reading from left to right. (Black squares separate words.) When yo
Games World of Puzzles3 min read
Cryptic Crossword 1
Each clue in a cryptic crossword has two parts: a definition of the answer and an indication of the answer’s literal makeup via wordplay. Either half may come first; finding the dividing point between the two parts is the key to solving. On page 61,
Games World of Puzzles3 min read
Cryptic Crossword 2
Anagrams: The answer appears in anagrammed form, preceded or followed by a word or phrase that suggests the mixing, as in Changing times for ITEMS. Deletions: Deletions come in three varieties: beheadments, curtailments, and internal deletions. The c
Games World of Puzzles3 min read
Bank Withdrawals
In this cryptic crossword, all entries of 6 or more letters are clued as letter banks. Instead of a traditional wordplay, the clue contains a single-word letter bank. For example, MISSISSIPPI could be clued as “Mark Twain’s river imps (11),” with “im
Games World of Puzzles2 min read
Some Assembly Required
Here’s a real piece of work for you: A 14×14 grid of letters has been chopped up into puzzle pieces, and it’s your job to reassemble it. Start by answering as many of the Pieces clues as you can, entering each answer in its corresponding piece below
Games World of Puzzles2 min read
Paint By Numbers
www.conceptispuzzles.com These eight puzzles feature a unique blend of logic and art. The numbers are all you need to determine which squares should be filled in to form a picture. Here’s how it’s done: The numbers outside each row and column tell yo
Games World of Puzzles2 min read
Shifting Gears
1 When doubled, a Pacific capital 5 Jerusalem artichoke, e.g. 10 Book with legends 15 Starting on 19 Culture medium 20 Amazon assistant 21 Skeleton 22 Benefit 23 One in charge of green spaces 26 Sulky state 27 H.S. class for future med students 28 It
Games World of Puzzles3 min read
Too Much
Each clue in this puzzle contains one letter too many. This extra letter, which may appear anywhere in the clue, is totally superfluous to the clue’s solution, and must be removed in order to make the clue correct. The 44 letters thus removed, taken
Games World of Puzzles2 min read
Honeycomb Hotel
Harold the Honeybee is up at dawn each morning, busily rousting the other bees from their comfortable quarters at the Honeycomb Hotel. Harold buzzes from room to room, visiting every room (the hexagonal cells) exactly once, never retracing or crossin
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Family Reunions
Change each group of 10 words below into a “family” of different words (words or proper names that have something in common) by dropping one letter from each word and then rearranging the remaining letters. For example, given the entries HAUNT, HAIRD
Games World of Puzzles6 min read
The World’s Most Ornery Crossword
The crossword on this and the next two pages has two independent sets of clues: “Hard” and “Easy.” First, fold this page back on the dashed line so the clues below face the solving grid on page 69. If you use only the Hard Clues (appearing below and
Games World of Puzzles1 min read
Either/or Puzzles
In this puzzle, each clue must be altered either by reversing a word or by deleting the first letter of a word. For example, if the clue “Warts” appeared in the puzzle, the true clue might be either ARTS or STRAW. 1 Deliver 5 Note for one 6 Shaving r

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