Missio Nimpossible
Reality Escape Pod; new cryptic Patreon; Ambigrams; new Patrick Berry set
Happy 2025 to you. May your resolutions resolve with ease, and may solutions to the things that puzzle you arrive after precisely the desired amount of head-scratching.
This weekend is the MIT Mystery Hunt, in Cambridge, MA, and I'll be there, solving with Team Palindrome. Every year we pick a new palindromic name. This year it's: Dog Park Rap God. We'll be all sporting these incredible name tags, designed by the inimitable Joe Cabrera:
If you see me, say hi! We aren't going to win this year*, so I'll be more than happy to take a minute to chat.
*The winning team writes the next year's hunt, which we did in 2022 (after winning in 2021), and while it was a great experience and we're all very proud of what we put out, most of us are happy to forgo that honor for another few years.
January Puzzler
Every month I offer a new bite-sized puzzle. Here's the latest one:
Think of a two-word phrase that means “a secret mission”. Move the last letter of the 1st word to be the first letter of the 2nd word, and you’ll end up with two words that are synonyms. What are they?
Submit your answer here 🗳Visiting the Reality Escape Pod
I was a guest on a recent Reality Escape Pod, with David Spira and Peih-Gee Law. We talk for about an hour about my first hunts and some of my bigger, weirder projects, and then we play a game I designed for the episode.
And then I appear for an encore for a short episode where Peih-Gee quizzes me, and teases their new show, PG's Playhouse.
Cryptic Crossweird Patreon
A new source for cryptic crosswords just dropped. For $2.50/month, you can subscribe to Cryptic Crossweird and get two 11x11 cryptics every other week. I'm working my way through the starter pack and everything so far has been great — and I'm not only saying this because my brother Bob is one of the editors.
But actually, allow me toot Bob's horn for a second. He also runs a blog, Tales from the Cryptic, where he publishes free mini cryptics. And he recently published a fantastic 15x15 cryptic on AVCX, which you can access for one single American dollar. His cluing really is clever and fresh. (And he spends lots of time refining them, often on DMs with his brother.)
Ambigrams on Instagram
@writewordsmakemagic is an Insta account by Rob Tanniru that specializes in ambigrams, which are words and phrases written to have 180° symmetry. The thing that makes these extra special is Rob’s detailed walk-throughs of how they make each one. To paraphrase Arthur C. Clarke (and to echo the account's handle): this kind of advanced letterforming is indistinguishable from magic to me.
Blabyrinth by Patrick Berry
When Patrick Berry puts out a new puzzle set, I buy it. Those are just the rules. $15 for 10 variety puzzles, including a meta. A steal.
Letter Brew, a new game by TED Games
TED just launched their second online game, which combines word ladders and letter transformations to get to one final answer. I'm one of the writers for this game, so if you tune in every day, you'll definitely come across some of my puzzles. It's a fun concept.
Find me on Bluesky
If you're jumping off Meta properties and into Bluesky, I invite you to follow me here:
Solution to the November Puzzler
Think of an Asian capital in 5 letters. Shift the 1st and 4th letters forward in the alphabet by 3 positions to get the name of an African country. Shift them forward again 5 more positions to get a different Asian capital. What places are these?