Monthly newsletter

Happy Holidays! Today’s issue is part gift guide, and part meta-gift guide. It’s still not too late to get some of these things delivered by Christmas, but I’m also including a bunch of virtual gifts and subscriptions, if you’re worried about delivery times. Enjoy! The Puzzler

For the last puzzle, we got a lot of entries for one particular wrong answer: -1. I can see why, but it didn’t really fit the intended conditions. Same with 0. However, I have to give a shout out to Tamara Brenner for this incredible alternate answer: ‘Ninety one’

Happy fall! The last month has been a bit of a roller coaster at Mystery League HQ. After a few months of booking a few in-person events, it now looks like we’re back to mostly running virtual events for at least the rest of the year. I really miss

Hello! The last week in our house has been spent devouring the Olympics. My favorite moment so far was actually in the Opening Ceremonies, when they performed this frenetic, delightful 8-minute routine modeling all 50 Olympic pictograms. More like this please. Meanwhile, congrats to Suni Lee, gymnastics all-around gold medalist.

Hello! In the last issue I published a puzzle about a famous woman in American history with a three-part name. Then, a few weeks ago, I found out that Will Shortz was planning to feature that same puzzle on NPR’s Weekend Edition. I send puzzles to Will for the

The good news around these parts it that I'm finally, blessedly, fully vaxxed. Last week I spent time in a cafe, and went to see a movie in a movie theater. Yesterday I had a conversation with a client about possibly running one of my tabletop games in

This week marks the one year anniversary of the week everything changed for us here in Chicago. At the beginning of the week, our kids were in school, my office was open, we went to a party at a friend’s house… and then by the end of the week,

Well! A lot has happened since I wrote you last. The biggest thing is that my team, Palindrome, won the MIT Mystery Hunt. The correct response to this is: congrats/condolences! The top prize is a gorgeous, engraved coin… and the responsibility to write next year’s hunt. It will

Hello, again! Hope you had a peaceful, restful weekend. It’s holiday season, which now involves figuring out what it means to have an entirely remote office holiday party. The good news is I’ve been building out my stable of Zoom-based trivia games, and I still have plenty of

Here in America, we have an election coming up. Maybe you’ve heard. It’s kind of a biggie. Today is the last day to register in several states, including my state, Illinois. Here is the link to register in Illinois, and here is the information for every US state.

Fall is around the corner, and with it comes a bunch of juicy puzzle events. Mark Halpin publishes his annual Labor Day puzzle set on Saturday, Sep 5th. They’re always a brilliant, difficult set of puzzles that keep me occupied for days or weeks. Then there’s Puzzle Boat

This month we’re welcoming a lot of new subscribers from the Pilcrow Bar hunt. Hello! Welcome to the place where I send you interesting puzzle things I find online every month. This issue we’ve got 3 different puzzle sets, all raising money for good causes.A few small

Hello. It seems silly and trivial to tell you about puzzles and games while there are much more important struggles going on around us. But I’ve heard from so many of you that my puzzles — especially the ones in the ¶| puzzle game — are a welcome distraction. I’m happy

I hope everyone is staying safe and staying healthy in these trying times. If you’re working on the front lines of this pandemic, or know folks who are, first of all: thank you. If you’d like some puzzles to occupy your mind during breaks, please get in touch

Hello from the new reality. Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen a lot — like, a lot — of offerings for things to play while stuck at home: online puzzles, remote escape rooms, web-based tabletop games, etc. Below, you can find a few of them, and I’ll be sending

The Mystery League’s main business is putting on team-building events. With the encroaching global pandemic, companies are cancelling the plans they have and putting future events on hold. Which means I need to figure out a new way to make money. I imagine many of you are suddenly working

Is there a podcast out there that you think I should guest on? Hit reply on this email and let me know. My spots on Hey Riddle Riddle will continue as long as they invite me back, but I’d love to bring those audio puzzles to other audiences. I’

Today’s issue is dedicated to puzzles-by-mail, which make great last-minute gift ideas, since you can tell your giftee that their present is being sent directly to their house. Just make sure to encode the message for proper effect. Do you have a favorite game not listed here? Or do

Puzzler Think of a movie title in 4 letters. Change one letter and anagram it to get the title of another movie that came out 20 years later. Then, change another letter in that title, and anagram, to get a third movie that came out 29 years after that. All

Puzzler Think of a word in 8 letters that means “to review or change”. Swap out two letters for one new letter, and you’ll have a two-word phrase for a tool that is often used when suggesting changes. What are these words? The Ladder: A Choice-Driven, Fully Replayable Escape