Time well misspent.
The Rackenfracker publishes US cryptic crosswords by dadgumituh and jmsr525, whose puzzles have also appeared in The Browser, AVCX, and Out of Left Field, and whose clues have been featured on Minute Cryptic. Subscribe today to get an exclusive puzzle emailed to your inbox every month, as well as free puzzles as we release them. Plus, you'll always be able to get the last four months of exclusive puzzles on the website.
We only email you when we have a new puzzle — we'll put links to our latest shop talk posts and other news in those puzzle emails, and we always announce everything as it happens on Twitter @rackenfracker, on Bluesky @therackenfracker.bsky.social, and on Threads @therackenfracker.
New Formats
We're taking a break from 12-puzzle series like Word▶️ and Out of Shape to take our solvers on some experimental journeys. We've just finished our first such foray, Downright Tricky, a puzzle built around the concept of escalating difficulty; a test solver said:
It’s a perfect design: I felt palpable pressure/drama to get the top set before heading into the thorny latter hinterlands.
Currently we're publishing variety cryptics in rare or novel formats — for the last few, we've been messing pretty hard with instructions.
What are Minute Cryptic solvers saying?
We've had some of our clues up on Minute Cryptic — this was the response to our first.
What about people that have solved whole puzzles?
Just solved this #cryptic and wow! Even though this theme wasn’t in my pop culture wheelhouse, the solve and aha moment were still super enjoyable. https://t.co/Gc1bpifUFZ
— Nate Cardin (he/him) 🏳️🌈 (@naytnaytnayt) August 23, 2022
Best crossword I've ever solved! Took over seven hours, a delight the entire time. https://t.co/eAroLf6jhW
— Gennady Gorin (@GorinGennady) August 29, 2023
Puzzles for Everyone
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