They’ve Got It (The Right Stuff)
Welcoming the new kids on the block.
North American cryptic crossword construction boomed during the COVID-19 lockdown — standard crossword constructors exploring the form, other nascent setters rallying their strength and putting their first works into the world. We were the latter, though far from the only ones.
This surge of interest precipitated an increase in venues that published cryptics (though some of that excitement was transitory). The scene has been at a steady state for awhile — AVCX, The Browser and Out of Left Field putting out gold week after week, with The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and GAMES World of Puzzles bringing something special every month or so. It's been good.
We're chuffed to say that some friends of ours are interested in upgrading it to great. Two new cryptic publications have appeared on the scene this January: Cryptic Crossweird and The Gnomon.
Cryptic Crossweird grew out of the Twitch channel CrossweirdTV, where dob and momes created one of the major indie crossword loci during that lockdown boom. Alongside gnarly cryptic mind Bob Weisz, they have launched a publication that publishes 11x block-style cryptics twice a month from a variety of constructors. Their debut edition, available now, contains four puzzles from different authors: the editors, Rachel Fabi, and two familiar faces around these parts, Joe Pasini and Will Nediger.
The Gnomon is a new source of variety cryptic crosswords, published and edited by juff, who has been editing The Rackenfracker for the past few months. The Gnomon will come out bimonthly, and will also feature rotating constructors. On Friday, January 24, at 9 pm ET, juff will be on Will's Twitch stream hosted by Hayley Gold to talk The Gnomon and share an exclusive variety cryptic for the team to solve. (We've solved it and can guarantee a good time.)
Both of these are for paid subscribers, and we know that we have an audience that appreciates that good puzzles are the product of hard work. We encourage you to take a look at what these new forums have to offer to further scratch your cryptic itch.