LEXICON DEVIL
the world is our aim
Thursday, May 19, 2022
Puzzle Fifty-Six: Consequences (meta)
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Puzzle Fifty-Five: Drama-Free (freestyle)
A more gently-clued 72-entry freestyle this week, and hopefully a smooth solve for you. Thanks to kateschmate for test-solving (go solve her puzzles if for some reason you're not doing that already).
Thursday, April 28, 2022
Puzzle Fifty-Four: Schmear Campaign
Another puzzle from the vaults. There's a story behind this one that follows below beneath the PuzzleMe applet. Thanks to Steve Mossberg for test-solving.
Congrats to Abide and benchen71, who won the most recent meta contest for "Don't Hold Your Breath." An explanation is posted on the X-Word Muggles forum.
Reminder: I have a collection of 15 9x9 midi puzzles called MIDI CONTROLLER available on a pay-what-you-want basis over on GumRoad. Big thanks to everyone who's already bought or downloaded it!
Thursday, April 21, 2022
Puzzle Fifty-Three: Don't Hold Your Breath (meta)
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Isaac Moillon, "Éole donnant les vents à Ulysse" |
Thursday, April 14, 2022
Puzzle Fifty-Two: Can't You See?
It's not uncommon in the crossworld to have a good theme idea and then to come across a newly published puzzle by someone else featuring the same idea, revealing they hit upon the same idea independently months before you did, or featuring an idea close enough to yours to reduce your puzzle's odds of publication significantly. Such was the case with last Friday's NYT puzzle by Caitlin Reid, which - spoiler alert - features a marquee entry / clue combo similar enough to a feature of this puzzle to mandate its publication here on the blog. They're still two different puzzles, so I hope that even if you solved Caitlin's puzzle, you'll give mine a spin. And if you didn't solve her puzzle, just solve mine first and you're good to go.
Congrats to Paolo and Megarriffic, winners of last month's meta contest. You can see the leaderboard and read a writeup of the solution here on X-Word Muggles.
Lastly, I have a collection of 15 9x9 midi puzzles called MIDI CONTROLLER available on a pay-what-you-want basis over on GumRoad. Big thanks to everyone who's already bought or downloaded it!
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Puzzle Fifty-One: How Did They Do That? (meta)
Friday, March 11, 2022
Puzzle Fifty: Get the Horns (freestyle) (plus bonus mini-meta)
Mr. Ronnie James Dio, everyone |
It's the big 5-0 for Lexicon Devil and we're celebrating with a chonky 64-word themeless inspired by Mr. Ryan McCarty's Chasms over at McGrids, plus a little bonus mini-meta below. Thanks again to Quiara for test-solving.
Puzzle Fifty-Six: Consequences (meta)
The answer to this month's meta challenge is a possible punishment for children who get out of line. IMPORTANT NOTE: the multiple appear...

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Hello solvers! Be on the lookout for this Saturday's Universal crossword, entitled "Initial Directions," by yours truly. It fe...
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Today marks the culmination of the great 7xwords experiment, with Paolo Pasco tackling the thorniest possible 7x7 grid shape: one without...
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Meta answer is a two-word phrase . Answers go here: https://forms.gle/MJ5v1LNk7fBF1rFw7 Deadline Tuesday, June 8, 12 PM EST. Congrats to P...