Santa Claus is Coming to Town - 12/25/24

Today we have a brand new puzzle from Indiana.  I hope everyone is ready, 'cause:

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Tomorrow we'll ...

Christmas in Colorado - 12/24/24

I expect most people have a lot of other things to do besides puzzling today, but if you're in a puzzling mood this Christmas Eve, here is a post I'm re-sharing a post from 6 years ago:

Today we travel back to Colorado for a double feature from a CO who obviously enjoys a good Christmas-themed puzzle.  Over the years I have really enjoyed his work.   There are puzzles that look like Christmas ones that are Christmas ones, ones that look like Christmas ones that aren't, and ones that don't necessarily look like they have a Christmas theme, but they do (and of course many non-holiday ones as well).  Try your luck with these two ... a brand new one:

Christmas Wordsearch

and this one I first featured way back in 2012:  Christmas Words

Tomorrow we'll ...

Merry Christmas from Iowa - 12/23/24

Today's featured caches are by a CO who has a history of putting out fun little holiday themed puzzles:

Merry Christmas Cosmic Cachers!

and

Merry Christmas to the Weasel

Tomorrow we'll ...

Merry Christmas Rash - 12/22/24

Here's what I had to say about this puzzle 8 years ago today:

If you're not familiar with the Massachusetts "RASH" puzzles that I have featured before, the title of today's post might have you wondering what in the world I am thinking.  These fun (but tricky) word puzzles are a great mental workout.  I actually wasn't sure I was going to get through this one in time to post it this season, but over the course of a few days the last stubborn ones fell in to place.  Have a:

Rash #5: Merry Christmas

Tomorrow we'll ...

12 Days of Caching - 12/21/24

When I first featured this puzzle back 8 years ago today, here's what I said:

Today's North Carolina puzzle is a spin-off from another puzzle that was itself a spin-off of one of my all time favorite puzzles.  Try your luck with:

12 Days of Caching

Tomorrow we'll ...

Hooked on Puzzles! - 12/20/24

Here's a little something new from California for all of us that are:

Hooked on Puzzles!

Tomorrow we'll ...

Crossword Meta #2 - 12/19/24

Here's another California puzzle I tested a while back.  See if you can sort out:

Crossword Meta #2

Tomorrow we'll ...

Tricolor - 12/18/24

Today's post gives me one more chance to feature a post by my frequent guest puzzle-picker Ol'Fogie.  Here's what he had to say:

I stumbled across this Estonian conundrum while plotting a similar hide I'm thinking of making. Quite often the name of a cache can be one of the best clues. I enjoyed the puzzle, but stumbled making the connection of the puzzle type to its title of…

Tricolor

Tomorrow we'll ...

Holiday Games - 12/17/24

Today I'm pulling out a couple of memorable puzzle games from the Isle of Man.  If you enjoyed them previously there's nothing to say you can't play again:

Oh Christmas Tree

Santa Dash

Tomorrow we'll ...

Water at the Bottom of the Ocean - 12/16/24

Today we head to California for:

OIAL 061: Water at the bottom of the ocean

Tomorrow we'll ...

10 Shopping Days Left - 12/15/24

Today's California puzzle, first featured here 12 years ago, reminds us that we've only got:

Only Ten Shopping Days Left

Tomorrow we'll ...

Na Na & Dit Dah - 12/14/24

Today I'm resharing a pair of Minnesota puzzles I featured here 10 years ago today:

Na Na, Na Na, Na Na, Na Na, Na Na, Na Na, Na Na..?

and

Dit Dit Dit Dit, Dit Dit Dah Dah Dah, Dah Dah Dah

Tomorrow we'll ...

Non-Crossword Puzzle - 12/13/24

We've had a lot of crossword puzzles lately, so I thought you might enjoy this from Maryland today:

JUDGE JACK'S NON-CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Tomorrow we'll ...

Lost and Found - 12/12/24

Today we have another California puzzle I had fun testing a while back:

Lost and Found #1

Tomorrow we'll ...

Hallelujah - 12/11/24

The semester is almost over, but that means it's been a very busy time for me.  I hope you'll forgive me for sharing one of my own holiday puzzles.  It's been seen here before but it's been almost 5 years:

Hallelujah! It's Another Holiday Music Puzzle!

I hope it brings you a smile, even if you've done it before.

Tomorrow we'll ...

The Bracket - 12/10/24

Today's puzzle takes us to Rhode Island, and I was just talking about its subject with my daughter this afternoon.  It certainly is a puzzle making sense of:

The Bracket

Tomorrow we'll ...

Name that Christmas tune - 12/9/24

Today I'm sharing a new Massachusetts puzzle:

Name That Christmas Tune

but if you prefer a different type of puzzle with the same theme, try this series (I featured #1 last year)

CCC 2

Tomorrow we'll ...

Bit Baffling - 12/8/24

Today's California puzzle was featured here 10 years ago today.  At the time I apologized for it being a:

Bit Baffling

Tomorrow we'll ...

Snowflake - 12/7/24

We've had our first real shot of winter here in upstate NY.  My commute was about 50% longer on Thursday morning than it usually is, but it could've been a lot worse.  In keeping with the winter theme I'm resharing this puzzle that I featured here back in 2016:

Snowflake / Snjezna pahuljica

Tomorrow we'll ...

Turkey Turmoil - 12/6/24

Thanksgiving is behind us, but the CO's of today's UK puzzle are anticipating more:

Turkey Turmoil

Tomorrow we'll ... 

Crossword Meta - 12/5/24

Since we've had so much crossword practice lately, here's another, with a twist:

Crossword Meta #1

Tomorrow we'll ...

Xword Puzzle - 12/4/24

Today's recent California puzzle was the first of its type from this CO.  See what you think of this:

Xword Puzzle

Tomorrow we'll ...

Codeword #3 - 12/3/24

I heard from someone who has always liked this type of puzzle, which is apparently more popular in other parts of the world. We've already visited numbers 1 and 2.  See how you do with:

Codeword #3

Tomorrow we'll ...

All good things - 12/2/24

What were you doing 14 years ago?  In December of 2010 I had been geocaching for less than a year, but had gotten absolutely hooked on geocaching puzzles.  In an effort to understand the minds of my local puzzlers better, I had started working on puzzles I found by poking around through the geocaching.com search.  I searched random places and assorted key words and kept track of my work in a notebook and wondered if I could solve a puzzle every day.  

I quickly found that there were enough simple straightforward puzzles that I could certainly solve one every day, so I decided to see if I could find and solve a fun, clever puzzle on average at least once a day.  I was thoroughly enjoying the process and felt that there had to be other people out there who would have fun seeing more puzzles than were in their own area, and perhaps inspire them to create new puzzles themselves.  A bonus would be giving a wider audience and paying thanks to puzzlers whose work I had enjoyed. So on 1/1/2011, the Geocaching Puzzle of the Day was launched.  

I never would have anticipated keeping it going for 14 years, and I am incredibly grateful for all of the wonderful people I have come to know through this hobby, but the time has come for me to stop curating the blog on a daily basis.  I still enjoy puzzling and have gotten into a lot of puzzling arenas outside of geocaching (I will post some links below).  

I am keeping things going daily until the end of the year, and I will undoubtedly pop up from time to time with new content after that (it will be hard to give it up cold turkey!)  I have another thing I'm working on so that visitors to the website should easily be able to find something they've not seen to enjoy.  More on that later.

For now, let's just say that my intention is to avoid anyone thinking that:

This is all going to end badly

Tomorrow we'll ...

A few links to the wider puzzle world:

Puzzle Hunt Calendar - this site keeps track of online and in-person hunts throughout the year.  These can be in-person or online, and some require a small fee or subscription.  Among the ones I see there right now I can recommend:

Puzzled Pint - if you're lucky enough to be close enough to play in person, you can do so.  But the puzzles are posted after the event each month and you can play at your own pace for free.

P&A Magazine and Puzzle Boat - The magazine is a (roughly) bi-monthly offering with stand-alone puzzles and a group of puzzles connected to a larger "meta" puzzle.  Puzzle Boat is a longer, annual event best solved with a team.  These require a fee, but provide hours of entertainment.

MIT Mystery Hunt - Imagine the Olympics of puzzling, where you are not just watching some of the best puzzlers in the world at their craft, but you get to compete right alongside them.  There are opportunities to solve in person in Boston or join a team remotely.  I'll share more about some of the puzzles I wrote for last year's hunt in January.

Lots of other hunts pop up on the calendar throughout the year, and they have varying lengths and difficulty levels. If you're ever curious about whether I've tried one, feel free to give me a shout.  

Want to get better at cryptic crosswords?  Here's a free site where you can practice daily:  Lovatt's Cryptic Crosswords

Other subscription based ones I've tried include:

Matt Gaffney's crossword contest (I'm still working on the learning curve for these, but they're a fun challenge)

Puzzlesnacks - Eric Berlin inspired many of the recent word-based California puzzles I've shared.  He's recently switched from a weekly subscription model to a downloadable puzzle collections.  They're generally very accessible and fun.

December First - 12/1/24

Today I'm resharing a whole post from 9 years ago today: 

When I was growing up, the first of December was always a special day. Not only would we pull out the advent calendars and start the Christmas count-down, but my mom would lug the giant old "portable" record player up the stairs and at bedtime she'd set a stack of 6 Christmas LP's to play us to sleep. The next night we would listen to the flip-sides. Little did I know that many years later, the first of December would become special for a very different reason (Happy Birthday, "A"!). Today although I have a large collection of holiday CD's and I enjoy all the seasonal satellite radio channels, it still seems strange to start listening to that music before December 1. For your puzzling pleasure today, I take you to Massachusetts for:

MERRY CHRISTMAS, CAROL

Tomorrow we'll ...