Hey everyone! Hope your summer is still going well. School is almost back in session, and I hope you’ve been taking care of yourself by getting vaccinated.

While I may not be publishing as much here on CW (hopefully some to come!), I have still be vigilantly writing puzzles, and I’m proud to say I have a new book coming out September 21st! You can already pre-order a copy of Challenging Crossword Puzzles for Teens: 50 Fun and Clever Puzzles to Test Your Skills today! It’s the perfect book for a teenager you know, and if you don’t know any teenagers, a perfect book to claim your youthfulness. Sure this book mentions TikTok and YA books, but the wisdom of an older generation can still do great!

But like the title of the post says, “Free Book Opportunity”. Callisto Media currently has a mechanism to give out books for Amazon reviews, and you’ll actually get a book for free, and you get to review it! It helps me out, and you get a free book! It means a lot that you’d want to help me out, after all we’ve been through (cootie catcher puzzle, Italian puzzle, all the greats).

The only requirements are as such:

-Be based in the United States
-Have an active Amazon account (spending $50 within the last 12 months)
-Not share a last name with you
-Focus on the content of the book rather than their relationship to you

If you’d like to review a book with the book on the house, send me your email at cking.gow(at)gmail.com, and I’ll add you to the list. Callisto I believe is sending out messages starting this weekend, so hurry to get that free book. I’m not very good at salesmaning, so I appreciate anyone who pitches in.

Hope everything is going well with you! If you ever need more brain stimulation, I’ve got more questions on this series of “Only Connect” that you can find at my channel. It’s a good time!

Stay safe, and be well. Hope to see you all very soon!

Chris

Hey everyone! Hope your last number of months has been relatively uneventful. Last post on Chris Words was pre-election, so it has been a minute. Hope you are enjoying Summer 2021 so far!

1. This week, my 3rd book The Logic Puzzle Book for Teens: 100 Challenging Brain Games and Puzzles was published! I got to try my hand at experimenting with writing some logic puzzles, and I hope you enjoy what I made. In other puzzle writing news, I may have another book of crosswords getting published in the near future, so keep an eye out for that!

2. In question writing news, I’ve still been enjoying being a question writer at Only Connect, and Series 17 of the show, which debuts on July 12th, will have connections and sequences written by me! In domestic question writing news, my trivia company Palmetto Trivia has been nominated for Best Bar Trivia here in Columbia for a second year in a row. At my establishments, I’ve been matching each vote cast for me with $1 that will be donated to Harvest Hope Food Bank here in Columbia. If I’m going to shill out for votes, I’ll make it a worthy cause. You at home can vote yourself, even if you aren’t Columbia-bound. Make me and everyone here in the 2920X proud. Would mean a lot. Vote HERE.

3. I am, for sure, not removed from puzzles, and I still constantly talk about them over at Twitter. It’s a good time over there. The lack of posts on this website is made up over there.

That’s all I got for now. Hopefully I’ll be back with some new puzzles for the website, but until then, take care of yourself, and get your vaccine if you haven’t already. Hope to see all of you at a live-action tournament sometime soon!

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 123!

I’ve decided to stop being slack, and after inspiration from Lollapuzzoola 13 which was yesterday, probably should post more here on Chris Words. I’m tired of getting lapped by young people in the indie puzzle writing scene.

Today’s puzzle is an easy 11×5 puzzle, basically a large midi and not much on theme. This puzzle is only solvable in .puz, and you probably only will be able to solve it on a computer, as opposed to a phone or tablet.

If you have any questions, probably Google or my email at cking.gow(at)gmail.com are great place to look.

Enjoy the puzzle!

Chris

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Amazon Pre-Order Available Now!

Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 122.2!

Today is the day the Tony (Orbach) Award-winning crossword book “100 Large-Print Crossword Puzzles” drops! Folks have already started sending me pictures of their order, and I’m very excited to see it! The perfect compendium for family gatherings.

Today’s puzzle is titled “Summer of ’69”, and I’m very proud how this puzzle turned out. One of my favorites in the book. If you need other recs, let me know, and I’ll let you know the book’s highlights.

As a reminder, if you order a book this week, let me know, and I will donate $2 to Harvest Hope Food Bank, which serves South Carolina. Making crosswords for a good cause!

 

Thanks everyone, and a new puzzle tomorrow! Get the book, and enjoy 100x10x10 squares!

Chris

 

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Amazon Pre-Order Available Now!

Hey everyone, and welcome to Week #122.1!

Hope your last few (and next few) weeks have been as easy as possible. It’s an interesting time.

In the midst of everything, tomorrow brings a new crossword thing. My second book “100 Large-Print Crossword Puzzles” is coming out tomorrow! It is actually hard to believe, and I’m very excited to share this book with all of you.

This book is genuinely meant to be solved by anyone, and I hope you and your kin will enjoy this new book. I’m posting a sample today, tomorrow, and Wednesday so that you can get a taste of what this book has to offer. I cannot hype this book up enough. This book is so great, it’ll make the BOBDOLE/CLINTON puzzle look like an Adrian Powell crossword.

I hope you’ll order it so you and your quarantine pals can work together on some great puzzles, but I wanted to make this book a positive during this hard time. If you order the book and send me a message that you did, I will donate $2 to Harvest Hope Food Bank, a food bank working during this epidemic here in the Midlands of South Carolina. Message me at my email cking.gow(at)gmail.com or tweet at me. Crosswords for good!

And spoiler alert: this book fulfills a promise long in the making. I’m very excited to reveal this big surprise.

Thanks everyone, and I’ll be back tomorrow with a new puzzle! Take care!

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 122!

It’s been an interesting couple of months. Since the last time we met, I got a mortgage, I got my wisdom teeth removed, and that other thing that’s been dominating the news. Also, how great was was the Crossword Tournament From Your Couch?

Well, I’m going to be working from home until May, and so I want to have some more stuff here on Chris Words. Today’s timely puzzle is a collab between Chris Adams and I, and we hope you enjoy it! We highly recommend that you print it if you can, only if we think it’s a very nice grid that looks great. Don’t worry, there’s no connect-the-dots or folding or the like.

A few notes:
1) The Origin Story meta will be revealed this week, promise.
2) My write-up of the 2020 MIT Mystery Hunt should come out soon.
3) I’ve got another book coming out! 100 Large-Print Crossword Puzzles is coming out April 28th (as of today). We’ll have more promotions for that in the coming weeks.
4) Since my trivia hosting days are on hold, I’ve been putting some of my old questions on the Facebook page Palmetto Trivia. Something harmless and fun, and something to entertain during these days.

Enjoy the puzzle everyone! Please stay at home, and wash your hands frequently.

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 121!

I’m in Cambridge this weekend for the Mystery Hunt, and to continue my luck, I’ve written a puzzle dedicated to this campus. A nice romp right now, and I enjoy the shape and the seed entries. Fun for the whole family!

I plan to write up the solution to the Chris Words Origin Story this weekend, so you still have time to solve it. Solving puzzles is great!

Enjoy the puzzle!

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to the final segment of Week 120!

Today is the fourth and final day of the limited crossword series Chris Words Origin Story, and what has previously been dark I hope will now be illuminated.

Copy and pasted from yesterday’s:

Since my new book was a book of 13×13 puzzles, it only seems fitting to have a meta suite involving puzzles that size. Starting today, and once per day, I will release a 13×13 crossword. The fourth and final puzzle will be published Sunday at noon. All four puzzles will be needed to find the final answer, but I do believe it can be solved without all four, so if you know the answer prior to Sunday, feel free to email me.

For this twenty-fourth meta, I’m looking for a three-word answer. When you think you have it, email me at cking.gow@gmail.com with your answer by, let’s say midnight, December 31st.

Puzzle 1: Gridwork
Puzzle 2: Across and Down
Puzzle 3: Plane of Existence
Puzzle 4: Coordinated Effort

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Now, you’ve got all the pieces, and I wish you the best luck to try to solve this thing. Feel feel free to collaborate with friends and family during this holiday season, and also feel free to message me with direct help.

Good luck everyone! I can tell you now that someone has already solved this thing. I believe in you!

Happy holidays!

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 120!

Today is Day 3 of the Chris Words Origin Story arc, and now that we are in the homestretch, I hope things may start to make sense. But if they don’t, don’t worry. Lot of nonsense going on here.

Copy and pasted from yesterday’s:

Since my new book was a book of 13×13 puzzles, it only seems fitting to have a meta suite involving puzzles that size. Starting today, and once per day, I will release a 13×13 crossword. The fourth and final puzzle will be published Sunday at noon. All four puzzles will be needed to find the final answer, but I do believe it can be solved without all four, so if you know the answer prior to Sunday, feel free to email me.

For this twenty-fourth meta, I’m looking for a three-word answer. When you think you have it, email me at cking.gow@gmail.com with your answer by, let’s say midnight, December 31st.

Puzzle 1: Gridwork
Puzzle 2: Across and Down
Puzzle 3: Plane of Existence
Puzzle 4: TBA

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Good luck with the meta, now that you have 75% of the puzzles this suite has to offer. Will someone crack it today? We shall see. Feel free to tweet at me with your ideas, praises, or frustrations.

Enjoy!

Chris

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Week 120!

We are continuing the Chris Words Origin Story meta story line, which since “Watchmen” is popular again, makes sense to have a franchise like this.

Copy and pasted from yesterday’s:

Since my new book was a book of 13×13 puzzles, it only seems fitting to have a meta suite involving puzzles that size. Starting today, and once per day, I will release a 13×13 crossword. The fourth and final puzzle will be published Sunday at noon. All four puzzles will be needed to find the final answer, but I do believe it can be solved without all four, so if you know the answer prior to Sunday, feel free to email me.

For this twenty-fourth meta, I’m looking for a three-word answer. When you think you have it, email me at cking.gow@gmail.com with your answer by, let’s say midnight, December 31st.

Puzzle 1: Gridwork
Puzzle 2: Across and Down
Puzzle 3: TBA
Puzzle 4: TBA

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Good luck with the new puzzle, and I hope you enjoy the first half of the set! Seeing Star Wars tomorrow, so hopefully that’ll be nice.

Chris