This year, we published 23 brand-new, custom-crafted puzzles for our solvers, surpassing the 22 puzzles we featured in 2024. Released fortnightly, these puzzles kept our community engaged and entertained throughout the year.
A Special Year for Our Setters
2025 was truly remarkable as even more setters who had set their first crosswords on our blog expanded their reach as professional puzzle creators. Feeling extremely proud that we have contributed in a small way to their journey as crossword constructors.!
Puzzle Highlights
Here’s a breakdown of the puzzles and their incredible setters:
- 4 puzzles each: Mathrix
- 3 puzzles each: Aquifer, Bingo, Amygdala
- 2 puzzles each: Metacryptix, Veeyares
- 1 puzzle each: Avtaar, Sceptic Cryptic, Hypatia, Blue Jay, Gridzilla
- Special Grids: Community grid for Women’s Day.
Many thanks to our setters for crafting such entertaining and challenging grids! Your creativity gave us countless hours of puzzling joy.
By the Numbers
- Total views across puzzle and solution pages: 15,500+
- Solvers attempting per puzzle: 40-80+, based on difficulty
- Most-viewed puzzle: “Ladies First” by Women of 1AC with >1.000 views
- Most solvers: “Ladies First” by Women of 1AC 86 solvers
- Fewest solves: “March” by Bingo
- Highly rated puzzles: 5 puzzles scored 9.0 or higher (all 3 Bingo puzzles with Net-Net scoring 9.6), one each of Mathrix and Hypatia
Summary of Puzzles:
Here’s an overview of the year’s puzzles:
| S.No. | Date | Puzzle | Setter | Views | Solvers | Rating | 10s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23. | 14th Dec. | X-factors | Bingo | 670 | 63 | 9.2 | 15 |
| 22. | 30th Nov. | Flower Power | Veeyares | 377 | 59 | 8.4 | 11 |
| 21. | 16th Nov. | Gentlemen | Avtaar | 638 | 65 | 8.9 | 12 |
| 20. | 2nd Nov. | Dictation | Mathrix | 504 | 58 | 8.6 | 8 |
| 19. | 19th Oct. | Dispelling Darkness | Metacryptix | 433 | 54 | 8.3 | 8 |
| 18. | 5th Oct. | Forest Folk | Aquifer | 522 | 62 | 8.7 | 11 |
| 17. | 21st Sept. | 16C – SpurTed | Sceptic Cryptic | 511 | 60 | 8.4 | 6 |
| 16. | 7th Sept. | A Dad’s Army | Hypatia | 605 | 68 | 9.1 | 19 |
| 15. | 24th Aug. | Rebus | Mathrix | 494 | 57 | 9.0 | 19 |
| 14. | 10th Aug. | August Celebration | Amygdala | 615 | 62 | 8.3 | 5 |
| 13. | 27th July | Writer & Director | Aquifer | 539 | 53 | 8.5 | 9 |
| 12. | 29th June | Net Net | Bingo | 765 | 61 | 9.6 | 22 |
| 11. | 15th June | Family Man | Amygdala | 819 | 56 | 8.9 | 14 |
| 10. | 1st June | Roll The Dice | Metacryptix | 715 | 62 | 8.4 | 10 |
| 9. | 18th May | May Flowers | Blue Jay | 525 | 71 | 8.5 | 9 |
| 8. | 27th Apr. | Change | Mathrix | 648 | 64 | 8.8 | 16 |
| 7. | 13th Apr. | Food For Thought | Veeyares | 648 | 43 | 8.1 | 7 |
| 6. | 23rd Mar. | March | Bingo | 857 | 42 | 9.3 | 19 |
| 5. | 8th Mar. | Ladies First | Women of 1AC | 1,424 | 86 | 8.7 | 17 |
| 4. | 23rd Feb. | 2nd | Gridzilla | 895 | 67 | 8.5 | 13 |
| 3. | 9th Feb. | Roses Are Red | Amygdala | 674 | 57 | 8.3 | 9 |
| 2. | 25th Jan. | What the ___! | Aquifer | 757 | 54 | 8.6 | 12 |
| 1. | 12th Jan. | Architect’s Tool | Mathrix | 875 | 58 | 8.4 | 11 |
Top Performers of 2025
A big round of applause for our winners!
#1 Venkatraghavan S. – 3,762 points (Retaining #1 spot from last year!)
#2 Ian VanderSchee – 3,759 points
#3 Lakshmi Prakash. – 3,758 points
Top 10 Rankings
4 (Tie) Ramki Krishnan and Samit Kallianpur – 3,757 points
6 (Tie) Mona Sogal and Rathnakumar – 3,756 points
8 Prakash Arumugam – 3,752 points
9 (Tie) Sparsh Sinha and Venkatesan P. – 3,751 points
Congratulations to all our top solvers! Check out our and Hall of Fame to see the full rankings.
Your Feedback Matters
We hope you’ve enjoyed this year’s puzzles! Which one was your favorite? Have compliments or suggestions? We’d love to hear from you—drop us a message and share your thoughts.
Here’s to another year of puzzling fun—thank you for being part of our community!
Call for submissions
I am working on the puzzle calendar for next year and if you would like to contribute a grid, please let me know in the comments or mail me at 1acrossgp<at>gmail.com and I will reach out to you.
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