Beyond Wordplay
Exploring the intersection of pop culture, technology, and logology.
Eric Chaikin
Creative Technologist and co-founder of Beyond Wordplay.
Ben Zimmer
Linguist / lexicographer / @WSJ columnist / all-around word nut.
Latest Posts
Lollapuzzoola 15: A Crossword Tournament Returns to NYC for its Quinceañera
The 15th iteration of New York’s premier crossword tournament, Lollapuzzoola, came home after a two-year in-person hiatus.
Photo Synthesis
Find the bond and extend the wordplay chain.
“The Puzzler” is a Wild Ride Through the World of Puzzledom
Author A.J. Jacobs and puzzlemaker Greg Pliska reveal their puzzling secrets.
Wordplay Spin-offs & Extended Cuts
Streaming some of our favorites on “ABC-TV”
The Return of the SymmyS: Pleasing Palindromes from All Over
The annual awards feature an international array of palindromists.
At the MIT Mystery Hunt, Puzzlers Explored the World of “Bookspace”
How Team Palindrome crafted a wordplay-heavy realm of puzzles.
The Puzzling Story of How Cryptic Crosswords Crossed the Atlantic
Stephen Sondheim gets credit for popularizing cryptic crosswords in the U.S., but there’s a lot more to the story.
Vocally Challenged: Vowelless Words That Make You Go Hmmm…
“He had in his possession a bunchberry plant”
What’s up with those long German words?
While Oktoberfest could only be celebrated virtually this year, we can still take a moment to celebrate long German words.
Curses! A Conversation with Parker Higgins
We talk to Parker Higgins about his “beautifully janky” crossword-solving interface, Cursewords, and his Twitch stream with Ross Trudeau.
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