@tweezak Honorable mention for Riven and The Witness, trading off Portal’s sci-fi comedy for dramatic family software development and impenetrable pretense, respectively. (In the middle of these two, genuinely love them.)
They are a bitch. I’ve spent 3 years on the silver.
I haven’t started on the gold. But if you like mazes this will drain your wallet but keep you busy.
I love logic puzzles. A few free things online. I know I have an app with daily ones. But I wish there were more (like their are for sudoku, crosswords and word searches). It just seems weird to by a logic puzzle book when every other puzzle is available for phones
I have the following puzzle apps on Android. I recommend all of them, but especially Simon Tathem’s Puzzles, as it has many different types, highly customizable in one app.
i picked crossword because that’s what i’m the most interested in right now, but i flip back and forth between those and jigsaw puzzles. and certainly when someone says “puzzle”, the jigsaw variety is what comes immediately to mind for me.
actually, i’ve been a bit more crossword-y than usual because some kind person(s) here recommended the NYT daily crossword page-a-day calendar! i was able to get one on amazon for $7.95 and i’ve been enjoying it very much, especially as it also came with one month free of all the NYT online games which include the crossword archive.
so thanks very much kind stranger(s), and apologies for being terrible at remembering names.
@jerk_nugget Hey, that was me and I’m really glad you got one! I got my first one quite a while ago and wasn’t that into it, until I realized it’s the perfect size to do in bed. Now I’ve gotten them every year except one, when they sold out and I was so bummed.
@f00l you’d think a good crossword puzzle app would be easy to find, but nope! at least not that i’ve found. (if i missed something good, someone please tag me :)) i do the mini NYT crossword daily for free: https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/mini
but that only takes me around 30 seconds to a few minutes max. there is also an app called “tiny little crosswords” by blue ox games (they make lots of enjoyable word games, in my opinion, like seven little words, monkey wrench, and moxie) but again, as the name suggests, they’re very small and usually pretty easy.
i’m on a free trial right now for NYT games which includes the mini and regular crosswords as well as access to the archives, and several other games as well. i already begrudgingly pay $5 a month for the cooking portion of their website, but i may end up paying for the games too as i have really been enjoying it. we’ll see. they do have a crossword app but i prefer to work on my laptop on the webpage.
as for jigsaw puzzles, it’s not an app so i don’t know if you’ll still be interested, but i play them online (just in a browser tab) at https://www.jigsawexplorer.com/
i really like it. you can choose from standard puzzles where you know what the final image will be of, or the mystery puzzle in which they only show you a small portion of the final image. you can change the color of the board you do the puzzle on, as well as how many pieces the puzzle is, and whether or not the pieces are rotatable. you can even upload your own pictures and it will make a puzzle for you. i like that it’s no frills - no signup, no ads, no flashy interface, just the puzzle.
@f00l@jerk_nugget Still a good Xw site for me is through The Atlantic magazine. https://www.theatlantic.com/free-daily-crossword-puzzle/
It’s usually easy on Mondays and quite challenging on Fridays; the hard ones usually have a lot of pop culture references (and I don’t feel a bit of remorse for using Wikipedia on those). Only problem with Wp is that I find myself going down a lot of rabbit holes once I look something up.
The Sunday version of the current on-line puzzle is bigger and medium hard and I recommend it. (Each day’s puzzle is usually available for about two weeks.)
They used to have a wonderful “cryptic” xw puzzle in the monthly mag but they discontinued that many years ago Last time I tried I was able to dig up several years worth of archived puzzles in PDF format. Harper’s had something similar; also kaput.
These were MUCH better than the typical “British” xw puzzle, IMO, and they were great brain exercisers. If I have time and am successful, I’ll try to locate some of those and post the links.
@phendrick i’ll check out the atlantic’s puzzle, thanks! i’m the same way with looking stuff up - i definitely much prefer clues that aren’t proper nouns, because those you can usually work out using your brain*. even place names, if you have enough intersecting letters, you might recall having heard of this city or that. but if it’s some actor or singer you don’t know, you aren’t going to imagine it up no matter how hard you think on it.
anyway, i try to answer as many clues as i can on my own, but i will use google if i can’t remember how to spell something, or if it’s like the aforementioned proper noun and i just don’t know it and can’t hazard a guess. doesn’t bother me. i also look up any words i get by chance but don’t really understand afterwards. i definitely can go way down a wikipedia hole but that’s okay. sometimes i even remember the new thing(s) i learned too
*(with the exception of crossword-ese type words which i hate. nothing like googling something to find out what it is and literally every google result is just that word appearing in crosswords, or “can i play this in scrabble”, but doesn’t exist elsewhere. boo!)
@f00lhttps://redsweater.com/blackink/ haven’t used it myself, not being a crossword type person, but I’ve heard the author of that app talk about it. It’s only for macOS. Looks nice though.
It’s not letting me reply to @f00l under the right post.
I’ve used ‘crosswords’ by stand alone inc. for years. You can pick what source puzzles you want and when they are available it will download new ones. You can also downloaded subscription puzzles if you have subscriptions to them. And you can buy other packs. I’ve used the freebies for years. They also have cryptic puzzle sources, as well as British and French crossword puzzle providers.
I use ‘jigsaw puzzle’ by mobility ware. Lots of free packs, free daily puzzle. You can earn coins to buy new packs. If I remember correctly any purchase unlocks the ability to use your own pictures to make your own puzzles. You can pick how many pieces you want, turn off/on rotation.
If you like jigsaw puzzles, I can’t say enough good stuff about The Magic Puzzle Company. I got their three puzzles via their Kickstarter, and the one that I’ve completed so far is the best jigsaw I’ve ever done. Good quality materials, but also amazing design.
These are puzzles done by puzzle nuts. There are false edges & fake corners, a few oddball pieces, great artwork, with loads of Easter eggs. And when you’re done, you’re not done. There’s an extra set of pieces in a separate “do not open” envelope, with a surprise.
Then it turns out there’s a reason for some of the fake edges & corners.
Jigsaw and crossword.
Riddles, of course.
I don’t know… ?
I’m puzzled.
3D or metal puzzles
Portal
@tweezak Honorable mention for Riven and The Witness, trading off Portal’s sci-fi comedy for dramatic family software development and impenetrable pretense, respectively. (In the middle of these two, genuinely love them.)
Revomaze: at https://www.revohq.co.uk/
They are a bitch. I’ve spent 3 years on the silver.
I haven’t started on the gold. But if you like mazes this will drain your wallet but keep you busy.
@Evansdoor
Woah! That’s amazing! I don’t think I can justify spending that kind of money on puzzles yet, but I’ll add it to my wishlist.
I love logic puzzles. A few free things online. I know I have an app with daily ones. But I wish there were more (like their are for sudoku, crosswords and word searches). It just seems weird to by a logic puzzle book when every other puzzle is available for phones
Rebusses? Rebuses? Rebi?
I have the following puzzle apps on Android. I recommend all of them, but especially Simon Tathem’s Puzzles, as it has many different types, highly customizable in one app.
Numbers Game: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kila.zahlenspielpro.lars
Numbers Game 2: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kila.zahlenspiel2.lars
Simon Tathem’s Puzzles: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=name.boyle.chris.sgtpuzzles
Hitori: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brennerd.hitori.free
Hashi: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.conceptispuzzles.hashi
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.aorlinn.bridges
Griddles: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ally.griddlersplus
Rullo: [seems to have been removed
]
And, of course Sudoku: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ee.dustland.android.dustlandsudoku
The Room series by Fireproof Games.
The Riemann hypothesis:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_hypothesis; this puzzle will pay you $1M if you solve it!
(I won’t hold my breath on your doing that…)
@phendrick The answer is 42. Where do I collect my money?
People but we can be the best, the worst, or some combination of the two.
Life is a puzzle…
@rustyh3 I thought life was a highway.
@rustyh3 @yakkoTDI I thought it was a breakfast cereal.
@rustyh3 @yakkoTDI The road goes on forever and the party never ends
@2many2no @rustyh3 @yakkoTDI Then why did REK tell me to go home?
I impulse picked sudoku, without registering the last option. It’s picross/nonograms, 100%.
i picked crossword because that’s what i’m the most interested in right now, but i flip back and forth between those and jigsaw puzzles. and certainly when someone says “puzzle”, the jigsaw variety is what comes immediately to mind for me.
actually, i’ve been a bit more crossword-y than usual because some kind person(s) here recommended the NYT daily crossword page-a-day calendar! i was able to get one on amazon for $7.95 and i’ve been enjoying it very much, especially as it also came with one month free of all the NYT online games which include the crossword archive.
so thanks very much kind stranger(s), and apologies for being terrible at remembering names.
@jerk_nugget Hey, that was me and I’m really glad you got one!
I got my first one quite a while ago and wasn’t that into it, until I realized it’s the perfect size to do in bed. Now I’ve gotten them every year except one, when they sold out and I was so bummed.
@Kyeh oh yay! i’m so glad you saw my comment. i really love it and will be making this an annual tradition
All the puzzles.
Anyone got a recommend for a good crossword puzzle app?
Are there any decent jigsaw puzzle apps?
@f00l you’d think a good crossword puzzle app would be easy to find, but nope! at least not that i’ve found. (if i missed something good, someone please tag me :)) i do the mini NYT crossword daily for free:
https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/mini
but that only takes me around 30 seconds to a few minutes max. there is also an app called “tiny little crosswords” by blue ox games (they make lots of enjoyable word games, in my opinion, like seven little words, monkey wrench, and moxie) but again, as the name suggests, they’re very small and usually pretty easy.
i’m on a free trial right now for NYT games which includes the mini and regular crosswords as well as access to the archives, and several other games as well. i already begrudgingly pay $5 a month for the cooking portion of their website, but i may end up paying for the games too as i have really been enjoying it. we’ll see. they do have a crossword app but i prefer to work on my laptop on the webpage.
as for jigsaw puzzles, it’s not an app so i don’t know if you’ll still be interested, but i play them online (just in a browser tab) at https://www.jigsawexplorer.com/
i really like it. you can choose from standard puzzles where you know what the final image will be of, or the mystery puzzle in which they only show you a small portion of the final image. you can change the color of the board you do the puzzle on, as well as how many pieces the puzzle is, and whether or not the pieces are rotatable. you can even upload your own pictures and it will make a puzzle for you. i like that it’s no frills - no signup, no ads, no flashy interface, just the puzzle.
@f00l @jerk_nugget Still a good Xw site for me is through The Atlantic magazine. https://www.theatlantic.com/free-daily-crossword-puzzle/
It’s usually easy on Mondays and quite challenging on Fridays; the hard ones usually have a lot of pop culture references (and I don’t feel a bit of remorse for using Wikipedia on those). Only problem with Wp is that I find myself going down a lot of rabbit holes once I look something up.
The Sunday version of the current on-line puzzle is bigger and medium hard and I recommend it. (Each day’s puzzle is usually available for about two weeks.)
They used to have a wonderful “cryptic” xw puzzle in the monthly mag but they discontinued that many years ago
Last time I tried I was able to dig up several years worth of archived puzzles in PDF format. Harper’s had something similar; also kaput.
These were MUCH better than the typical “British” xw puzzle, IMO, and they were great brain exercisers. If I have time and am successful, I’ll try to locate some of those and post the links.
@phendrick i’ll check out the atlantic’s puzzle, thanks! i’m the same way with looking stuff up - i definitely much prefer clues that aren’t proper nouns, because those you can usually work out using your brain*. even place names, if you have enough intersecting letters, you might recall having heard of this city or that. but if it’s some actor or singer you don’t know, you aren’t going to imagine it up no matter how hard you think on it.
anyway, i try to answer as many clues as i can on my own, but i will use google if i can’t remember how to spell something, or if it’s like the aforementioned proper noun and i just don’t know it and can’t hazard a guess. doesn’t bother me. i also look up any words i get by chance but don’t really understand afterwards. i definitely can go way down a wikipedia hole but that’s okay. sometimes i even remember the new thing(s) i learned too
*(with the exception of crossword-ese type words which i hate. nothing like googling something to find out what it is and literally every google result is just that word appearing in crosswords, or “can i play this in scrabble”, but doesn’t exist elsewhere. boo!)
@f00l https://redsweater.com/blackink/ haven’t used it myself, not being a crossword type person, but I’ve heard the author of that app talk about it. It’s only for macOS. Looks nice though.
Other - “Anything but these.”
If there is an unfinished jigsaw around, I have to remind self not to get territorial about it.
It’s not letting me reply to @f00l under the right post.
I’ve used ‘crosswords’ by stand alone inc. for years. You can pick what source puzzles you want and when they are available it will download new ones. You can also downloaded subscription puzzles if you have subscriptions to them. And you can buy other packs. I’ve used the freebies for years. They also have cryptic puzzle sources, as well as British and French crossword puzzle providers.
I use ‘jigsaw puzzle’ by mobility ware. Lots of free packs, free daily puzzle. You can earn coins to buy new packs. If I remember correctly any purchase unlocks the ability to use your own pictures to make your own puzzles. You can pick how many pieces you want, turn off/on rotation.
@remo28
Thx!
Perplexus, if I want to get frustrated.
If you like jigsaw puzzles, I can’t say enough good stuff about The Magic Puzzle Company. I got their three puzzles via their Kickstarter, and the one that I’ve completed so far is the best jigsaw I’ve ever done. Good quality materials, but also amazing design.
These are puzzles done by puzzle nuts. There are false edges & fake corners, a few oddball pieces, great artwork, with loads of Easter eggs. And when you’re done, you’re not done. There’s an extra set of pieces in a separate “do not open” envelope, with a surprise.
Then it turns out there’s a reason for some of the fake edges & corners.
https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Puzzles-3-Pack-Mystic-Company/dp/B08NDT2CD2
Very highly recommended!