Welcome to The Puzzle Lab! The following player guide includes a variety of useful resources that’ll be helpful while writing each of your puzzles.

The Lab Assistants will also be roaming around and available to answer any questions.

Be creative and have fun!

    1. One member of your team should open the puzzle hunt template and click the “Use Template” button to make a new copy of the template for your team.

    2. Then, share the doc with everyone else on your team and with steinviolin@gmail.com. (Click on the big “Share” button and enter everyone’s emails, making sure that the “Editor” role is selected.)

    3. As you’re writing each puzzle, decide on your favorite 1-2 clues to share with the larger group.

  • Examples:

    • ALLEY _____ SCAN → CAT

    • TROJAN _____ RACE → HORSE

    • SPRING _____ POX → CHICKEN

    Extraction:

    • Add blanks for the middle word with a 〇 for the letter you want to extract (i.e. _ _ _ 〇 _), or

    • Provide an index after the clue (i.e. [4])

    Tips:

    • Start by thinking of two-word phrases, then extend the chain in either direction.

    • It can be helpful for the middle words to fit a theme or category.

  • Examples:

    • Arm muscles _ 🧊 _ _ → B🧊PS

    • System for missed messages _ _ 🧊 _ _ _ _ → VO 🧊 MAIL

    • Dino with horns _ _ 🧊 _ _ _ _ _ _ → TR 🧊 RATOPS

    Extraction:

    • Use underscores to show the length of answer (including extra spaces between words) and use a 〇 to indicate the extracted letter.

    Tips:

    • Pick a short word that appears within lots of other longer words and can be represented by a single emoji (see the Sample Rebuses below for inspiration.)

    • You can search on OneLook to find words that contain your rebus. For example, “*cat*” would return all words that contain “CAT” surrounded by any number of other letters.

    Sample Rebuses:

    🧊 ICE, 🔛 ON, 📴 OFF, ⬆ UP, 😺 CAT, 👍 OK, ✂️ CUT, 🧘 OM, 🐀 RAT, 🦇 BAT, 🦉 OWL, 🐜 ANT, 👂 EAR, 💩 POO

  • Examples:

    • ROMAN GODDESS → MANGO

    • URBAN ANALYTICS → BANANA

    • MAP, PLEASE! → APPLE

    Extraction:

    • Provide an index, e.g. [3] after the first clue above would take the third letter of MANGO = N, or

    • Omit a letter from the hidden word, e.g. EMMA GOLDMAN contains MANGO without the N.

    Tips:

    • Pick a theme or category for your hidden words.

    • Interesting hidden word clues have an element of the unexpected, even when the answer is hiding in plain sight.

  • Examples:

    • The red planet’s swamp → MARS’ MARSH

    • Needing food in Central Europe → HUNGRY in HUNGARY

    • A bike ride in Western Europe → SPIN in SPAIN

    Extraction:

    • Take the added/deleted letter from each clue, so from MARS’ MARSH you’d get the letter H.

    Tips:

    • The added/deleted letter should change the base meaning of the word (it’s no fun to just pluralize words or use the American-to-British spelling.) It’s especially fun if it also changes the pronunciation!

    • Have fun with the cluing, without adding any unnecessary noise. Try to find a way to narratively connect the two words.

    • OneLook: Search for words and phrases that fit a specific pattern. A “?” represents a single unknown letter, and a “*” represents multiple unknown letters. Includes useful sorting and filtering features (especially “Sort by commonness”).

    • Qat: Similar to OneLook, with fancier equation capabilities but no ability to sort by commonness. A “.” represents a single letter instead of a “?”. See their tutorial page for usage examples.

    • Wordplays Crossword Clues: Find previously written crossword clues for a specific answer.