Codebreaking Meets Romance in Bay Area Author’s New Novel
In 2025, I Became a Competitive Crossword Solver — and Got Absolutely Smoked
Here's What's Behind the Wordle C-R-A-Z-E
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"content": "\u003cp>According to recent psychology and neuroscience findings, revisiting the things we loved as children, like play, contains cognitive and physical benefits. For author S.C. Godfrey, returning to a children’s book she once loved generated creative inspiration for her new thriller, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/787579/the-enigma-challenge-by-sc-godfrey/\">The Enigma Challenge\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Godfrey, who lives in the Bay Area with her husband and their two sons, can still recall childhood visits to an aunt’s house where she’d frequently pore over Kit Williams’s 1979 illustrated book \u003cem>Masquerade\u003c/em>. The book was filled with riddles and puzzles that, when pieced together, led readers on a real-life treasure hunt for a jewelled golden hare the author had hidden somewhere in Britain. It is widely credited as a progenitor of the armchair scavenger hunt craze.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Godfrey never solved it herself, but she’s thankful the internet later made it possible to discover who did. She’s also grateful for how reflecting on that childhood memory as an adult acted as a writing prompt.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I had this idea of returning to what I love,” the author explains to KQED in a recent interview. “I thought about that book and I was like, ‘Okay, what if the characters are finding something in a book that they can solve real-life riddles for?’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/SierraGodfrey1_2000.jpg\" alt=\"smiling white woman with shoulder-length brown hair\" class=\"wp-image-13992398\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/SierraGodfrey1_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/SierraGodfrey1_2000-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/SierraGodfrey1_2000-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/SierraGodfrey1_2000-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">S.C. Godfrey. (Sisalee Leavitt)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Enigma Challenge\u003c/em> opens with 30-year-old Zoe Wilder, a postdoc who studies ciphers at the fictional Bay Area university Chessmont, attending the International Conference on Cryptology in Madrid as a first-time paper presenter. Attendees (an eclectic crowd of security experts, hackers, and academics) are abuzz about a puzzle challenge known as the Enigma Challenge, made up of five puzzles that, once solved, point to an undisclosed but rumored-to-be-big cash prize.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zoe is drawn into participating by two highly motivating factors: the dramatic dissolution of a toxic relationship with her boyfriend-slash-boss, who begs her not to get involved with the challenge, and her own natural puzzle-solving bent. (Godfrey describes Zoe as someone for whom “‘too difficult to solve’ is an invitation not a threat.’”)\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Without fully understanding what she’s signed up for, Zoe becomes the first to solve the kickoff puzzle, and everyone in her vicinity receives a mass text that announces the challenge has begun. Fellow participants become enemies who converge upon her with lethal intent, and force her to take on an unlikely co-solver: Dane Seaver, her ex’s notorious academic rival, who is, unfortunately, an equally mysterious puzzle. What’s more, he’s also “unattainable leading man level” attractive. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While \u003cem>Masquerade\u003c/em> had visual puzzles, Godfrey utilizes ciphers and text-based puzzles better suited to a novel. This required extensive research, including Elonka Dunin and Klaus Schmeh’s \u003cem>Code Breaking: A Practical Guide\u003c/em>, which she calls a “source text” for the book’s puzzles. Godfrey even joined a cryptography Facebook group to pose questions about ciphers — a move with massive payoff. “It turns out that Klaus is the moderator there,” she says. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Klaus emailed the author and invited her to a Zoom with Elonka —a world-renowned game developer and cryptographer, who best-selling author Dan Brown named a character after in his \u003cem>The DaVinci Code \u003c/em>sequel (as an anagram, naturally). When Elonka prompted the author to put the puzzles from the book in their Zoom chat, “she solved them immediately,” Godfrey remembers with a laugh. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The exchange with the “puzzle genius” was a confidence boost, and proof that the puzzles she’d crafted for her book could be recognized and solved. “I thought, ‘Okay, this is great because they’re not that hard, but they’re hard for normal people, but she’s not a normal person.’” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If reading about puzzle-solving sounds boring or reminiscent of the much-mocked Sherlockian “mind palace” retreats, Godfrey’s execution dispels those fears. Godfrey has Zoe run readers through a range of cipher varieties so the uninitiated are quickly caught up; there’s the Caesar, Patristocrat, pigpen, homophonic, polyalphabetic, columnar transposition and so on. Readers could theoretically solve the puzzles if they wished, but the novel is written in such a way that allows them to follow along without participating. The story’s action is propelled by the high stakes and time constraints of the challenge: Six days to solve five puzzles across three countries, or face being knocked off by fellow prize-hunters unafraid to employ underhanded and sometimes violent maneuvers. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This thriller is so self-assured it doesn’t read as a first-time genre entry; Godfrey’s previous books, \u003cem>A Very Typical Family \u003c/em>(2022)and \u003cem>The Second Chance Hotel\u003c/em> (2023) — published under the name Sierra Godfrey — were both romances. For \u003cem>The Enigma Challenge\u003c/em>, “I wanted a couple on an adventure, and I wanted it to be twisty and turny, sort of \u003cem>Mr. & Mrs. Smith\u003c/em>-ish,” she explains.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She recounts the moment during the drafting process when she knew she was on the right path. “[It’s] around the middle of \u003cem>The Enigma Challenge\u003c/em> and the lights go out. I kept returning to that scene, to that little bit of writing. It was the tension and heart pounding and urgency … I was like, \u003cem>this is it for me\u003c/em>.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Essential to the book’s effectiveness is the central romance between Zoe and Dane. Their back-and-forth banter, the employment of endearingly cliché genre tropes (there’s only one bed, fake dating) and prioritization of the female lead’s interiority all reflect an understanding of the romance genre and its audience. Likewise, the story’s balance of fast-paced action sequences, romantic development, a colorful cast of criminal side characters and an unspooling mystery gives \u003cem>The Enigma Challenge\u003c/em> a cinematic scale and pace akin to Robert Zemeckis’ ’80s classic \u003cem>Romancing the Stone\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Like many modern blockbusters, \u003cem>The Enigma Challenge\u003c/em> ends on a cliffhanger. But Godfrey’s next book isn’t a direct sequel. “It’s a separate story within the same world and the characters are related,” she teases. For those looking for a diverting experience, this first installment satisfies all criteria for a summer action movie or beach read.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/787579/the-enigma-challenge-by-sc-godfrey/\">The Enigma Challenge\u003c/a>’ is out Aug. 11, 2026. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>If reading about puzzle-solving sounds boring or reminiscent of the much-mocked Sherlockian “mind palace” retreats, Godfrey’s execution dispels those fears. Godfrey has Zoe run readers through a range of cipher varieties so the uninitiated are quickly caught up; there’s the Caesar, Patristocrat, pigpen, homophonic, polyalphabetic, columnar transposition and so on. Readers could theoretically solve the puzzles if they wished, but the novel is written in such a way that allows them to follow along without participating. The story’s action is propelled by the high stakes and time constraints of the challenge: Six days to solve five puzzles across three countries, or face being knocked off by fellow prize-hunters unafraid to employ underhanded and sometimes violent maneuvers. \u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Codebreaking Meets Romance in Bay Area Author’s New Novel | KQED",
"description": "In S.C. Godfrey’s ‘The Enigma Challenge,’ some puzzles are interpersonal.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>According to recent psychology and neuroscience findings, revisiting the things we loved as children, like play, contains cognitive and physical benefits. For author S.C. Godfrey, returning to a children’s book she once loved generated creative inspiration for her new thriller, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/787579/the-enigma-challenge-by-sc-godfrey/\">The Enigma Challenge\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Godfrey, who lives in the Bay Area with her husband and their two sons, can still recall childhood visits to an aunt’s house where she’d frequently pore over Kit Williams’s 1979 illustrated book \u003cem>Masquerade\u003c/em>. The book was filled with riddles and puzzles that, when pieced together, led readers on a real-life treasure hunt for a jewelled golden hare the author had hidden somewhere in Britain. It is widely credited as a progenitor of the armchair scavenger hunt craze.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Godfrey never solved it herself, but she’s thankful the internet later made it possible to discover who did. She’s also grateful for how reflecting on that childhood memory as an adult acted as a writing prompt.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I had this idea of returning to what I love,” the author explains to KQED in a recent interview. “I thought about that book and I was like, ‘Okay, what if the characters are finding something in a book that they can solve real-life riddles for?’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/SierraGodfrey1_2000.jpg\" alt=\"smiling white woman with shoulder-length brown hair\" class=\"wp-image-13992398\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/SierraGodfrey1_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/SierraGodfrey1_2000-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/SierraGodfrey1_2000-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/SierraGodfrey1_2000-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">S.C. Godfrey. (Sisalee Leavitt)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Enigma Challenge\u003c/em> opens with 30-year-old Zoe Wilder, a postdoc who studies ciphers at the fictional Bay Area university Chessmont, attending the International Conference on Cryptology in Madrid as a first-time paper presenter. Attendees (an eclectic crowd of security experts, hackers, and academics) are abuzz about a puzzle challenge known as the Enigma Challenge, made up of five puzzles that, once solved, point to an undisclosed but rumored-to-be-big cash prize.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zoe is drawn into participating by two highly motivating factors: the dramatic dissolution of a toxic relationship with her boyfriend-slash-boss, who begs her not to get involved with the challenge, and her own natural puzzle-solving bent. (Godfrey describes Zoe as someone for whom “‘too difficult to solve’ is an invitation not a threat.’”)\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Without fully understanding what she’s signed up for, Zoe becomes the first to solve the kickoff puzzle, and everyone in her vicinity receives a mass text that announces the challenge has begun. Fellow participants become enemies who converge upon her with lethal intent, and force her to take on an unlikely co-solver: Dane Seaver, her ex’s notorious academic rival, who is, unfortunately, an equally mysterious puzzle. What’s more, he’s also “unattainable leading man level” attractive. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While \u003cem>Masquerade\u003c/em> had visual puzzles, Godfrey utilizes ciphers and text-based puzzles better suited to a novel. This required extensive research, including Elonka Dunin and Klaus Schmeh’s \u003cem>Code Breaking: A Practical Guide\u003c/em>, which she calls a “source text” for the book’s puzzles. Godfrey even joined a cryptography Facebook group to pose questions about ciphers — a move with massive payoff. “It turns out that Klaus is the moderator there,” she says. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Klaus emailed the author and invited her to a Zoom with Elonka —a world-renowned game developer and cryptographer, who best-selling author Dan Brown named a character after in his \u003cem>The DaVinci Code \u003c/em>sequel (as an anagram, naturally). When Elonka prompted the author to put the puzzles from the book in their Zoom chat, “she solved them immediately,” Godfrey remembers with a laugh. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The exchange with the “puzzle genius” was a confidence boost, and proof that the puzzles she’d crafted for her book could be recognized and solved. “I thought, ‘Okay, this is great because they’re not that hard, but they’re hard for normal people, but she’s not a normal person.’” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If reading about puzzle-solving sounds boring or reminiscent of the much-mocked Sherlockian “mind palace” retreats, Godfrey’s execution dispels those fears. Godfrey has Zoe run readers through a range of cipher varieties so the uninitiated are quickly caught up; there’s the Caesar, Patristocrat, pigpen, homophonic, polyalphabetic, columnar transposition and so on. Readers could theoretically solve the puzzles if they wished, but the novel is written in such a way that allows them to follow along without participating. The story’s action is propelled by the high stakes and time constraints of the challenge: Six days to solve five puzzles across three countries, or face being knocked off by fellow prize-hunters unafraid to employ underhanded and sometimes violent maneuvers. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This thriller is so self-assured it doesn’t read as a first-time genre entry; Godfrey’s previous books, \u003cem>A Very Typical Family \u003c/em>(2022)and \u003cem>The Second Chance Hotel\u003c/em> (2023) — published under the name Sierra Godfrey — were both romances. For \u003cem>The Enigma Challenge\u003c/em>, “I wanted a couple on an adventure, and I wanted it to be twisty and turny, sort of \u003cem>Mr. & Mrs. Smith\u003c/em>-ish,” she explains.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She recounts the moment during the drafting process when she knew she was on the right path. “[It’s] around the middle of \u003cem>The Enigma Challenge\u003c/em> and the lights go out. I kept returning to that scene, to that little bit of writing. It was the tension and heart pounding and urgency … I was like, \u003cem>this is it for me\u003c/em>.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Essential to the book’s effectiveness is the central romance between Zoe and Dane. Their back-and-forth banter, the employment of endearingly cliché genre tropes (there’s only one bed, fake dating) and prioritization of the female lead’s interiority all reflect an understanding of the romance genre and its audience. Likewise, the story’s balance of fast-paced action sequences, romantic development, a colorful cast of criminal side characters and an unspooling mystery gives \u003cem>The Enigma Challenge\u003c/em> a cinematic scale and pace akin to Robert Zemeckis’ ’80s classic \u003cem>Romancing the Stone\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Like many modern blockbusters, \u003cem>The Enigma Challenge\u003c/em> ends on a cliffhanger. But Godfrey’s next book isn’t a direct sequel. “It’s a separate story within the same world and the characters are related,” she teases. For those looking for a diverting experience, this first installment satisfies all criteria for a summer action movie or beach read.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/787579/the-enigma-challenge-by-sc-godfrey/\">The Enigma Challenge\u003c/a>’ is out Aug. 11, 2026. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "In 2025, I Became a Competitive Crossword Solver — and Got Absolutely Smoked",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ci>This week, as we near the end of 2025, the writers and editors of KQED Arts & Culture are reflecting on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/one-beautiful-thing\">One Beautiful Thing\u003c/a> from the year.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n a bright Sunday morning in June, I sat down in a crowded synagogue library in West Berkeley for my first ever \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/crossword\">crossword puzzle\u003c/a> competition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’d signed up on a lark, in the interest of trying something new. Berkeley’s second annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.westwordsbestwords.com/\">Westwords\u003c/a> crossword tournament — a grueling, six-hour puzzle-solving extravaganza — certainly fit the bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m gonna get smoked!” I told my wife and kids, who’d decamped to New Jersey for the summer a few days earlier, leaving me with a precious free weekend to pursue my nerdy hobbies. “I just don’t want to finish last.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Look, I’d done enough research ahead of time to know I didn’t have a prayer of winning, or even placing remotely close to the top of the leaderboard. Not when the \u003ca href=\"https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/dan-feyer-american-crossword-puzzle-tournament/\">world’s top puzzlers\u003c/a> routinely solve the \u003ci>New York Times \u003c/i>Saturday crossword in 3 or 4 minutes — nearly 10 times faster than my best efforts. Still, I didn’t \u003ci>really \u003c/i>think I was in any danger of coming in dead last. I’d completed the \u003ci>NYT \u003c/i>puzzle for more than 500 days in a row! I didn’t know anyone, personally, who was a more devoted crossword puzzle solver than me!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If glory was out of reach, I figured I could at least achieve respectability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So how did it come to be that about 15 minutes into the first puzzle of the tournament, I was one of just five or six people in the room who still hadn’t finished my grid? Looking at the friendly mix of mild-mannered software engineer types, dudes rocking ponytails and goth girls in crossword-themed dresses who’d gathered in Berkeley that day, how did I not realize that more than half of them were outright\u003ci> monsters\u003c/i>?\u003ci> \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last place started to seem like a real possibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984722\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984722\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/GettyImages-3319672.jpg\" alt=\"Vintage black and white photo of crossword solvers sitting at individual desks during a competition.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1470\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/GettyImages-3319672.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/GettyImages-3319672-160x118.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/GettyImages-3319672-768x564.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/GettyImages-3319672-1536x1129.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ahh, crossword squares and Scotch: In 1971, competitors take part in the Cutty Sark/Times National Crossword Championships in the London. \u003ccite>(Central Press/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n one sense, you could say I’d been training for crossword glory for my entire life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’d always been the Word Person in my science-oriented friend group — the OED brandisher, the unrepentant menace in games of Boggle and \u003ca href=\"https://www.mrkland.com/mrkland.com/sport/spscrab.htm\">Speed Scrabble\u003c/a>. But I came to crossword puzzles, specifically, relatively late in life. In the early pandemic years, I started taking long hot baths every night as a way to self-soothe. Instead of doomscrolling during those hours-long soaks, I got in the habit of doing the \u003ci>New York Times \u003c/i>crossword on my phone. I was surprised to be able to complete them, mostly — the breezy Monday puzzles and, with enough time and effort, the gnarly, knotty Saturdays (which I learned were much harder than their more famous Sunday counterparts). Week by week, I got faster and more confident, and my mental health started to improve, too: As it turns out, racking your brain to think of a five-letter word for “performed reasonably well”\u003csup>1\u003c/sup> was a decent way to distract yourself from all that existential dread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, none of this prepared me for the balls-to-the-wall world of competitive crossword tournaments, where puzzles are scored on both speed and accuracy. The largest, most prestigious in-person crossword competitions, like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/people/2101852/will-shortz\">Will Shortz\u003c/a>–hosted American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, can draw more than 1,000 participants. The most expert among them have been known to fill out a grid, error-free, even faster than the puzzle’s \u003ci>constructor \u003c/i>(who, presumably, knew all the answers ahead of time).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the 150 or so who’d crammed into the synagogue library for Westwords, I learned that most of my tablemates were also first-timers — a lawyer, a video game designer, a couple of sleepy-looking college kids. We sat with our papers turned upside down until the proctors started the timer, like we’d all gone back to high school to take the SATs. Wielding the mechanical pencil and fancy Japanese eraser I’d purchased for the occasion, I started working my way through the first puzzle — an easy warmup, we were told. A three-letter word for “hullabaloo.”\u003csup>2\u003c/sup> Six-letter word for “pandemonium” starting with “B.”\u003csup>3\u003c/sup>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everything was going swimmingly until about two minutes in, when people started raising their hands to indicate that they’d \u003ci>finished\u003c/i>. (I’d filled in maybe a dozen answers at that point.) Nothing can prepare you for that very specific form of stress — the way my hands were sweaty and my pencil started to shake — when 5 contestants, then very quickly 10 and then 50, turned in their puzzles and trickled out of the room. Soon enough, there were only a dozen of us left. Meanwhile, the clock continued to tick down, and half of my puzzle was still blank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time the clock ran out on the second puzzle, which I didn’t come particularly close to finishing, I was thoroughly demoralized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13969423,arts_13983150']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>I’m the sort of person who’s spent most of my life focusing on things I knew I excelled at: getting good grades, being cutthroat at board games and \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_two\">Big Two\u003c/a>, eating large quantities of noodles \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">late at night\u003c/a>. I quit organized sports and the jazz band before I started high school because I didn’t think I was any good. I never really gave writing that novel a serious shot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet I tell my kids all the time how they shouldn’t be afraid to try new and difficult things — how they should challenge themselves and enjoy learning for learning’s sake. That they shouldn’t worry about failing or looking foolish. Sitting in a soondubu shop across the street from the crossword competition during our lunch break, I thought about how so many of my favorite memories were from letting loose at things I’m genuinely \u003ci>bad \u003c/i>at — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13969423/sports-dad-rock-climbing-bouldering-parenting\">rock climbing\u003c/a>, or \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13968142/karaoke-south-san-francisco-hong-kong-late-night-restaurant-noodles-e-plus\">karaoke\u003c/a>, or those six months in college when I tried to become a breakdancer [screaming face emoji].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is a kind of freedom that comes with embracing your own mediocrity — or at least in not worrying how well you’re going to do compared to anyone else. I wish I could say that I came back from lunch and aced the last three puzzles of the tournament, but the truth is, I only finished one of them, and even that one was riddled with mistakes. But I did finally manage to relax a little. To just fill in one square at a time and enjoy the thrill of solving for solving’s sake. To have \u003ci>fun\u003c/i> with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984723\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1598px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984723\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/screenshot_2025-12-09_at_6.50.50___pm.png\" alt=\"The leaderboard of a crossword competition. Luke Tsai is in 134th place.\" width=\"1598\" height=\"446\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/screenshot_2025-12-09_at_6.50.50___pm.png 1598w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/screenshot_2025-12-09_at_6.50.50___pm-160x45.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/screenshot_2025-12-09_at_6.50.50___pm-768x214.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/screenshot_2025-12-09_at_6.50.50___pm-1536x429.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1598px) 100vw, 1598px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Luke Tsai’s final ranking and score in the crossword competition.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the end, I didn’t wind up finishing in last place after all — though my 134th place ranking (out of 144 competitors) was almost low enough to be a punchline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course I decided immediately that I’d be back to try again next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003csup>1\u003c/sup>\u003c/i>\u003ci>DID OK\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003csup>2\u003c/sup>\u003c/i>\u003ci>ADO\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003csup>3\u003c/sup>\u003c/i>\u003ci>BEDLAM\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ci>This week, as we near the end of 2025, the writers and editors of KQED Arts & Culture are reflecting on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/one-beautiful-thing\">One Beautiful Thing\u003c/a> from the year.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">O\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>n a bright Sunday morning in June, I sat down in a crowded synagogue library in West Berkeley for my first ever \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/crossword\">crossword puzzle\u003c/a> competition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’d signed up on a lark, in the interest of trying something new. Berkeley’s second annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.westwordsbestwords.com/\">Westwords\u003c/a> crossword tournament — a grueling, six-hour puzzle-solving extravaganza — certainly fit the bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m gonna get smoked!” I told my wife and kids, who’d decamped to New Jersey for the summer a few days earlier, leaving me with a precious free weekend to pursue my nerdy hobbies. “I just don’t want to finish last.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Look, I’d done enough research ahead of time to know I didn’t have a prayer of winning, or even placing remotely close to the top of the leaderboard. Not when the \u003ca href=\"https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/dan-feyer-american-crossword-puzzle-tournament/\">world’s top puzzlers\u003c/a> routinely solve the \u003ci>New York Times \u003c/i>Saturday crossword in 3 or 4 minutes — nearly 10 times faster than my best efforts. Still, I didn’t \u003ci>really \u003c/i>think I was in any danger of coming in dead last. I’d completed the \u003ci>NYT \u003c/i>puzzle for more than 500 days in a row! I didn’t know anyone, personally, who was a more devoted crossword puzzle solver than me!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If glory was out of reach, I figured I could at least achieve respectability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So how did it come to be that about 15 minutes into the first puzzle of the tournament, I was one of just five or six people in the room who still hadn’t finished my grid? Looking at the friendly mix of mild-mannered software engineer types, dudes rocking ponytails and goth girls in crossword-themed dresses who’d gathered in Berkeley that day, how did I not realize that more than half of them were outright\u003ci> monsters\u003c/i>?\u003ci> \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last place started to seem like a real possibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984722\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984722\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/GettyImages-3319672.jpg\" alt=\"Vintage black and white photo of crossword solvers sitting at individual desks during a competition.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1470\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/GettyImages-3319672.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/GettyImages-3319672-160x118.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/GettyImages-3319672-768x564.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/GettyImages-3319672-1536x1129.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ahh, crossword squares and Scotch: In 1971, competitors take part in the Cutty Sark/Times National Crossword Championships in the London. \u003ccite>(Central Press/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">I\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>n one sense, you could say I’d been training for crossword glory for my entire life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’d always been the Word Person in my science-oriented friend group — the OED brandisher, the unrepentant menace in games of Boggle and \u003ca href=\"https://www.mrkland.com/mrkland.com/sport/spscrab.htm\">Speed Scrabble\u003c/a>. But I came to crossword puzzles, specifically, relatively late in life. In the early pandemic years, I started taking long hot baths every night as a way to self-soothe. Instead of doomscrolling during those hours-long soaks, I got in the habit of doing the \u003ci>New York Times \u003c/i>crossword on my phone. I was surprised to be able to complete them, mostly — the breezy Monday puzzles and, with enough time and effort, the gnarly, knotty Saturdays (which I learned were much harder than their more famous Sunday counterparts). Week by week, I got faster and more confident, and my mental health started to improve, too: As it turns out, racking your brain to think of a five-letter word for “performed reasonably well”\u003csup>1\u003c/sup> was a decent way to distract yourself from all that existential dread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, none of this prepared me for the balls-to-the-wall world of competitive crossword tournaments, where puzzles are scored on both speed and accuracy. The largest, most prestigious in-person crossword competitions, like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/people/2101852/will-shortz\">Will Shortz\u003c/a>–hosted American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, can draw more than 1,000 participants. The most expert among them have been known to fill out a grid, error-free, even faster than the puzzle’s \u003ci>constructor \u003c/i>(who, presumably, knew all the answers ahead of time).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the 150 or so who’d crammed into the synagogue library for Westwords, I learned that most of my tablemates were also first-timers — a lawyer, a video game designer, a couple of sleepy-looking college kids. We sat with our papers turned upside down until the proctors started the timer, like we’d all gone back to high school to take the SATs. Wielding the mechanical pencil and fancy Japanese eraser I’d purchased for the occasion, I started working my way through the first puzzle — an easy warmup, we were told. A three-letter word for “hullabaloo.”\u003csup>2\u003c/sup> Six-letter word for “pandemonium” starting with “B.”\u003csup>3\u003c/sup>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everything was going swimmingly until about two minutes in, when people started raising their hands to indicate that they’d \u003ci>finished\u003c/i>. (I’d filled in maybe a dozen answers at that point.) Nothing can prepare you for that very specific form of stress — the way my hands were sweaty and my pencil started to shake — when 5 contestants, then very quickly 10 and then 50, turned in their puzzles and trickled out of the room. Soon enough, there were only a dozen of us left. Meanwhile, the clock continued to tick down, and half of my puzzle was still blank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time the clock ran out on the second puzzle, which I didn’t come particularly close to finishing, I was thoroughly demoralized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>I’m the sort of person who’s spent most of my life focusing on things I knew I excelled at: getting good grades, being cutthroat at board games and \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_two\">Big Two\u003c/a>, eating large quantities of noodles \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">late at night\u003c/a>. I quit organized sports and the jazz band before I started high school because I didn’t think I was any good. I never really gave writing that novel a serious shot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet I tell my kids all the time how they shouldn’t be afraid to try new and difficult things — how they should challenge themselves and enjoy learning for learning’s sake. That they shouldn’t worry about failing or looking foolish. Sitting in a soondubu shop across the street from the crossword competition during our lunch break, I thought about how so many of my favorite memories were from letting loose at things I’m genuinely \u003ci>bad \u003c/i>at — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13969423/sports-dad-rock-climbing-bouldering-parenting\">rock climbing\u003c/a>, or \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13968142/karaoke-south-san-francisco-hong-kong-late-night-restaurant-noodles-e-plus\">karaoke\u003c/a>, or those six months in college when I tried to become a breakdancer [screaming face emoji].\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is a kind of freedom that comes with embracing your own mediocrity — or at least in not worrying how well you’re going to do compared to anyone else. I wish I could say that I came back from lunch and aced the last three puzzles of the tournament, but the truth is, I only finished one of them, and even that one was riddled with mistakes. But I did finally manage to relax a little. To just fill in one square at a time and enjoy the thrill of solving for solving’s sake. To have \u003ci>fun\u003c/i> with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984723\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1598px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984723\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/screenshot_2025-12-09_at_6.50.50___pm.png\" alt=\"The leaderboard of a crossword competition. Luke Tsai is in 134th place.\" width=\"1598\" height=\"446\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/screenshot_2025-12-09_at_6.50.50___pm.png 1598w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/screenshot_2025-12-09_at_6.50.50___pm-160x45.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/screenshot_2025-12-09_at_6.50.50___pm-768x214.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/screenshot_2025-12-09_at_6.50.50___pm-1536x429.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1598px) 100vw, 1598px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Luke Tsai’s final ranking and score in the crossword competition.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the end, I didn’t wind up finishing in last place after all — though my 134th place ranking (out of 144 competitors) was almost low enough to be a punchline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course I decided immediately that I’d be back to try again next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003csup>1\u003c/sup>\u003c/i>\u003ci>DID OK\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003csup>2\u003c/sup>\u003c/i>\u003ci>ADO\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A simple word game is the newest social media and pop culture phenomenon: \u003ca href=\"https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wordle\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task is to guess a five-letter word. You have six tries. After each guess, the tiles change colors to show which letters are not in the word (gray), which letters are in the word but in the wrong position (yellow) and which ones are correctly in the word and in the right position (green).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some people can win in a few minutes. For some of us, it takes … longer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/bessbell/status/1481117887280529410\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once you finish, you can post on Twitter how many guesses it took without spoiling the challenge for others. It’s the same word every day for everyone, and you can play only once a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The free game was created by software engineer Josh Wardle of New York City, who made Wordle—a riff on his name—originally for his partner, Palak Shah, who is a fan of word games. Shah also helped with some of the development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website\u003c/a> really started picking up steam in October, and as of Monday it has more than 2.7 million players, Wardle told NPR’s \u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em>. And Wardle did it without ads or gimmicks. You don’t have to sign up with your email or give personal information to play.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13879872']“Making Wordle I specifically rejected a bunch of the things you’re supposed to do for a mobile game,” Wardle told NPR. He deliberately didn’t include push notifications, allow users to play endlessly or build in other tools commonly used today to pull users into playing apps for as long as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wardle said the rejection of those engagement tricks might have fueled the game’s popularity after all—”where the rejection of some of those things has actually attracted people to the game because it feels quite innocent and it just wants you to have fun with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the rapid attention can be overwhelming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It going viral doesn’t feel great to be honest. I feel a sense of responsibility for the players,” he told \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/jan/11/wordle-creator-overwhelmed-by-global-success-of-hit-puzzle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>The Guardian\u003c/em>.\u003c/a> “I feel I really owe it to them to keep things running and make sure everything’s working correctly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Wardle said he has especially enjoyed stories of how the game has helped people keep connected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’ll have a family chat group where they share their Wordle results with one another,” Wardle told NPR. “And especially during COVID, it being a way for people to connect with friends and family that they couldn’t otherwise see, and it just provides this really easy way to touch base with others.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/traceyfanclub/status/1479935207562092545\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Strategy: vowels or consonants?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Facebook fan groups have now cropped up, while numerous articles and \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SpookyBiscuits/status/1479140761786531843?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">players offer\u003c/a> their own strategy tips.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using as many vowels as possible in the first guess is one tactic—”adieu” offers four of them. Another method is to try using as many common consonants as possible with a word like “snort.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='pop_10178']The game uses common five-letter words as its answers, Wardle told the \u003cem>Times\u003c/em>, and he took out the possibility of very obscure words no one would ever guess.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s also a “hard mode,” where any yellow or green letter has to be used in subsequent guesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you guess the word within six tries, the game gives you the option of sharing your prowess on social media. The numbers in the tweet displayed here, as this reporter eventually discovered, mean it was game No. 203 and I guessed the correct answer in three of six attempts:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/JamesDoubek/status/1479884609982803977\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The simplicity, popularity and scarcity of the game—with only one chance to play a day—has offered \u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2022/1/11/22877996/wordle-spoofs-alternatives-letterle-sweardle-queerdle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">copycats plenty of opportunity\u003c/a> to develop their own versions, including with the ability to \u003ca href=\"https://www.wordleunlimited.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">play unlimited games\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, you can also take some time once you’re finished and try out the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/series/4473090/sunday-puzzle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR puzzle instead\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>NPR’s Nell Clark contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">visit NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Here%27s+what%27s+behind+the+Wordle+c-r-a-z-e&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Making Wordle I specifically rejected a bunch of the things you’re supposed to do for a mobile game,” Wardle told NPR. He deliberately didn’t include push notifications, allow users to play endlessly or build in other tools commonly used today to pull users into playing apps for as long as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wardle said the rejection of those engagement tricks might have fueled the game’s popularity after all—”where the rejection of some of those things has actually attracted people to the game because it feels quite innocent and it just wants you to have fun with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the rapid attention can be overwhelming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It going viral doesn’t feel great to be honest. I feel a sense of responsibility for the players,” he told \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/jan/11/wordle-creator-overwhelmed-by-global-success-of-hit-puzzle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>The Guardian\u003c/em>.\u003c/a> “I feel I really owe it to them to keep things running and make sure everything’s working correctly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Wardle said he has especially enjoyed stories of how the game has helped people keep connected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’ll have a family chat group where they share their Wordle results with one another,” Wardle told NPR. “And especially during COVID, it being a way for people to connect with friends and family that they couldn’t otherwise see, and it just provides this really easy way to touch base with others.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003ch3>Strategy: vowels or consonants?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Facebook fan groups have now cropped up, while numerous articles and \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SpookyBiscuits/status/1479140761786531843?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">players offer\u003c/a> their own strategy tips.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using as many vowels as possible in the first guess is one tactic—”adieu” offers four of them. Another method is to try using as many common consonants as possible with a word like “snort.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>The simplicity, popularity and scarcity of the game—with only one chance to play a day—has offered \u003ca href=\"https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2022/1/11/22877996/wordle-spoofs-alternatives-letterle-sweardle-queerdle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">copycats plenty of opportunity\u003c/a> to develop their own versions, including with the ability to \u003ca href=\"https://www.wordleunlimited.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">play unlimited games\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, you can also take some time once you’re finished and try out the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/series/4473090/sunday-puzzle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR puzzle instead\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>NPR’s Nell Clark contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">visit NPR\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Here%27s+what%27s+behind+the+Wordle+c-r-a-z-e&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"soldout": {
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