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🧩 The Best Crossword of 2023
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Nishant Kauntia
How to Add Games to WordPress: Best Plugins + How-to Guide
So you want to add games to WordPress. Having been a lifelong user of WordPress for multiple websites, I have tried and tested hundreds of plugins for WordPress. In this article, I’ll tell you everything I know about embedding games into WordPress websites.
To begin with, a disclaimer: I’m writing this article for Amuse Labs, a games platform that has its own WordPress games plugin. On this post, though, we’ll take a holistic look into your options for adding games to WordPress, and where our plugin could help.
Why Add Games to WordPress?
That you’re here means you already have a reason for wanting games on your website. You might want to start a crossword blog or have games as an additional offering. Here’s how adding games to your website can help:
- Increase time spent: A typical visitor who comes to your website to read an article will stay for a minute or two and leave. People who play your games, though, can spend as much as 15 minutes on your site. This increases sitewide time spent. If you monetize via ads, it also helps you increase your ad revenue.
- Retain visitors: If you have a recurring series of games on WordPress, players will return to your site to find new editions. We’ve seen this happening a lot with puzzles like crosswords and sudokus.
How to Add Games to WordPress
WordPress Free Plan
Please note that it is not possible to embed games on free WordPress.com sites. The free version of WordPress does not allow iframes or JavaScript code, which are the primary ways games are embedded on websites. On the free plan, you can provide direct links to your games. Your options here are limited:
- Create Your Own: If you want to create your own games like crosswords, sudokus, quizzes, jigsaws, and more, you can use PuzzleMe for free. Creating games is free. Log in to get a shareable link to your game and use that link on your website.
- Link to existing games: There are plenty of platforms that offer free games you can link to, like Cartoon Network, Kongregate, Agame, or Poki.
WordPress Paid Plan or Self-Hosted
If you’re on a paid WordPress plan or WordPress.org, you’re free to embed games right on your website. Here are your options to add games to WordPress via a plugin or embed code:
1. Add Puzzles to WordPress: PuzzleMe
PuzzleMe is used by some of the best WordPress websites to add games, including The New Yorker, The New York Post, and Crossword Club. You can include games like crosswords, jigsaws, quizzes, sudokus, custom Wordle games, and much more with PuzzleMe.
Using PuzzleMe with WordPress is easy. You can create a game on PuzzleMe and embed the iframe code using a Custom HTML block on the Gutenberg editor. You can also paste the code in the ‘Text’ section of the WordPress classic editor.
2. Add Chess to WordPress: Chessgame Shizzle
Chessgame Shizzle is a nice way to integrate chess games into your WordPress website. This plugin is ideal for chess clubs, your chess blog, or any chess-related website. Editors and guests can add chess games in PGN format through a frontend form. All chess games are available in a custom post type as a single post with an archive list and taxonomies, it couldn’t be simpler.
3. Add Hangman to WordPress
You can also host the classic Hangman game on your WordPress website with the Hangman plugin by Marc Oliveras. This is a simple plugin that adds the word-guessing game to your website. Add the plugin shortcode to the page you’d like the game on, and it’ll do the rest. The only downside is that while you can edit the answers, your configurations will get lost if you update the plugin.
Didn’t find what you were looking for? Check the plugin directory for a whole host of game options for your WordPress website.
Give Your Readers A Reason to Stick Around
The power of WordPress lies in its rich plugin ecosystem, that allows you to add thousands of different kinds of features to your website. Add games to your WordPress website and give your readers a reason to spend more time on your website. With the plugins mentioned above, adding games to your website is easier than ever. Happy puzzling!
Starting A Crossword Puzzle Blog: The Complete Guide for 2024
Are you thinking of finally starting your crossword puzzle blog? Whether you’re a new constructor or would just like editorial freedom over your puzzles, a blog is a great way to publish in a low-pressure environment.
I’m Nishant, and I recently set up the India Mini crossword blog on WordPress. In the process, I encountered many challenges and discovered interesting things about starting a crossword puzzle blog. In this guide, I’m sharing some learnings from the experience.
Why Start a Crossword Puzzle Blog?
This is the first question you should answer: what am I looking for with a crossword puzzle blog? Starting a crossword puzzle blog can serve multiple purposes. It can be a platform for sharing your passion, a community hub for fellow enthusiasts, and even a source of income through subscriptions, advertising, and partnerships. Every decision henceforth will be based on your goals. For example:
- If it’s a hobby, it would be best to choose free options for a blogging platform and a tool for creating your crosswords. Design and statistics also won’t matter to you that much. You could set up such a blog relatively quickly.
- If it’s a venture, or could potentially be one in the future, you might want to publish ads or sell subscriptions to your crosswords. This is where the choice of platforms and design decisions end up mattering quite a bit.
So start by deciding what you want out of the project.
Finding Your Niche
The next step in starting your crossword blog is to find your unique angle. The world doesn’t need another generic set of puzzles, and you might have trouble getting traction for your blog without the right niche.
Thankfully, the crossword community is diverse, with interests ranging from casual puzzles to cryptic challenges. Your blog could focus on a particular type of crossword, such as American-style, cryptic, or thematic puzzles. Alternatively, you could cater to a specific skill level, from beginners to advanced solvers.
With the India Mini crosswords, for example, I set up a blog only for solvers who are aware of the Indian context. Find the niche you’d like to cater to and get started.
Setting Up Your Blog
1. Choose a Crossword Platform
Start by choosing a platform to construct and publish your puzzles. We, of course, recommend PuzzleMe here. (Full disclosure: We are the creators of PuzzleMe). It’s the most powerful crossword puzzle maker and offers a polished experience for your solvers. The best part is that it’s entirely free for non-commercial users. If you’re doing this as a hobby, it’s a great option to consider.
Revered crossword constructors like Will Nediger, Paolo Pasco and Mangesh Ghogre use PuzzleMe to add crosswords to their blog. Check out a list of popular constructors and links to their blogs here.
2. Set Up a Blog
There are several blogging platforms to choose from, such as WordPress, Blogspot, Wix, and Squarespace. Each offers various customization options and ease of use. Keep in mind, though, that the free WordPress.com plan does not allow iframe embeds.
For the India Mini, we used a combination of a paid WordPress plan and Elementor to build the site.
If you’d like to create a free blog without much hassle, Blogger is a great option. The benefit of using Blogger is that you could publish your writing, have a nice About page, and add your crosswords to the same website. Will Nediger’s crossword blog runs on Blogger. You can see what that looks like here.
Design and User Experience
Your blog’s design should be clean and navigable, ensuring that visitors can easily find and solve puzzles. Thankfully, PuzzleMe takes care of this to a large extent for you. If you have any trouble embedding your puzzles into your blog, you can get in touch with us at support@amuselabs.com.
Content Creation
Content is king in the blogging world. For a crossword blog, this means a steady stream of puzzles. You can create puzzles yourself using PuzzleMe. Magic Fill in particular is a feature that’s useful for building mini-puzzles. All you have to do is select the size of your grid and the words you would like included, and Magic Fill will find possible fill options for your puzzle.
Building an Audience
SEO and Keywords
To attract visitors, your blog needs to be visible on search engines. Research keywords related to crosswords and incorporate them into your blog posts, titles, and meta descriptions.
For the India Mini crossword, the important keywords include ‘small crosswords’ and ‘Indian crosswords’ among others. You can learn how to use Google’s keyword planner to find relevant keywords for your niche.
Social Media and Community Engagement
Leverage social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn to share your content and engage with the crossword community. Join crossword forums and groups to participate in discussions and promote your blog.
By default, PuzzleMe nudges your solvers to post their results on social media. When they do, you can interact with their posts to boost visibility.
Email Marketing
An email newsletter can be a powerful tool for building a loyal readership. Collect email addresses from your visitors to keep them informed about new puzzles and posts. To make sure your newsletter reaches the right audience and delivers relevant content, it’s essential that the information you collect is accurate and complete. If you are collecting their information through HubSpot CRM, implementing HubSpot form validation will help verify email addresses and other form inputs, ensuring that your subscriber list is reliable and your campaigns are more effective. If you’re using PuzzleMe, it’s easy to collect names and email addresses at the start of your puzzle. See the video guide to set this up here:
Push Notifications
Another great way of reaching your solvers is through push notifications. For this, you can use a service like OneSignal. Follow the instructions on their website to add OneSignal to your website, and it’ll start prompting your solvers to sign up for notifications.
Once you have a significant number of sign-ups, you can send a push notification each time you publish a new puzzle. The best part is that this doesn’t require collecting any information regarding your solvers.
Monetizing Your Blog
Once you have a steady flow of traffic, you can explore monetization options. These can include:
- Advertising: Display ads on your blog through networks like Google AdSense. Keep in mind that this requires scale, as most ad programs require that you have at least 50,000 visitors over the past month to qualify to run ads.
- Affiliate Marketing: Partner with puzzle book publishers or apps and earn commissions on sales. Mangesh Ghogre, for example, uses the puzzles on his website to promote his crossword book.
- Subscriptions: Offer premium content or ad-free solving experiences for a subscription fee. Plenty of such options have emerged, like The Puzzle Society.
- Merchandise: Sell crossword-themed merchandise such as mugs, t-shirts, and books. You can include links to the content you’d like to sell in the end-message of your puzzle.
Track your analytics
With PuzzleMe, you get a lot of useful data about your solvers. You get to know what percentage of them completed a puzzle, how many times your puzzle was played, and even a heatmap of how difficult solvers found your clues.
Conclusion
Starting a crossword puzzle blog is an exciting journey that blends creativity, community, and technology. You can turn your love of crosswords into a thriving online hub by offering engaging content, a user-friendly experience, and a personal touch.
Remember, the key to a successful blog is passion. If you love what you’re doing, it will shine through in your content, and your audience will grow. So, set up your domain, create your crossword puzzle, and step into the world of crossword blogging. Happy puzzling!
8 Billion Gameplays? 👀
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The 5 Best Newspaper Crosswords You Can Play Online
Newspaper crosswords have long offered readers a delightful blend of intellectual challenge and entertainment. American constructors have made significant contributions to the evolution of this puzzle form. Here, we celebrate the ingenuity and creativity of these constructors by highlighting the top 5 newspaper crosswords that you can add to your routine. Each puzzle not only tests your vocabulary and trivia knowledge but also reflects the unique style and wit of its editor.
1. The New York Times Crossword
Editor: Will Shortz
Frequency: Daily
Price: $40 per year
Renowned for its sophistication and wordplay, The New York Times Crossword is arguably the gold standard in the world of puzzles. Under the editorship of Will Shortz since 1993, these crosswords are known for their clever themes, challenging clues, and cultural relevance. The Sunday edition, in particular, is a crowd favorite, offering a larger and more intricate puzzle that serves as a highlight for enthusiasts each week.
2. The Los Angeles Times
Editor: Patti Varol
Frequency: Daily
Pricing: Free
The Los Angeles Times newspaper crossword, under the editorship of Patti Varol, is celebrated for its thematic consistency and cultural diversity. Varol’s puzzles are designed to be more approachable, making them ideal for a broader audience. His style is a blend of traditional crossword conventions and innovative themes, often drawing from current events and pop culture.
3. The Washington Post
Constructors: Evan Birnholz, Frank Longo
Frequency: Daily/Weekly
Pricing: Free
The Washington Post publishes two types of crosswords: the daily Mini Meta puzzle by Frank Longo, and the Sunday crossword by Evan Birnholz. Each mini crossword from Monday to Friday must be solved in order to get one word of a five-word clue. The clue itself leads to a word hidden in the sixth mini-crossword, which you must find by snaking your way through the grid, like in a word search puzzle.
The Sunday puzzles often include contemporary themes and are known for their smooth grid designs and creative wordplay.
4. The Wall Street Journal
Constructors: Mike Shenk
Frequency: Daily
Pricing: Free
Mike Shenk, known for his pseudonymous creations, has been a significant figure in The Wall Street Journal’s newspaper crossword history. His puzzles are characterized by their business and finance-themed clues, reflecting the newspaper’s focus. Shenk’s work is appreciated for its meticulous construction and the balance of straightforward and cryptic clues.
5. The New Yorker
Editor: Liz Maynes Aminzade
Frequency: Daily
Pricing: Free
The New Yorker has a range of all-star constructors building crosswords for the publication. Edited by Liz Maybes Aminzade, the crossword gets easier every day of the week. Starting with the most challenging puzzle on Mondays, and the puzzle gets easiest on Thursdays. Fridays are for themed puzzles, which are often highly creative and incorporate delightful reveals at the end.
🧩 What NYTimes Knows About Games
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🧩 Your 2023 Brief: Puzzles and Publishing
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🧩 Festive Crosswords Are Here!
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Crossword Clue Examples: 10 Types of Crossword Clues with Examples
Introduction
Crossword puzzles have captivated minds for generations, offering both entertainment and cognitive exercise. Whether you’re a seasoned solver or a newcomer, understanding the different types of crossword clues can significantly enhance your solving experience.
In this blog post, we’ll delve into ten types of crossword clue examples, including cryptic crossword examples and cryptic clue examples, to help you become a crossword aficionado.
1. Simple Clues
What Are They?
Simple clues are straightforward. They offer a clear definition of the word you’re supposed to find.
Example:
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- Clue: ‘Feline pet’ (3)
- Answer: CAT
The clue directly describes the word “CAT,” which is a feline pet. There’s no ambiguity or trickery involved.
Simple clues serve as the foundation for more complex clue types. They’re perfect for beginners and offer a quick win that boosts confidence.
2. Double Clues
What Are They?
Double clues combine two different ideas or definitions to hide the word you’re supposed to find.
Example and Explanation:
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- Clue: ‘Driving through a watery road’ (4)
- Answer: FORD
Here, “Driving through” suggests the action, and “watery road” refers to a shallow place in a river or stream where one can cross. The answer “FORD” satisfies both conditions.
Double clues add a layer of complexity and are often used in American-style crosswords. They require solvers to think laterally, making the solving process more engaging.
3. Anagrams
What Are They?
Anagrams involve rearranging the letters in the clue to find the answer. These clues often include hint words like ‘confused,’ ‘broken,’ or ‘arranged.’
Example and Explanation:
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- Clue: ‘Arrange a trunk call to the panel’ (8)
- Answer: ELEPHANT
The word “Arrange” signals that it’s an anagram clue. The letters in “a trunk call to the panel” can be rearranged to form the word “ELEPHANT.”
An anagram is an example of a crossword clue that adds a fun twist to crossword puzzles and is a staple in both American and British styles. They challenge your pattern recognition skills and are often used in cryptic crosswords.
4. Cryptic Clues
What Are They?
Cryptic clues are the hallmark of British-style crosswords and are designed to be challenging. They usually consist of a “straight” clue and a “cryptic” clue within the same clue.
Example and Explanation:
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- Clue: ‘Controversial novelist with a hurry to snuff it!’ (7)
- Answer: RUSHDIE
The clue has two parts: “Controversial novelist” and “hurry to snuff it.” The word “RUSHDIE” satisfies both, as it refers to Salman Rushdie, a controversial novelist, and also sounds like “Rush Die,” which implies a hurry to snuff it.
Cryptic clues offer the highest level of challenge and engagement. They require a deep understanding of language and wordplay, making them the ultimate test for seasoned solvers.
5. Sound Clues
What Are They?
Sound clues, also known as homophones, involve finding a word that sounds like another word or phrase in the clue.
Example and Explanation:
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- Clue: ‘The king has no successor, we hear’ (4)
- Answer: BALD
The clue plays on the words “heir” and “hair.” “No successor” implies “no heir,” which sounds like “no hair,” leading to the answer “BALD.”
Sound clues add an auditory element to the puzzle, requiring you to think about how words sound, not just how they are spelled. They often rely on puns, adding a layer of humor to the puzzle.
6. Hidden Words
What Are They?
Hidden word clues contain the answer hidden within the clue itself.
Example and Explanation:
- Clue: ‘A long time in a dungeon’ (3)
- Answer: EON
The answer “EON” is hidden within the word “dungeon.”
Hidden word clues add an element of surprise and require keen observation skills, making them a fun addition to any crossword puzzle.
7. Abbreviation Clues
What Are They?
Abbreviation clues use common or coded abbreviations to hint at the answer.
Example and Explanation:
- Clue: ‘Doctor left the room’ (2)
- Answer: DR
“Doctor” is commonly abbreviated as “DR,” which is the answer.
Abbreviation clues require a good knowledge of common abbreviations and acronyms, adding a layer of general knowledge to the puzzle.
8. Charade Clues
What Are They?
Charade clues break the answer into smaller words or syllables, which are then clued individually.
Example and Explanation:
- Clue: ‘Animal home sounds painful’ (4)
- Answer: LAIR
“Animal home” is “LAIR,” and it sounds like “lair,” which could be painful.
Charade clues require solvers to think of words in a fragmented manner, adding complexity and requiring a deeper understanding of language.
9. Reversal Clues
What Are They?
Reversal clues involve reversing the letters of a word to find the answer.
Example and Explanation:
- Clue: ‘Desserts turned sour’ (5)
- Answer: STRESSED
The word “desserts” is reversed to form the word “STRESSED.”
Reversal clues add a twist to the solving process and require spatial awareness, making them a unique challenge.
10. Deletion Clues
What Are They?
Deletion clues require removing a letter or letters from a word to find the answer.
Example and Explanation:
- Clue: ‘Listen without an ear’ (4)
- Answer: LIST
The word “Listen” without “en” (ear) becomes “LIST.”
Deletion clues require analytical thinking and a keen eye for detail, making them a challenging yet rewarding clue type.
Conclusion
Understanding the different types of crossword clues, including cryptic crossword examples and cryptic clue examples, can make your solving experience much more enjoyable and rewarding. Whether you’re a beginner looking to get started or an experienced solver aiming to tackle more challenging puzzles, these crossword clue examples offer something for everyone.
Further Reading
An Exciting New Puzzle Product
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