In the Shadows To celebrate our ORCA nomination, we look into the Dark Souls of popular music.

Oh... well... then...

therackenfracker.com/in-the-shado...

High Definition Today's puzzle is HDMI*-compatible. (*Handleable despite missing instructions.)

The winning puzzle, available to subscribers:

So grateful the ORCA team brought cryptics into the fold, highlighting good work at nominated venues like The Gnomon, Cryptic Crossweird, Square Chase, AVCX, WSJ, Frisco17's Good Clues for People Who Love Bad Clues and PiGuyN's Crosshare page — themselves just a sampling. (R.I.P. The Browser)

Settling Scores It's basically the game ... in reverse.

Thanks to ORCA voters for picking our puzzle as the variety cryptic of the year(!). We do the rest of our thanking below in this month’s new puzzle post. Reminder that you get 12 puzzles for just $12 by subscribing, plus access to mostly unpruned-for-now archives (including that winning puzzle!).

There’s an applicable Apple TV series involved.

Congrats to the mighty @mossdef.bsky.social — it's simple mathematics to see that he's hit his 100th puzzle in his Square Chase variety series. We're honored to have contributed a clue to this celebration. True mogmaxxing is subscribing at www.patreon.com/squarechase

In the Shadows To celebrate our ORCA nomination, we look into the Dark Souls of popular music.

A free cryptic to commemorate the ballot release for the ORCA crossword awards (and congrats to the other nominees) therackenfracker.com/in-the-shado...

What a “Melania” Cinematographer Hoped to Accomplish Dante Spinotti has had a legendary Hollywood career. Why is he making propaganda for the Trump family?

One at the forefront of “calamitous scenario” chat! (5,8)

Egad! That’s, as they say, not hot.

Concerning Developments This too shall pass ....

This puzzle has interesting properties therackenfracker.com/concerning-d...

... and that's not to mention the 75 non-cryptics and all the friends that made those! It's a terrific puzzle bounty and a deserving cause — email theorcaawards@gmail.com to donate and get yours.

Nominated cryptic setters include friends @feathersmcg.bsky.social, Bob Weisz, @bewilderingly.bsky.social, @frisco17.bsky.social, @mossdef.bsky.social, Roger Wolff, @juffowup.bsky.social, and Jess Schulman, plus friends-we-haven't-met-yet PiGuyN, Dean Felch, Ryan Patrick Smith, and Nate Fricker ...+

Great cause + great puzzles alert: The ORCA Crossword Awards are sending out all 84 nominated puzzles for those who make a donation to @trevorproject.bsky.social. This includes 9 block-style cryptics and 10 variety cryptics, and we're honored to have High Definition and Fantastic Fours in the set. +

Yeah, it can be very hard do to a puzzle that not written for you culturally. We usually recommend the archive of New Yorker cryptics, Steve Mossberg’s Quiptics and our own Nerfrackers for Americans looking to learn the ropes.

Meant Saturday… silly

Sunday National Post puzzles are attached to blog posts that explain each clue. But truly these are (North) American setters with an eye toward clean, clear constructions and anywhere you start will be good (not sure about online solving for Post but I think puz files exist for the other two)

If you are looking for more archives, we recommend these three:

kegler.gitlab.io/Block_style/
www3.sympatico.ca/tagies/
natpostcryptic.blogspot.com

If you play with words, you should play Raddle, a top “new thing in 2025” in our books. Our own @dadgumituh.bsky.social contributed another such recommendation for today’s edition: raddle.quest/2025/12/26

The journey we’re always striving for. Happy holidays, Jeff.

Pirate, Pirate, Gardener Yo ho hoe.

How about some board gaming for the holidays? therackenfracker.com/pirate-pirat...

Discord wrap-up statistic showing that one of us wrote 12,270 messages in The Rackenfrackatorium

Reminder: This is approximately *half* of the correspondence that goes into writing a year's worth of puzzles.

I have definitions in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and wordplay the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.

It keeps us up at night

Unintended Consequences Look! What we made ... you do?

Unlike Taylor, we hope you *do* like our little games — therackenfracker.com/unintended-c...

Five overlapping crossword grids. Two are 15x15 blocked grids, one 11x11 barred grid with circles, a 7x7 block/bar hybrid, and a 10x10 barred grid with 4 blocks.

Gnomon issue 4 is coming in one week, with five more variety cryptics. Now featuring more blocks than ever! With puzzles by @longyfan.bsky.social @matttheshirt.bsky.social @therackenfracker.bsky.social and @juffowup.bsky.social

If you love cryptics, you’ve probably asked “why aren’t there more, and more fans of them?” The tl;dr is that people can only fall for them if they encounter them, and so first love scales with the publishers. There are precious few; AVCX is a good one. Consider adding their puzzles to your week.

Eights and Nines Our attempt at a slightly easier hard puzzle — bulls***! (You’ll have to decide whether it’s an “eye” or a “hit.”)

If you like cracking cryptic clues for longer words, this one’s on target. therackenfracker.com/eights-and-n...

Sixes and Sevens Middle schoolers are going nuts right now.

Now updated with a working online version! therackenfracker.com/sixes-and-se...

Sixes and Sevens Middle schoolers are going nuts right now.

We've got a new puzzle and some new slang: therackenfracker.com/sixes-and-se...

lol Bandit pulls this exact move in Takeaway. One of the best seven minutes in TV