ABOUT
Welcome to Puzzles for Progress! This site is home to hundreds of logic and word puzzles, all hand-crafted by me. I tend to post them in "puzzle pages" of three — first weekly, later biweekly, now whenever I want. Spanning a wide variety of puzzle types, from crosswords to sudoku to Capsules to Spirals, I like to think there's something for everyone! All puzzles are available in printable pdf versions, and most in mobile-friendly online interfaces as well.
Puzzles to Start With
Issue #115 ("Ebbed Cafe") offers a set of six 5x5 mini crosswords ranging from easy to hard—and if you don't want the puzzling to end, they also contain a secret message! The Puzzle Spotlight issues, which contain three puzzles of the same type from easy to hard, also make good introductions. I encourage you to try whichever of those looks the most interesting! If you're unsure, why not try Puzzle Spotlight: Capsules (or Puzzle Spotlight: Spiral if you prefer word puzzles). If you enjoyed those, I'm also particularly proud of the King's Tour and Fillomino ones.
I Dare You to Click All the Links
But there's really a ton of variety in puzzles on this site: I've dabbled in linguistics puzzles (totally different from other puzzle types), making puzzle contests with long names, Word Ladders, custom Wordles (currently included with every set of puzzles as "Puzzles fordle Progress"), full-size crosswords, puzzle hunt-style puzzles, computer-generated Building Blocks, Capsules puzzles with common sudoku variants, April Fools' jokes, a surprisingly non-evil Vowelless Anagrammy, and many more (mostly more normal) puzzles.
The Puzzles for Progress Book
I've also compiled some of my favorite puzzles into a physical book, which also contains 6 exclusive puzzles and some additional bonus content! Chromatic Conflux calls it "arguably the defining anthology of Puzzles for Progress," while Randall Munroe says that "I’m being quoted to introduce something, but I have no idea what it is and certainly don’t endorse it." I'm sure those glowing reviews have already convinced you to buy the book at tinyurl.com/best-of-pfp!
Solve in the Way That's Fun
You should solve the puzzles in whatever way you find most fun—searching the web for solving strategies or answers to clues often increases enjoyment instead of diminishing it. Solving collaboratively is also great! Some of my puzzles have been featured on YouTube, and I find that watching experienced puzzlers approach puzzles can also be really helpful for learning them. The key point is to solve however brings you joy!
The "Progress" Part
My puzzles are free to solve, and I would appreciate it if you channeled any enthusiasm you might have for them into a donation to buy life-saving malaria nets at fundraise.unfoundation.org/puzzlesforprogress! (The money goes directly to United to Beat Malaria; this link is just to track our progress.) Malaria is a huge problem, and we know malaria nets work—the bottleneck really is money. Profits from book sales also go to this charity! If you're looking for other effective charities, I also recommend those on GiveWell.
Ways to Find More Words I Wrote
To read more about Puzzles for Progress, head over to the FAQ. To read more about other topics, check out my blog, Chromatic Conflux: it discusses wordle, math, politics, philosophy, language, and whatever else I happen to be enthusiastic about. If you have any questions, suggestions, or just want to chat, don't hesitate to email me at puzzlesforprogress@waiter.com, or chat with me on Discord, where I'm @chromaticconflux.