A monthly contest crossword of LITERARY proportions!
Come back on the first of every month for a new literature-inspired crossword
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March 2026 Monthly Contest SOLUTION
Title: Use Your Inside Voice Prompt: The meta answer is a well-known children’s novel. Answer: THE SECRET GARDEN Explanation: something strange is going on with four long across entries. To make the letters work with the crossing downs, the words ROSE (in MICROSECONDS), RAIN (in EXTRAINNINGS), ZEN (in JAZZENSEMBLE), and HERB (in BUTCHERBLOCK) have to…
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March 2026 Monthly Contest: “Use Your Inside Voice”
We are back with TWO new guest constructors this month! March’s puzzle is “Use Your Inside Voice” by Carina da Rosa and Shannon Rapp. The meta answer is a well-known children’s novel. Carina is a Lil AVCX alum and has had crosswords appear in several daily outlets as well as in the Boswords 2025 Fall…
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February 2026 Monthly Contest SOLUTION
Title: Fairy Rings Prompt: The meta answer is a literary character. Answer: FRODO Explanation: there are five starred entries in the grid. Each of these entries is still a valid word if you remove all of its Os (it’s just a coincidence there happen to be exactly two in each), and those new words match…
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February 2026 Monthly Contest: “Fairy Rings”
Let’s get right to the puzzle this month! Continuing our lineup of guest constructors, February’s puzzle is “Fairy Rings” by Madison Shultz. The meta answer is a literary character. Madison recently started a crossword blog called Crossword Curiosities with fellow ACL constructor Hannah Binney, and “Fairy Rings” is her first meta puzzle! You can find…
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January 2026 Monthly Contest SOLUTION
Title: Are You Missing Something? Prompt: The meta answer is a five-word book title which may describe how you find yourself after solving this puzzle’s grid. Answer: IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME Explanation: four entries don’t quite fit their clues, but they would if you added one of the letters T, I, M, or E…
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January 2026 Monthly Contest: “Are You Missing Something?”
Happy 2026! Before we get to the puzzle, a huge thank you to everyone who responded to my call for donations last month. Your contributions are so helpful to the longevity of this project, and I appreciate enormously the show of support. I’ve removed the donation links from the Support ACL page for the time…
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December 2025 Monthly Contest SOLUTION
Title: Gift Wrapping Prompt: The meta answer is a character associated with the holiday season. Answer: The Grinch Explanation: The three longest across entries don’t appear to have much in common, but they do all have the same trigram, BOW, appearing in them. 69A TOP, clued as [Surface of a gift that the bow goes…
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December 2025 Monthly Contest: “Gift Wrapping”
Ho-ho-holy Christmas cracker it’s December. Sorry, that was terrible. Moving right along. Before we get to the puzzle, some housekeeping to take care of. I am delighted to report that submissions to ACL from imaginative and talented guest constructors have gone way up in the last month, and we are on track to have many…
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November 2025 Monthly Contest SOLUTION
Title: The Ending Places Prompt: The meta answer is a prolific science fiction author. Answer: URSULA K. LE GUIN The four longest across entries are:17A: TROUBADOURS31A: ORIONNEBULA48A: LIVEBOOTLEG64A: KINGPENGUINThe last three letters of each of these entries, read in order, spell URSULA LE GUIN. But wait, didn’t she also go by her middle initial? That’s…
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November 2025 Monthly Contest: “The Ending Places”
Happy Day-after-Halloween! Let’s get right to the puzzle! This month’s contest puzzle is “The Ending Places” by Heather Gearan. The meta answer is a prolific science fiction author. Heather Gearan has recently discovered the joy of crossword constructing and is extremely proud to see her first meta effort published by ACL. You can find her…
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