📜 Another week of our TWIH puzzles, short for This Week in History: a series of crosswords, one for each of the 52 weeks of the year, each built from real events that happened that week. This one covers November 22–28: sixteen moments from Blackbeard’s last battle in 1718 to the release of Toy Story, with Darwin, the birth of the NHL and Wayne Gretzky’s 500th goal in between. Every clue starts with its date, most carry a bonus hint in grey italics, and a word bank sits under the clues if you get stuck. Print it, or play online right in your browser. The answer key sits at the bottom — fold it backward along the dotted line before you start. Missed last week? Try November 15–21, or see every week in the series.
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You don’t need to be a history buff to finish this one. Every clue hands you a date and a short story, and the word bank lists all sixteen answers, so the real puzzle is matching each story to its word and fitting it into the grid. Here’s a good way in:
New to crosswords? Our complete guide to solving crosswords covers clue types and fill strategy from the ground up.
The TWIH series splits the calendar into 52 weeks that land on the same dates every year, so this puzzle is worth pulling out every November. The This Week in History page shows the whole calendar and every week that’s ready so far.
This is a big week for hockey fans. The National Hockey League was born in Montreal on November 26, 1917, and almost seventy years later to the week, Wayne Gretzky scored his 500th goal against the Canucks. Canada also gets the first Grey Cup ever played in Alberta and an early first in communications: the undersea telegraph cable that Frederic Newton Gisborne’s crew laid between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island in 1852, the first in North America. Around the world, the week takes you from Magellan’s ships reaching the Pacific to Darwin’s most famous book and the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb.
Every date and detail in the clues was checked against museum, archive and encyclopedia sources before it went into the grid. A few needed care. One Canadian history list calls the 1975 Grey Cup the first played on the Prairies, but the game’s own record says it was the first in Calgary and in Alberta, so that’s how the clue reads. Howard Carter’s famous line is usually quoted as “wonderful things,” but the clue uses the words from his own notes. And the radio show that became the Grand Ole Opry didn’t take that name until 1927; in November 1925 it was simply the WSM Barn Dance.
Every clue was checked against the sources below before it went into the grid. If you spot something we got wrong, use the Report an error link below and we’ll fix it.
Missed last week? This Week in History: November 15–21 runs from Lincoln at Gettysburg to the first version of Windows. Like your crosswords packed with facts? Try the General Knowledge Crossword, or for something with no word bank at all, the Hard crossword It’s Coming Down.
Spot a mistake in this puzzle? Report an error and we’ll fix it. Here’s how we check our puzzles.
Puzzle Pack: Word Play & Trivia · Series: This Week in History