This Week in History Crosswords
A crossword for every week of the year, each one built from real events that happened during that week. Every clue starts with its date, so as you solve you’re walking through the anniversaries of the week you’re living in: inventions, discoveries, shipwrecks, firsts in the air and in space, and plenty of Canadian history along the way. They’re called TWIH puzzles for short, and each one prints on a single page with a fold-over answer key, or plays right on screen.
52 weeks · one crossword each · every clue a real, dated event
October 25–31
Halloween week: Houdini’s last Halloween, Martians on the radio, Passchendaele and the internet’s very first message.
Print this puzzle »November 1–7
From Michelangelo’s ceiling to the last spike of the CPR, with Guy Fawkes, Laika and King Tut’s tomb along the way.
Print this puzzle »November 8–14
Remembrance Day week: X-rays, the Berlin Wall, the Edmund Fitzgerald, Sesame Street and a famous whale of a tale.
Print this puzzle »January
- 4–10
- 11–17
- 18–24
- 25–31
February
- 1–7
- 8–14
- 15–21
- 22–28
March
- 1–7
- 8–14
- 15–21
- 22–28
- 29 – Apr 4
April
- 5–11
- 12–18
- 19–25
- 26 – May 2
May
- 3–9
- 10–16
- 17–23
- 24–30
- 31 – Jun 6
June
- 7–13
- 14–20
- 21–27
- 28 – Jul 4
July
- 5–11
- 12–18
- 19–25
- 26 – Aug 1
August
- 2–8
- 9–15
- 16–22
- 23–29
- 30 – Sep 5
September
- 6–12
- 13–19
- 20–26
- 27 – Oct 3
October
- 4–10
- 11–17
- 18–24
- 25–31Ready
December
- 6–12
- 13–19
- 20–26
- 27 – Jan 3
Weeks in red are ready to print. New weeks are added ahead of their dates, so the next one is usually up before you need it. This week is highlighted.
How the TWIH Calendar Works
A year doesn’t divide neatly into weeks, so the series uses its own calendar: 52 weeks that fall on the same dates every year. That way the November 8–14 puzzle is always the November 8–14 puzzle, and you can pull it out again every year when the week comes around.
- Every week is seven days, always the same seven dates, with one exception.
- The New Year’s week runs eight days, from December 27 to January 3, which makes the year come out even.
- In a leap year, February 29 joins the last week of February.
What’s in Each Puzzle
Each TWIH crossword is a Medium grid with about sixteen answers. Every clue opens with the date of its event in red, and a few clues carry a bonus line in grey italics: a modern connection, a surprising detail or a little help for the trickier ones. A word bank sits under the clues, so nobody needs to be a history buff to finish. Every date and fact is checked against museum, archive and encyclopedia sources before it goes into the grid.
Ways to Use Them
- In the classroom. Print the current week for a Monday warm-up and talk through the events once everyone’s done.
- For a birthday. Find the week someone was born and print the history that happened around their day.
- With a group. Seniors’ centres and coffee groups can share a sheet and swap stories about the events they remember.