Submit a Puzzle
So far, every puzzle on The Puzzle Solver has been made in-house, and we'd love to start sharing the work of other puzzle makers. We accept two kinds of submissions:
- Puzzles — word searches, crosswords, nonograms (picross), logic grids, sudoku, cryptograms, riddle codes and mazes. Any difficulty, any theme, as long as it's family-friendly and your own original work.
- Articles — solving tips, a technique explained, the history of a puzzle type, or a puzzle story of your own. 600–800 words is ideal, 1,000 at most.
Email your submission to Mr. Puzzle. Hand-drawn is fine — a clear photo or scan works, and so does a PDF, a spreadsheet or a grid typed out in the email. Please include:
- the puzzle itself and its answer key
- a title, and the difficulty you think it is (Easy, Medium or Hard)
- how you'd like to be credited (see below)
- a line confirming it's your own original work
Pre-filled subject lines: submit a puzzle or submit an article.
A puzzle only goes live if it's fair: it must have exactly one answer, and you must be able to reach it by reasoning, not guessing. Here's what happens to every submission:
- We read it. Is it original, family-friendly and something we don't already have?
- We solve it ourselves, by hand, from start to finish, without looking at your answer key.
- We check it by computer, using the same tools we use on our own puzzles (see the table below).
- We check the facts. Trivia, dates, names and quotations are verified against reliable sources.
- We fit it to our format. Every puzzle on the site prints on a single US Letter page with a fold-over answer key, and gets a difficulty level that matches our other puzzles. We may resize it, tidy a clue or adjust the level — and if we want to change anything important, we'll ask you first.
| Puzzle type | What we check |
|---|---|
| Nonograms | Exactly one picture fits the clues, and it can be reached by logic alone |
| Logic grids | Exactly one solution, and every clue is needed to reach it |
| Sudoku | Exactly one solution, solvable without guessing; we note which techniques it needs |
| Word searches | Every word appears exactly once, and no word runs backwards |
| Crosswords | Every crossing letter agrees, and every clue is accurate and fair |
| Cryptograms & riddle codes | The code decodes to exactly the right text, and any quotation is checked against its source |
We pick puzzles that are fun to solve, fair, and add something new to the library: a theme we haven't covered, a fresh twist on a puzzle type, or a good fit for one of our puzzle packs or an upcoming season. The most common reasons we can't use a submission are:
- it has more than one answer, or needs a guess somewhere along the way
- it's copied or adapted from a book, app or another website
- it's very close to a puzzle we already have
- it isn't suitable for all ages
We aim to reply to every submission, whether or not we can use it. If yours is close, we'll tell you what would fix it.
Published puzzles carry your name on the puzzle page, like this:
You choose the name — first name, initials, full name or a nickname — and the town or city, if you'd like one shown. We never publish your email address. Articles carry the same credit line.
Under 13? Please ask a parent or guardian to send your puzzle for you.
By sending a submission, you confirm that it's your own original work and give The Puzzle Solver permission to publish it for free on ThePuzzleSolver.net, including its printable version and posts that share it, such as Pinterest pins. You keep ownership of your work and can use it anywhere else you like. We don't pay for submissions, and sending one doesn't guarantee it will be published.
Questions first? Get in touch, or read more about The Puzzle Solver.