Puzzles

I enjoy puzzles of all kinds, especially cryptic crosswords. I participate regularly in puzzle hunts, in which groups race to complete a variety of puzzles that are usually bereft of instructions, or which require solvers to make intuitive leaps in judgement. I have helped to run a few of them, too.

Harper’s Puzzle (2022)
I wrote a puzzle for my wedding, shared it with the setter of Harper’s Magazine’s cryptic, and it was published in the October 2022 issue. It’s a long story; this blog post explains part of it; this site explains the prelude!
GABCOP (2014)
I helped write and run “Girls and Boys Come Out To Play”, a London-based puzzle hunt that included lots of physical challenges and prop-based puzzles. There is no online record of the hunt except for the introductory puzzles, seen here and here.
DASH 5 (2013) and DASH 6 (2014)
I led Game Control for DASH 5 and 6 in London. These were the first international editions of the Different Area, Same Hunt series of puzzle hunts. These were my first experiences leading game control for a hunt (i.e., scouting locations, recruiting and managing volunteers, producing puzzle kits, etc.).
Cryptic crossword blog (2013)
In autumn 2013 I maintained a blog to which I posted mini-puzzles biweekly (not fortnightly). The purpose was to practice; to this end, I wrote two unrelated sets of clues for each grid.
Prouts Neck Puzzle Hunt (2012)
In June 2012 I made a one-round puzzle hunt for my family to enjoy at the cottage we used to frequent. I spent the equivalent of one work week of my vacation to put it all together, including all the related errands I found myself doing (printing pages, buying and modifying a jigsaw puzzle, getting groceries for a physical food puzzle, etc.) in the days before the hunt. The hunt was inspired, both in length and in style, by the DASH puzzle events that I had played for the previous 2 years. This is a slightly revised version of the hunt with solutions.
MIT Mystery Hunt (2012)
As part of team CODEX, I had the honour of helping to write some puzzles for the 2012 MIT Mystery Hunt I contributed 3 puzzles (and had a helping hand in 3 more). The puzzle I’m most proud of is Yo Dawg, I Herd You Like Puzzle Hunts —don’t peek at the answer without trying it first!
Harvard Puzzle Hunt (2006)
This event was my introduction to puzzle hunts. I helped write the meta puzzle with Emily Morgan and Andrew Lin (who went on to lead the production of CODEX’s Mystery Hunt) and contributed a couple puzzles too.
The Harvard Independent (2006)
At Harvard, while suffering from senioritis, I also occasionally contributed a puzzle feature to the Harvard Independent. The Indy’s online archive does not reach 2006, so you can’t find these online. But that’s for the best; they included some pretty awful puns and plenty of crosswordese.