What’s the best place to start when solving a crossword? Find out in my new YouTube video (and no, it’s not 1-across!).

514 entrants submitted the correct answer to my weekly crossword contest last week; it’s the first time we’ve broken the 500 barrier.

The puzzle was called “See? See?” and you can solve it here (scroll down to “This Week’s Instructions”). Solution and explanation of the meta is here.

My puzzle “Moving Day” was named Crossword of the Year for 2011 by the Crossword Fiend blog today. It was published on August 26th on my contest website, and you can solve it there (scroll down to “This Week’s Instructions”).

The other nine nominees included another puzzle from my contest site and four crosswords from the New York Times. Read about all the categories, nominees and winners here.

I was interviewed by New Hampshire Public Radio about my recent Slate article.  Listen to it here.

Who’s the most “crossword famous” celebrity in the country?  Find out in my new Slate Magazine article.

Especially cool daily crossword.

I’ll be speaking at the 1st Annual Arlington Puzzlefest on Saturday, November 5th. My talk is called “Secrets of a Professional Crossword Puzzle Writer” and starts at 9 AM at the Arlington Public Library. The Puzzlefest’s crossword tournament follows. Read more here.

Two new books of mine have just been published: 20 Minute On-the-Road Crossword Puzzles and 20 Minute While-You-Wait Crosswords Puzzles.  There are 125 puzzles in each book and they’re on the easy side.  Check them out at Amazon [On-the-Road, While-You-Wait] or Barnes & Noble [On-the-Road, While-You-Wait]