Jonesin' Crosswords

Crosswords written for alternative newsweeklies since 2001. Considered the first of the "next new wave" of indie puzzles. Puzzles are hip, cutting-edge and full of up-to-the-minute commentary and pop culture that you might not see with some other syndicated puzzles (usually published after being on a waiting list).

[Under construction--watch this space]

Where to Find Jonesin'

Crossword Nexus (to solve the latest 5 puzzles online)

Jonesin' Google Group (former repository for puzzles #366-796, all in PDF and .puz formats)

And the prior 2 printed compendium books (both out of print):

Jonesin' Crosswords (2004)

Jonesin' for Crosswords (2009)

And if you want to see the original Jonesin' Crosswords site, you can visit it at the Wayback Machine. [note: all of the contact phone numbers and e-mails are no longer active.]

News

Reached puzzle #1100 in July 2022!

In mid-2020, I celebrated reaching Jonesin' #1000 by reprinting a "best of" series of 12 puzzles: Puzzle #1, the next 10 best puzzles from every set of 100 along the way, and one of my favorite themeless puzzles of all time.

Here's my Twitter thread with details.

I was #10 on a 2015 Buzzfeed list "How Many Of The 14 Trickiest Crossword Clues Can You Solve?" Featured one of my favorite clue creations of all time.

[watch this space for more news]

What They've Been Sayin' About Jonesin'

"Perpetually excellent."--Ben Tausig, AVXwords.com

"...Followed a cat for four blocks, and hunted for the Jonesin' crossword. I'd say a pretty successful night." --anonymous Twitter/X commenter, July 2023

"Matt Jones should genuinely be considered for any list of best constructors of all time." --Chris King, crossword constructor and trivia writer (and question contributor for Only Connect)

Jonesin' History

[Following the "New Wave" of crossword construction from the 1980s]: "Although indie puzzles would disappear for much of the 1990s ... they returned with a bang around the turn of the century. The first of this next new wave was the syndicated, independent Jonesin' feature, which launched in May 2001. Written by Matt Jones and edited by Matt Gaffney, Jonesin' announced its sensibility through the feature's name--the themes were edgy, the language was fresh and slangy, and very little was considered off-limits ... According to editor Gaffney, the feature was a response to the fact that most alt-weeklies in the U.S. were at the time running the syndicated New York Times or other mainstream puzzles, which had little editorial overlap with their own content. Jonesin' intended to fill a gap by providing funny, pop-culture-laden themes [about topics] routinely covered by papers in alternative markets. Within a couple of years, Jonesin' had dozens of newspaper subscribers, and was the first successful independent of the young century."

--Ben Tausig, "The Curious History of the Crossword" (2013)