There are three parts to an acrostic puzzle; the key paragraph, a seperate and stacked list of words to the side across from key paragraph and the clues for the word list. The portion you need to enter into the contest will be the highlighted column in the list of words. The list of words with the identity of each word being described by a clue, just as happens in a standard crossword puzzle. These words do not interlink with each other, but rather are stacked on each other. There is a column of highlighted letters, taken in order from top to bottom, spell out an additional word (or phrase or sentence) which is referred to as the key word, which is used to win the online contest. The key paragraph appears in a grid with the spaces between words being represented by means of dark cells. This results in an appearance which is similar to that of a traditional crossword puzzle, but the words do not cross. Typically, the key paragraph will be a clue to the identity of the key word mentioned above. Each letter in the list of words also appears in the key paragraph, and its location in the key paragraph is indicated by means of an identification number. Similarly, each letter in the key paragraph appears in the list of words, and its location is indicated by means of both the identification number, and an identifying letter or symbol to show the word which contains it. The key paragrapph can contain clues to the word list when the letters are reconciled and also vice versa. When you solve a word in the word list, you should also place the letters in the corrosponding spaces in the key paragraph, which could give you insight into words in the key paragraph.

An Akari puzzle consists of a square grid in which some of the cells are painted dark in the same way as in a crossword puzzle. Think of it as the floor plan of a battle simulator in which the dark cells represent pillars or wall segments. The remainder of the cells represent floor area which must be covered by lasers placed in certain cells. A laser covers all cells in its horizontal row and vertical column up to the edge of the puzzle, or up to an intervening dark cell. Diagonal shots are not allowed. No laser is allowed to be in the line of fire of any other laser, and the numbers in some of the dark cells indicate the number of lasers which are adjacent to that cell both horizontally and vertically. Each puzzle has a unique solution which does not require any guesswork to achieve.

The crossword puzzle consists of empty blocks representing letters in the answer and filled blocks. The clues given are numbered and the starting letter of the answer for the clue goes in the numbered square and then continues either across in a rightward direction or downwards, depending on the clue. As you fill in the puzzle you can combine the clue, number of spaces and letters from intersecting words to determine the answer. To win the contest, the proper word (answer) must be place in the proper numbered slot on the entry form.

Every digit in the domino game reduces down incrementally until that digit is reduced to zero. For example the digit 4 starts with the pair 4,4. Then it reduces to 4,3 or 3,4. Next it increments down to 4,2 or 2,4. Moving on to 4,1 or 1,4. Finally the combination of 4,0 or 0,4 will complete the 4s group. The 3s have less combinations, consisting of 3,3 ; 3,2 or 2,3; 3,1 or 1,3; 3,0 or 0,3. This continues until 0,0. As seen in the diagram, the dominos can lay horizontal or stand vertical. The object of the game is to adjust the lines dividing the numbers to include every domino combination. This is accomplished by toggling the lines either on or off. You will be able to review your entry prior to submission.

A Doublet puzzle consists of a list of words, all of the same length stacked on top of each other. The top and bottom words in the list are given, and are called anchor words. Each of the intervening words is defined by a clue, just as in a crossword puzzle. In addition the word under the previous word is formed from the word above in the list by the application of two letter changes. Each word in the list is changed by two letters, hence the name doublet. To enter the contest, the entry form will contain an entry box to input the list of words.

A Fillomino puzzle consists of a square grid in which some of the squares contain a single digit number. To complete the puzzle, a solver must place numbers in the blank squares so that the puzzle is divided into zones with the area of each zone equal to the number contained within its squares. The zones may take on any shape, but zones having the same area may not touch each other. Each puzzle has a unique solution which does not require any guesswork to achieve success.

A Find-A-Quote puzzle is a rectangular matrix of letters. The text can be found starting at the top left of the maze, and ending at the bottom right. Between these two points, the text meanders randomly throughout the matrix. The puzzle solution is the path of the text.

The puzzle consists of blocks representing letters in the answer. The clues given are numbered and the starting letter of the answer for the clue goes in the numbered square and then continues either across in a rightward direction or downwards, depending on the clue. As you fill in the puzzle you can combine the clue, number of spaces and letters from intersecting words to determine the answer. To win the contest, the proper word (answer) must be place in the proper numbered slot.

Futoshiki puzzles are built on square grids. To solve them you must place numbers into the puzzle cells in such a way that each row and column contains each of the digits less than the size of the puzzle. In this respect they are similar to Sudoku puzzles. To give the solver a start, there will normally be several numbers already in the puzzle. In addition, a few pairs of adjacent cells will have < (less than) and > (greater than) symbols inserted between them to indicate the relative sizes of the numbers within those cells.

A Gokigen puzzle consists of a square or rectangular grid. To solve a Gokigen puzzle, you must place a diagonal line into every cell of the puzzle. The numbers in the circles at the corners of some of the cells indicates the number of diagonals which converge on that point. The diagonal lines are not permitted to combine to form a loop of any size. Each puzzle has a single unique solution which does not require any guesswork to achieve.

A Kakuro puzzle is constructed on a crossword grid just like a standard crossword, but the digits 1 to 9 are used instead of the letters of the alphabet. In an addition Kakuro puzzle, the Across and Down clues at the beginning of the rows and columns are simply the sums of the digits in the rows and down columns. A multiplication variant of this is to use the products of the digits for the clues.

Kendoku puzzles are built on square grids. To solve them you must place numbers into the puzzle cells in such a way that each row and column contains each of the digits from 1 up to the size of the length or width. In this respect they are similar to Sudoku puzzles. Unlike Sudoku puzzles, you are not given any starting digits. Instead, the puzzle is divided into Domains which are areas surrounded by a bold outline, and containing from two up to four cells. Each domain contains a hint consisting of a number and one of the mathematical symbols + x - /. The number is the result of applying the mathematical operation represented by the symbol to the digits contained within the domain. This will provide enough information to allow each of the digits to be determined. Each puzzle has a unique solution, and no guessing is required.

Killer Sudoku puzzles have much in common with standard Sudoku puzzles. They are solved by placing numbers into the puzzles in such a way that every row, column and 3X3 box contains each of the numbers 1 thru 9. However, there are no prefilled cells in the puzzle to get you started. Instead, the cells of the puzzle are collected into groups called cages having random shapes and sizes. Each cage includes a one or two digit score which is the sum of all the solution digits for the cells within the cage. Many innovative techniques are available to use this information to complete the solution.

A Labyrinth is a maze with only one path. Our labyrinths also have miscellaneous letters and punctuation scattered throughout the puzzle. The path will reveal the secret message, which is also the answer for the contest. Be sure to include punctuation in your entry. Find the only path through the labyrinth, starting at one arrow (triangle) and ending at the other arrow. To the best of our knowledge, there is only one path between the arrows. Once you have discovered the path through the maze, write the letters, punctuation & spaces down to form the secret sentence(s). The sentence(s) start at one arrow and end at the other arrow. The sentence(s) and words go in sequential order and are not scrambled. The asterisks (*) are filler only, not to be used in the solution.

A Ladderwords Puzzle consists of a number of rows of cells having the following form: FLIER T TRIFLE E FERTILE Notice that the second word is an anagram of the first word plus another single letter. Similarly, the third word is an anagram of the second word plus a second single letter. When a number of such lines are collected together into a puzzle, the inserted letters combine to form two vertical Anchor words. Both Anchor words are the contest solution.

Letterdrop puzzles consist of upper and lower sections which are more or less rectangular in shape. In each column of the puzzle, there are a number of vacant cells in one section, and a corresponding number of letters in the cells of the other section. To solve such a puzzle, the solver must place the given letters into the vacant cells of the puzzle to reveal a message which will normally be a well known quotation. Spaces in the quotation appear as black cells, and any punctuation characters in the message will already appear in the cells in their correct locations.

You may recognise the word Ouroboros as being the name of the ancient symbol showing a snake swallowing its tail and there is an element of that idea in this puzzle. The template on which the puzzle is built is really just an unbroken loop, and the words are placed into this loop with each word starting in the cell which immediately follows the previous word. However, a loop can be traversed in two directions, and regardless of the direction of traversal, an unbroken series of words will be read out. The words are different for each direction of traversal, but exactly the same letters are used, regardless of the direction. There are many similarities between this and the more familiar example of a palindrome. The contest entry form will require all of the words in their proper slot to become a winner. Remember that two words will use the same letter position both forward and backwards direction.

Pyramidwords are two lists of stacked words. The left list requires adding one letter to the existing word to arrive at the new word directly below the existing word. The right list requires removing one letter from the existing word to arrive at the new word directly below the existing word.

Rebuses are pictures often made with letters, numbers or images, which cryptically represents a word, phrase, or saying. The word rebus comes from the Latin phrase "non verbis, sed rebus," meaning "not by words, but by things." There will be more detailed directions to follow after development is further along and we have further honed our vision for these puzzles.

A Roundabout puzzle consists of a square or rectangular array of squares in which some of the squares contain a circular roundabout. The puzzle is solved by drawing a path which passes through the center of every square without crossing over itself until it returns to the square in which it started. The path must change direction at every roundabout, and it must also change direction exactly once in the intervening squares between Roundabout. There is a single unique solution which can be found without recourse to guessing.

A Sikaku puzzle consists of a square or rectangular grid in which some of the cells contain a one or two digit number. To complete the puzzle, a Solver must divide the puzzle into a number of rectangles so that each rectangle contains exactly one of the numbers, and that number must be equal to the area of the rectangle which contains it. Each puzzle has a unique solution which does not require any guesswork to achieve success. The contest entry form will have a matrix with entry slots.

Slitherlink puzzles are normally built on a rectangular grid. The grid is defined by an array of dots which represent the corners of the cells within the grid. Some of the cells in this grid contain a single digit number between 0 and 3 inclusive. The remaining cells are blank. To solve such a puzzle, the solver must join selected dots with horizontal and vertical lines so that a single loop is formed which does not cross over itself. If a cell contains a number, then that number of sides of the cell must be included within the loop. The puzzles have unique solutions, and no guessing is required to complete the solution.

Sudoku consists of nine rows and nine columns with groupings of nonets of three by three squares evenly distributed. Each row, column, and nonet must contain each number (typically 1 to 9) exactly once. Some numbers will be supplied, leaving empty cells to complete.

A Tatami puzzle consists of a square grid which has been covered with rectangular tiles which are either 3, 4 or 5 cells in area. Any given puzzle will be fully covered using tiles of only one of these sizes. To solve such a puzzle, the solver must place numbers from 1 up to the numerical size of the tile into the puzzle cells so that the following three rules are met: * The numbers within a tile must all be different. * Horizontally or Vertically adjacent puzzle cells must not contain the same number. * Each row and column of the puzzle must contain the same number of appearances of each number. Some of the puzzle cells will have a number already inserted to get you started.

A Tents puzzle consists of a square or rectangular array of squares in which some of the squares contain a tree, with the remainder containing only grass. The puzzle is solved by placing tents into selected grassy squares so that each tree has its own tent (either horizontally or vertically), and each tent has its own tree (either horizontally or vertically). The squares in which tents are placed must not touch on either the sides or the corners. Numbers located to the side and to the bottom of the puzzle tell you how many tents are in each row and column.

A Word Cross puzzle consists of a matrix of letters in which a number of words are embedded. The words may run up or down, forward or backward, or in any diagonal direction. Puzzles are constructed so that they contain a hidden message which can be read out from those cells which are NOT occupied by any of the words. The hidden message is read from left to righ, top to bottom and is not scrambled. In our sample drawing the hidden message is revealed in the red letters. The hidden message is the correct contest entry.

A Wordsquare puzzle is similar to a crossword puzzle having a couple of unique features of its own. The letters all intermix to correctly spell all of the words in spite of the intersections. It is built on a square grid which can range in size from 4x4 up to 10x10. It has none of the familiar darkened pattern squares of a traditional crossword. Consequently its contents is a list of words equal in number and equal in length to the size of the grid. Also, the list of ACROSS words is exactly the same as the list of DOWN words.