Lowdown Cryptic

@lowdowncryptic.bsky.social

607 Followers 656 Following

Canada’s rep for World Crossword Federation, coordinating the US & Canada Cryptic Championships (July 2026) 🏆 My cryptics: Crossweird, The Browser, AVCX, OoLF, Minute Cryptic. Scrabblegrams monthly. Letter banks repeatedly. He/him 🇨🇦 Insta: lowdowncryptic

Every Sunday of July at 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern. Highlighted date is July 19 for Online Round 2.
Screenshot of Wordle stats showing 1600 games played with 100% win percentage (rounded up from 99.5%) and Max Streak of 521 games
Heading from US & Canada Cryptic Crossword Championships practice round puzzle by Larry Kline, with 1-Across clue: Cryptic crowd holding large, cheerful competition in North America (5,3)
Poster for US Cryptic Crossword Championship 2026 Organized by Extra-C on CrypticSingh.com For US residents of any nationality Every Sunday of July at 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern July 5 - Practice Round July 12 - Online Round 1 July 19 - Online Round 2 July 26 - Final Leaderboard Free registration on CrypticSingh.com Prizes: Winner $500 Runner-Up $300 2nd Runner-Up $200 Medals for Podium Finishers Certificates for all State Winners
Every Sunday of July at 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern. Highlighted date is July 12 for Online Round 1.
Poster for the US Cryptic Crossword Championship 2026
Screenshot of Instagram post by inteltainmentpuzzles, with angel illustration and cryptic clue-writing contest for the word DIVINE
"July 5th, Practice Round" highlighted on Cryptic Crossword Championships schedule; Sundays in July at 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern
I’m going both ways to acknowledge someone who makes America great (9)
Poster for Canada Cryptic Crossword Championship 2026 Organized by Extra-C on CrypticSingh.com For Canada residents of any nationality Every Sunday of July at 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern July 5 - Practice Round July 12 - Online Round 1 July 19 - Online Round 2 July 26 - Final Leaderboard Free registration on CrypticSingh.com Prizes: Winner $500 Runner-Up $300 2nd Runner-Up $200 Medals for Podium Finishers Certificates for all Prov/Terr Winners
Photo of six Canadian cupcakes from cravecupcakes.ca - two of them are moose faces and one says "Happy Canada Day!"
Photo of Toronto skyline, with text below: Toronto Multicultural “city in a park” Drake made it “The Six” (a good fit) Enjoy shops of Queen, above-average dining, below-zero winters Scrabblegram (100 tiles) Blanks: K and T
Photos of South African and Canadian soccer fans with text "World Cup 2026, Today's Match, Sunday June 28, Round of 32, 1 Match, South Africa vs. Canada"
Poster for Canada Cryptic Crossword Championship 2026 Organized by Extra-C on CrypticSingh.com For Canada residents of any nationality Every Sunday of July at 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern July 5 - Practice Round July 12 - Online Round 1 July 19 - Online Round 2 July 26 - Final Leaderboard Free registration on CrypticSingh.com Prizes: Winner $500 Runner-Up $300 2nd Runner-Up $200 Medals for Podium Finishers Certificates for all Prov/Terr Winners
6 smiling people sitting at a table on a patio in downtown Toronto
"Cryptic Crossweird" in stylized text
Larry Kline bio for Cryptic Crossweird: "Larry (aka Lowdown) (he/him) has made cryptics for The Browser, AVCX, and Out of Left Field. He lives in Toronto and is Canada's rep for the World Crossword Federation, bringing online Cryptic Crossword Championships to the US & Canada in July 2026!
New puzzle! "Two Seconds of Obscenity" by Larry Kline for Cryptic Crossweird. Photo of Larry in cap and sunglasses, standing on the lakeshore, with Toronto's skyline in the distance.
Wide view of Toronto Stadium before the first World Cup match to be played in Canada, with a giant Canadian flag spread out on the field in the foreground
Poster for US Cryptic Crossword Championship 2026 Organized by Extra-C on CrypticSingh.com For US residents of any nationality Every Sunday of July at 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern July 5 - Practice Round July 12 - Online Round 1 July 19 - Online Round 2 July 26 - Final Leaderboard Free registration on CrypticSingh.com Prizes: Winner $500 Runner-Up $300 2nd Runner-Up $200 Medals for Podium Finishers Certificates for all State Winners
Rock Paper Scissors illustration and heading, with text below: Three options. Each used above next will win objectively. Fair-and-square triangle. Zero-sum game. You and I pick and... go for it! (Scrabblegram, 100 tiles, blanks C and N)
10 awesome, smiling people sitting on a rooftop patio
A journal with "Dear Mom" inscribed on the cover lies on an open notebook next to a gold pen
Parseword #92 cryptic clue by Lowdown: Performing artist has no way to get around (?)
Are youth increasingly mobile? Be jealous! (3,4,5,3)
Screenshot of Minute Cryptic clue (by member bixarrio on April 17, 2026): Twice-cooked meat for partner (8)
Artemis I Scrabblegram (with image of Snoopy doll in a spacesuit) With a jettisoned Snoopy as a glorified zero-gravity guide, a mannequin crews films up above to explore the lunar backside. Blanks: P, S
The Moon (a sonnet using four sets of Scrabble tiles) 0 faithful moon in heaven's silver sea, Our prized eternal geologic bride, You wax or wane adjusting ocean tide, Eclipsing pools of dark tranquility. Next daybreak came with no apology, Again I wait while you above me hide, A dim RSVP from back inside A quiet rendezvous trajectory. At dusk once more inexorably rise, Just up above horizon's water-edge, Reflecting in a wave of liquid light. Expect me in a violet sunset haze, Abandon me all day but I won't judge, Forgive a day's prerequisite for night. Blanks = C, D, H, I, N, S, V, and Y
Image of vintage TV displaying 1968 "Earthrise" photo, with text below: earthrise poised in lunar trajectory, gaze fixed on the opaque marble, with godlike vanity about viewing ourselves from a distance Scrabblegram (100 tiles) Blanks: TV!
Image of INSTAGRAM spelled with letter tiles, superimposed over logo. Text below: Scrabblegrams on Instagram How do I provide and contextualize… a poetry Scrabblegram? I gain a venue the quirky need justifies… follow me on Instagram! Scrabblegram (100 tiles) Blanks: M, N
Photo of Matthew-Ray Jones with text "Oraynu is excited to announce that Ontario's Poet-Laureate Matthew-Ray Jones, also known as Testament, will be speaking to us on the topic of 'At-Risk Youth' on March 30, via Zoom. Embracing positivity via our words and actions for their transformational impact, language has always been Matthew-Ray's sharpest weapon used to opening eyes, hearts and minds to the potential within."
Screenshot of Minute Cryptic’s new Scribble Space feature showing Mar 17, 2026 clue by Lowdown: “Abstract art genius makes a reproducible scribble (9)”
A journal with "Dear Mom" inscribed on the cover lies on an open notebook next to a gold pen
Abstract, molecular dot image of human form arising from DNA double helix. Text below: The Human Genome Project It sequenced pairs and revolutionized biology, working as if a saliva swab extracted your life Scrabblegram (100 tiles, including title) Blanks: C, S
DNA Scrabblegram (with diagram of DNA molecule) Various enzymes pair adjacent nucleotides by group, give a sequential framework of code within a rotating double helix. Blanks: C,U
Iran rally in Toronto with Persian flags
Illustration of "How a Zamboni works", with labelled components and brief descriptions
Photo of a Zamboni driving on an ice rink, with text below: The Zamboni Frank J. Zamboni invented the eponymous, oval-doing, water-spraying, axial ice resurfacer Built it with a good old squeegee Scrabblegram (100 tiles) Blanks: G, N
Screen recording of high-speed scrolling through 645 LLB clues
Scrabble board showing Scrabblegram (100 tiles): A Comet, a Cupid A Vixen, a Blitzen A jingle everybody "nose" How it makes Rudolph a unique reindeer? Or a gift for Santa? It glows! (Blanks: A, N)
Illustration of Rudolph and eight other reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh through the night sky. Text below: A Comet, a Cupid A Vixen, a Blitzen A jingle everybody "nose" How it makes Rudolph a unique reindeer? Or a gift for Santa? It glows! Scrabblegram (100 tiles) Blanks: A, N
Minute Cryptic clue video with a YouTube comment saying "Im in Gen Z and I thought this ate and left no crumbs [high ten emojis] [fire emojis] [stars emojis]"
Screenshot of Minute Cryptic clue for 20 December, 2025 by Lowdown: Gen Z [fire emoji] morphs into [cold face emoji] (8)
Screenshot of today’s cryptic crossword clue: This Cluedle is hot and thus special! (10)
Screenshot of Wordle stats showing 1400 games played with 100% win percentage (rounded up from 99.5%) and Max Streak of 521 games
Black-and-white photo of lawyer Benjamin Ferencz at the podium during the Einsatzgruppen trial at Nuremberg (1947). Text below: Ben Ferencz Took up justice for unimaginable pain Served a good, inquisitive way Made legal history Exhorted "Law, not war!" Scrabblegram (100 tiles, including title) Blanks: N, W
Unch crossword magazine received in Canada with a handwritten note saying "Sorry it took so long to get to you!"
Scrabblegram displayed on a Scrabble board, using all 100 tiles (blanks are G and H): a body exhumed a casket ajar zombies go free howling afar turning on evil insidious plot creepy date night we quiver a lot
Illustration of silhouetted zombies in a graveyard. Title: “undead”. Text below: a body exhumed a casket ajar zombies go free howling afar turning on evil insidious plot creepy date night we quiver a lot Scrabblegram (100 tiles) Blanks: G, H
Halloween Scrabblegram A great masquerade, by jack-o-lantern light, to view people in costume with obvious need of a candy fix (mini- or regular-sized). Blanks: C, M
@LowdownCryptic holding the book "Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose", which he received in Canada after winning a small cryptic crossword contest run by a setter in England
"Anagram signaler! (8)" - cryptic clue from The Browser Cryptic #241 by Larry Kline (October 5, 2025), edited by Dan Feyer
"Chopin pieces used once or twice for a children's classic (9)" - cryptic clue from The Browser Cryptic #241 by Larry Kline (October 5, 2025), edited by Dan Feyer
"Unopened Bach double-disc audio release? (5)" - cryptic clue from The Browser Cryptic #241 by Larry Kline (October 5, 2025), edited by Dan Feyer
"Discover messing around isn't a race (9)" - cryptic clue from The Browser Cryptic #241 by Larry Kline (October 5, 2025), edited by Dan Feyer
The Browser Crossword Cryptic #241 by Larry Kline October 5, 2025 - edited by Dan Feyer 3 cryptic clues from the crossword: You have to fill it during long rides (4) U.S. anthem is played with gusto (10) Browser crossword constructor and editor ultimately in error (7)
Autumn Scrabblegram Every autumn, I gaze at the bottom of overripe trees raining red. So if I adjust clocks in an equinox, dayglow will be up ahead.
Illustration of a melting clock face, with text below: Avoid a Void Procrastination's judged as being lazy, but… Anxiety is real. Conquer it, empower the self, avoid a void… Remaking how you feel. Scrabblegram (100 tiles) Blanks: S, Y
Screenshot of Minute Cryptic clue for 15 Sep 2025 by Lowdown: "Tingers tolded!? (4)"