About Us

The AVCX has been sending out a weekly crossword puzzle for over fifteen years: a lively, current, polished product with vibes that mainstream publications cannot match. In 2022, we’ve expanded to a six-times-a-week word game delivered straight to your inbox or device.

AVCX Classic

A full-sized crossword puzzle every Wednesday, usually themed

Team:

Ben Tausig, Francis Heaney, Wyna Liu, Quiara Vasquez, Ada Nicolle, Byron Walden, Paolo Pasco, and Karen Lurie

AVCX+

A full-sized crossword puzzle every Friday, usually themeless

Team:

Max Carpenter, Ada Nicolle, Sid Sivakumar and Kim Vu

Lil AVCX

Boundary-pushing, bite-sized puzzles on Mondays and Tuesdays

Team for 2024:

Rafael Musa (leadership team), Olivia Mitra Framke (leadership team), Will Eisenberg (leadership team), Sally Hoelscher (leadership team), Amie Walker, Brian Callahan, Darby Ratliff, Jess Shulman, Matthew Gritzmacher, Matthew Luter, Sara Cantor, and Shannon Rapp

AVCX Cryptic

Cryptic crossword puzzles on Thursdays

Team:

Stella Zawistowski, Nate Cardin, Steve Mossberg, and Francis Heaney

Trivia

Five(ish) trivia questions with a meta answer on Saturdays

Team:

Aimee Lucido, Michael Lieberman, and Chris King

Ada Nicolle

AVCX+ editor

Ada (she/they) is a crossword constructor based in Toronto, Ontario. She runs the indie crossword venue Luckystreak Xwords+ on Patreon, and is a regular contributor to the USA Today Crossword and Redstone Crosswords. When she’s not constructing puzzles, she can be found performing comedy around Toronto.

Aimee Lucido

AVCX Trivia editor and AVCX Classic constructor

Aimee (she/her/hers) is a long-time crossword maker with publications in most mainstream venues including the AV Classic and the New Yorker. She is a recent inductee into the cult of trivia and is very excited to apply her crossword experience to the trivia format. She writes books for kids and her first two publications, Emmy in the Key of Code and Recipe for Disaster, are available wherever books are sold. Her third book, Words Apart, will be out in winter of 2024.

Ben Tausig

AVCX Classic editor

Ben (he/him/his) has been an editor of the AVCX (now AV Classic) since 2006. He has two funny children, lives in Queens, NY, and likes to cook.

Brooke Husic

Lil AVC X editor

Brooke (she/her/hers) is a computational chemist who writes easy crosswords for the USA Today and very hard puzzles for her blog, xwords by a ladee. She also edits for the Inkubator and These Puzzles Fund Abortion, co-maintains Spread the Word(list), and co-hosts the Crossnerds podcast.

Byron Walden

AVCX Classic constructor

Chris Piuma

Lil AVC X editor

Chris (they/he/any) has a crossword blog and streams indie crosswords on Twitch — and is also the host of a podcast about “great books” and a game show featuring trivia from the 1930s.

Christopher Adams

AVCX+ editor

Christopher (he/him/his) is a former grad student turned townie slash independent puzzlemaker. He recently took over as quizmaster for most of the (very robust) Iowa City quizzing scene.

Claire Muscat

AVCX Cryptic editor

Claire (she/her/hers) is a Software Engineer and puzzle enthusiast based in Chicago, IL. Her puzzles have appeared in a number of mainstream and indie outlets but her heart belongs to cryptics now.

Enrique Henestroza Anguiano

Lil AVC X editor

Enrique (he/him/his) is a computational linguist and data scientist based in Oakland, CA. His crosswords have appeared in most mainstream and indie crossword venues, and you can find more indie crosswords and data science thoughts on his site, Datalexic. He also co-maintains Spread the Word(list), a free data-driven resource for newer constructors.

Francis Heaney

AVCX Cryptic editor

Francis (he/they) is currently the Senior Editor for Union Square & Co.’s imprint Puzzlewright Press, and has had stints at “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” (ancillary writer) and Games magazine (editor-at-large). Their puzzles have appeared in The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Wired, Time Out, the Wall Street Journal, Al-Jazeera, etc., and in books such as “Drunk Crosswords” (with Brendan Emmett Quigley), “Brain Games for Word Nerds,” and “Sudoku in Space.” Tweets: @fheaney; Insta: @heaneyf.

Hoang-Kim Vu

AVCX+ and AVCX-Defector editor

Hoang-Kim Vu (he/him) works in global public health in Washington, D.C. His crosswords have appeared in multiple venues including the AVCX, USA Today, L.A. Times, and New York Times.

Maitreyi Anantharaman

AVCX-Defector editor

Maitreyi Anantharaman is a staff writer at Defector, where she covers women’s basketball and other sports. She lives in Detroit.

Max Carpenter

AVCX+ editor

Max (he/him/his) is a film programmer, crossword constructor, and writer based mostly in New York. He sometimes uploads misfit puzzles to his site and is also terminally online.

Paolo Pasco

AVCX Classic constructor

Quiara Vasquez

AVCX Classic and AVCX+ editor

Quiara (pronounced key-AH-rah) (she/her/hers) was a journalist and is now a puzzlemaker (which, if you can believe it, pays better). The guy from The X-Files called her the best interviewer he’d ever talked to. She edits puzzles for AVCX+ and has done grids for Newsday, Boswords, The Atlantic, and (duh) AVCX; she posts weekly puzzles on her site QVXwordz.

Sid Sivakumar

AVCX+ editor

Sid (he/him/his) is an MD/PhD student and puzzlehead based in St. Louis, MO. He edits The Juggernaut Crossword and regularly contributes puzzles to The New York Times. Many of his indie crosswords can be found on his website, Sid’s Grids.

Stella Zawistowski

AVCX Cryptic editor

Stella (she/her/hers) is a top solver of vanilla crosswords, with multiple top-ten finishes at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, and an evangelist for cryptic crosswords. Follow her on Twitter for a #crypticclueaday and weekly #crypticcluecontest, and visit her site, ToughAsNails.net, for a monthly cryptic mini, cryptic solving tips, and a semimonthly hard themeless vanilla puzzle.

Wyna Liu

AVCX Classic constructor

Wyna Liu (she/her/hers) is an associate puzzle editor at the New York Times and an assistant editor at AVCX Classic. Her puzzles have run in The New Yorker, NYT and AVCX. She makes jewelry and objects that can be found here. IG and Twitter @wynaliu

Ada Nicolle

AVCX+ editor

Ada (she/they) is a crossword constructor based in Toronto, Ontario. She runs the indie crossword venue Luckystreak Xwords+ on Patreon, and is a regular contributor to the USA Today Crossword and Redstone Crosswords. When she’s not constructing puzzles, she can be found performing comedy around Toronto.

Adrian Johnson

2022 Lil AVC X constructor

Adrian (he/him/his) is from Wyoming— a distortion of the space-time continuum that the inner echelons of the U.S. government are trying to convince you is a “state.” Do not trust anything he says, because everyone “from Wyoming” is, in reality, a robot filled with pre-programmed memories and propaganda; the name Wyoming, after all, comes from a Delaware word meaning “conspiracy.” You can try to reach Adrian through technology, which, as a humanoid, he is likely to understand. Click here or here.

Aimee Lucido

AVCX Trivia editor and AVCX Classic constructor

Aimee (she/her/hers) is a long-time crossword maker with publications in most mainstream venues including the AV Classic and the New Yorker. She is a recent inductee into the cult of trivia and is very excited to apply her crossword experience to the trivia format. She writes books for kids and her first two publications, Emmy in the Key of Code and Recipe for Disaster, are available wherever books are sold. Her third book, Words Apart, will be out in winter of 2024.

Brendan Emmett Quigley

AVCX Classic Constructor

BEQ (he/him/his) has written every puzzle you’ve ever done since 1996. When not crossing words, he can be seen making an unholy racket with the Boston Typewriter Orchestra.

Brooke Husic

Lil AVC X editor

Brooke (she/her/hers) is a computational chemist who writes easy crosswords for the USA Today and very hard puzzles for her blog, xwords by a ladee. She also edits for the Inkubator and These Puzzles Fund Abortion, co-maintains Spread the Word(list), and co-hosts the Crossnerds podcast.

Byron Walden

AVCX Classic constructor

Chris Piuma

Lil AVC X editor

Chris (they/he/any) has a crossword blog and streams indie crosswords on Twitch — and is also the host of a podcast about “great books” and a game show featuring trivia from the 1930s.

Christopher Adams

AVCX+ editor

Christopher (he/him/his) is a former grad student turned townie slash independent puzzlemaker. He recently took over as quizmaster for most of the (very robust) Iowa City quizzing scene.

Claire Muscat

AVCX Cryptic editor

Claire (she/her/hers) is a Software Engineer and puzzle enthusiast based in Chicago, IL. Her puzzles have appeared in a number of mainstream and indie outlets but her heart belongs to cryptics now.

Enrique Henestroza Anguiano

Lil AVC X editor

Enrique (he/him/his) is a computational linguist and data scientist based in Oakland, CA. His crosswords have appeared in most mainstream and indie crossword venues, and you can find more indie crosswords and data science thoughts on his site, Datalexic. He also co-maintains Spread the Word(list), a free data-driven resource for newer constructors.

Francis Heaney

AVCX Cryptic editor

Francis (he/they) is currently the Senior Editor for Union Square & Co.’s imprint Puzzlewright Press, and has had stints at “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” (ancillary writer) and Games magazine (editor-at-large). Their puzzles have appeared in The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Wired, Time Out, the Wall Street Journal, Al-Jazeera, etc., and in books such as “Drunk Crosswords” (with Brendan Emmett Quigley), “Brain Games for Word Nerds,” and “Sudoku in Space.” Tweets: @fheaney; Insta: @heaneyf.

Karen Lurie

AVCX Classic editor

Karen Lurie (she/her/hers) is a Brooklyn, NY-based comedy and game show writer who dove into crossword construction during the dark pandemic days of 2020. Her puzzles have appeared in most of the mainstream and indie “usual suspect” venues.

Kelsey Dixon

2022 Lil AVC X constructor

A master thief who uses her skills for good, Kelsey (she/her/hers) travels the world foiling V.I.L.E.’s evil plans— with help from savvy sidekicks. Extremely intelligent, stylish, and fashionable, most of her crimes involve spectacular, and often improbable, cases of monument theft. Her other puzzles can be found at crosstina-aquafina.blogspot.com.

Kunal Nabar

2022 Lil AVC X constructor

Kunal (he/him/his) is an engineer who lives in the Bay Area. He started solving crosswords in 2017 and has loved it ever since. He began constructing in early 2020. You can find other puzzles he’s written on his blog. In his spare time Kunal enjoys cooking, running, and exploring California’s outdoor spaces.

Madeline Kaplan

2022 Lil AVC X constructor

Madeline (she/her/hers) is a Lil AVC X contributor. She is also a podcast producer and writer.

Max Carpenter

AVCX+ editor

Max (he/him/his) is a film programmer, crossword constructor, and writer based mostly in New York. He sometimes uploads misfit puzzles to his site and is also terminally online.

May Huang

2022 Lil AVC X constructor

May (she/her/hers) is a Chinese-English literary translator and also works in public relations. She runs Crossworthy, a puzzle blog and free crossword construction platform, with her husband Kevin. Talk to her about Taylor Swift, swing dancing, and Hong Kong!

Paolo Pasco

AVCX Classic constructor

Quiara Vasquez

AVCX Classic and AVCX+ editor

Quiara (pronounced key-AH-rah) (she/her/hers) was a journalist and is now a puzzlemaker (which, if you can believe it, pays better). The guy from The X-Files called her the best interviewer he’d ever talked to. She edits puzzles for AVCX+ and has done grids for Newsday, Boswords, The Atlantic, and (duh) AVCX; she posts weekly puzzles on her site QVXwordz.

Rafael Musa

2022 Lil AVC X constructor

Rafa (he/him/his) loves: crossword puzzles, Taylor Swift, matcha lattes, cats, browsing Zillow, reading investigative journalism. He has a crossword blog, and likes to hang out with other crossword people on Twitter. He grew up in Brazil and lives in San Francisco.

Shannon Rapp

2022 Lil AVC X constructor

Shannon (she/her/hers) is excited to be constructing for Lil AVC X! She makes puzzles for her blog under the name Norah Sharpe and contributes to Crossworld News and Notes. Shannon is a mom of one middle-schooler, servant to one cat, and loves coffee, knitting, and burritos.

Sid Sivakumar

AVCX+ editor

Sid (he/him/his) is an MD/PhD student and puzzlehead based in St. Louis, MO. He edits The Juggernaut Crossword and regularly contributes puzzles to The New York Times. Many of his indie crosswords can be found on his website, Sid’s Grids.

Stella Zawistowski

AVCX Cryptic editor

Stella (she/her/hers) is a top solver of vanilla crosswords, with multiple top-ten finishes at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, and an evangelist for cryptic crosswords. Follow her on Twitter for a #crypticclueaday and weekly #crypticcluecontest, and visit her site, ToughAsNails.net, for a monthly cryptic mini, cryptic solving tips, and a semimonthly hard themeless vanilla puzzle.

Wyna Liu

AVCX Classic constructor

Wyna Liu (she/her/hers) is an associate puzzle editor at the New York Times and an assistant editor at AVCX Classic. Her puzzles have run in The New Yorker, NYT and AVCX. She makes jewelry and objects that can be found here. IG and Twitter @wynaliu