Dustin Foley is a puzzle creator currently living in Harrogate, England. Below is a sampling of the variety of puzzles Dustin has made in the past and continues to make today. Enjoy!
Enigma Twist, authored solely by Dustin, was a daily puzzle featured in the
Brown Daily Herald from January 2008 to May 2009. Within a rectangle the size of a comic strip, a new puzzle type appeared daily, ranging from classics to newly invented originals. Some weeks featured five different puzzle types based on a single theme. Post-2009, more puzzles in the same style have occasionally been added to this site.
Sample Puzzles
Sample Theme Weeks
Links to Full Archives
The New York Times published one of Dustin’s crosswords on April 6, 2009. A few days prior, his puzzle was also used in the 2009 Boston Crossword Tournament and the 2009 Brown University Crossword Tournament, both hosted by Will Shortz.
The Daily Puzz is a quick daily diversion available exclusively to Dustin’s former coworkers. A different puzzle type is featured every week, with a new puzzle every weekday. First starting as a very frequent puzzle contributor, Dustin was then selected by the founder of the Puzz to be the co-editor. He volunteered his time to test-solve and revise puzzle submissions, selected entries for publication, and contributed an average of one week of puzzles every month. Below is a sample of his contributions.
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Up And Away
Each clue is for a two-word phrase. The first word contains UP as consecutive letters, and the second word is the same word with UP removed.
Example: Excellent resident of Belgrade
Answer: Superb Serb
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Common pets who like a certain condiment
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Is a proponent for team athletic activities
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Single-file procession of wolves
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Friend in a chrysalis
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Apply padding and fabric to a cowboy accessory
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Initial Impressions
A phrase that a common acronym stands for has been written out, but with all the letters of the acronym removed. What's the acronym?
Example: MERN TNDRD ODE FOR NFORMTON NTERHNGE
Answer: ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
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DRL RGNCY NGNT GNCY
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RH LIC REY RGIZI
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NDO CCESS EOY
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TIOL OITIO FO TOK UTO IG
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PECIL EPON ND CIC
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Chained Melody
Each list of clues is in random order, but when properly arranged in a chain, each pair of adjacent answers will only differ by exactly one letter. Additionally, the first word in the chain, followed by the last word in the chain, forms the name of a well-known musician or band.
Example:
Branch adornment
Piece of a pencil
Renaissance Faire drink
Unit of bread
Veal, mutton, etc
Answer: MEAT, MEAD, LEAD, LEAF, LOAF (Musician is Meat Loaf)
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Chokes
Cuckoo (for)
Falls behind
Lord's spouse
Young gents
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Answer
LADY, LADS, LAGS, GAGS, GAGA
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Breathe like a tired dog
Genre of the Ramones
It flies toward a bull's-eye
One way to kick a ball
Out of one's mind
Section
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Answer
DAFT, DART, PART, PANT, PUNT, PUNK
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During
Krill eater
Like Chardonnay or Riesling
Oil-producing type of rock
Plumber's unclogging tool
Tremble
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Answer
WHITE, WHILE, WHALE, SHALE, SHAKE, SNAKE
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Brubeck, Grohl, and Matthews
College town near Sacramento
Gals
Occupants of invisible boxes
They feature FDR
Units of length
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Answer
MILES, MIMES, DIMES, DAMES, DAVES, DAVIS
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Delta Tau Chi or Omega Theta Pi
Frigid
Ill-behaved child
Layer of paint
Melee
Say grace, maybe
Seagoing vessel
One of Shakespeare's 38
Young male horse
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Answer
COLD, COLT, COAT, BOAT, BRAT, FRAT, FRAY, PRAY, PLAY
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Half Orders
Each clue is for a two-word phrase. The second word is the result of swapping the two halves of the first word. The two words will be in alphabetical order.
Example: Send out an object
Answer: Emit item
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Unit in which to measure the lower part of one's face
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Part of a nativity scene in Munich
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Some souvenirs from Maui
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Spring holiday spent on part of a freeway
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What a device on display at an electronics store may be set to
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Boot Fall
In honor of the opening week of the NFL season, each day a pair of NFL teams has been Spoonerized to create a new two-word phrase.
Example: Baby sheep owned by actor Gosling
Answer: Ryan's lambs (Lions, Rams)
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Ends the lives of metal fasteners
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Puts Snoopy and family on TV
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Pours colors on players who tackle the quarterback
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Shines light on communities
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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
In honor of Earth Day, sets of clues to four words have been provided. The starting word can be "reduced" by removing a letter, which forms the second word. That second word can "reuse" one of its letters, doubling it in place, to form the third word. Finally, that third word can be "recycled" by rearranging its letters, forming the last word.
Example:
Start: Sound like thunder
Reduce: Eastern European currency
Reuse: Loose rocks
Recycle: A non-pirate, maybe
Answer: Rumble, ruble, rubble, lubber
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Start: Having an incline
Reduce: Plodded slowly along
Reuse: Went around in a circle
Recycle: Fluffy dog breed
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Start: Does some woodworking
Reduce: Is concerned
Reuse: Embrace lovingly
Recycle: Panics
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Start: Clutch or tote
Reduce: Innocent
Reuse: Chop finely
Recycle: Indian currency
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Start: Kind of order in a chicken coop?
Reduce: Capital city in Asia, once
Reuse: No-no before a surprise
Recycle: Holding onto
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Start: Coffee-making tool
Reduce: Docket
Reuse: Loud bird
Recycle: Stadium fans or plumbers
These are a few of Dustin's larger mini-extravaganzas.
Upon request, Dustin has created small sets of interrelated puzzles to supply extra entertainment at holiday parties.
Single holiday puzzles:
Dustin was the lead organizer for the Washington, DC chapter of the 5th annual
DASH puzzle hunt on May 18, 2013. He also contributed one of the nine puzzles, Develop A Cure.
