Announcing the Women of Letters crossword pack!

It’s finally here! The Women of Letters puzzle packet, designed to spur donations to charities focused on women and girls. Chip in $10 or more, and you’ll get a PDF containing 18 brand-new crosswords, all constructed and edited by women. (Disclosure: I’m one of those editors, together with the talented Patti Varol.—Amy)

Two of the puzzles are themeless and the rest have themes—many of them with a decidedly female/feminist slant. Women who construct crosswords often have their puzzles edited by men, so this project offered our constructors the opportunity to write clues that center women and know that the editors would embrace them.

The fabulous puzzle writers are: Tracy Bennett, Laura Braunstein, C.C. Burnikel, Amanda Chung, Debbie Ellerin, Gail Grabowski, Tracy Gray, Mary Lou Guizzo, Angela Olson Halsted, Pam Amick Klawitter, Sarah Keller, Lynn Lempel, Donna S. Levin, Ruth Bloomfield Margolin, Andrea Carla Michaels, Robin Stears, and Robyn Weintraub. The constructors, editors, designer, and test solvers all volunteered their efforts, and we hope to both raise a lot of money for a good cause and entertain crossword solvers.

Special thanks to Deb Amlen, who cooked up the whole idea last year, including the perfect name for the project.

All the details, including handy-dandy links to the eleven benefiting charities, are on the Women of Letters webpage. Cheers!