Puzzazz News

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Puzzazz Launches Full-Fidelity Support for New York Times Daily Crossword

Redmond, Washington - June 25th, 2013 - Puzzazz today announced that the best way to solve puzzles in the digital world -- its popular Puzzazz app for iOS -- is now the best way to solve the New York Times daily crossword.

Puzzazz is the only app available which provides a full fidelity solving experience, combined with its fantastic user interface and award-winning TouchWrite handwriting recognition technology, and it provides this at no additional charge for New York Times premium crosswords subscribers.

"We’re bringing together the gold standard in crossword puzzles with the gold standard for solving puzzles," said Puzzazz CEO Roy Leban. "Access to New York Times crossword puzzles makes the Puzzazz app even more compelling to puzzle solvers, whether you’re a casual or a hardcore crossword enthusiast."

Puzzazz’s full fidelity experience provides solvers with puzzles that match the print edition in both formatting and features, without compromise. If a puzzle has an an unusual feature -- a non-standard grid, entries that turn corners, a diagonal clue, even oversize squares -- you’ll see that in Puzzazz. All people have to do to solve in Puzzazz is enter their nytimes.com login information. Once they’ve done that, puzzles are automatically downloaded right after they’re released each day by the Times. Solvers also have instant access to the last three months worth of puzzles.

Puzzazz’s exclusive, award-winning TouchWrite handwriting recognition technology, which requires no training or special letters, makes solving more enjoyable, particularly on small-screen devices like an iPhone. Puzzazz’s best-in-class user interface streamlines the solving experience, with unique features designed with solvers in mind, including clue highlighting and auto scrolling, cross-reference highlighting, clue notes, cell marking, support for lefties, and a number of options for hinting.

New York Times Premium Crosswords subscribers will appreciate the fact that there is no additional charge to solve the daily NYT crossword in Puzzazz. "We believe very strongly that people shouldn’t be charged twice," said Leban. "If they’re already paying the Times, they shouldn’t have to pay even more money to solve the daily crossword."

The New York Times crosswords join Puzzazz’s acclaimed Year of Puzzles, plus thousands of other puzzles, including crosswords, cryptic crosswords, wordplay, and many other types of puzzles created by world-class authors.

ABOUT PUZZAZZ

Puzzazz is the best way to solve puzzles in the digital world. Our goal is to make sure that every solver has fun and gets challenged through high-quality puzzles and a great solving experience.

Founded in 2008 by expert puzzle constructor and software architect Roy Leban, Puzzazz introduced the first interactive puzzle ebooks in 2010 and the first digital store dedicated to puzzles in 2012. Puzzazz also offers a free daily puzzle on its web site.

PRESS ASSETS

http://puzzazz.com/assets (includes screen snapshots, product images, logo)

CONTACT

Roy Leban
pr@puzzazz.com

APP LINK

http://www.puzzazz.com/appstorelink

KEYWORDS

New York Times, New York Times Crosswords, NYTimes, NYT, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Crosswords, Puzzles

The Puzzazz.com web site and all puzzles and content on Puzzazz.com, except where explicitly stated otherwise, are © Copyright 2008-2024 by Puzzazz. All rights reserved.

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Puzzazz Ships Puzzazz for iOS

New App for Buying and Solving Puzzles on Digital Devices

Redmond, Washington - September 17th, 2012 - Puzzazz today announced the launch of the new Puzzazz app for iOS. Available now for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch devices, the Puzzazz app provides puzzle aficionados an elegant and highly optimized digital experience for solving a variety of different types of puzzles, including crosswords, cryptics, word puzzles, rebuses, and other types of puzzles created by world-class constructors. The app provides over one hundred free puzzles of all types.

The integrated Puzzazz puzzle store offers some of the best puzzles available anywhere combined with a user experience designed by puzzle enthusiasts for puzzle enthusiasts. Puzzazz's exclusive TouchWrite technology is built in, allowing puzzle lovers to solve puzzles by writing directly on a touchscreen with their finger. TouchWrite's natural interface recognizes a wide variety of handwriting styles without requiring special writing or training by the user, delivering high-quality recognition. While TouchWrite works on all supported devices, it's most significant on the iPhone and other small-screen devices.

"TouchWrite is nice on the iPad," said Puzzazz Founder Roy Leban, "but it's magical on the iPhone where the screen feels bigger with the keyboard hidden. It makes puzzles fun to solve on the small screen."

At launch, the puzzle store is stocked with 29 puzzle ebooks from 17 authors, with more coming every month, so there's something for everybody who likes puzzles. Puzzles available at launch include crosswords, cryptic crosswords, word puzzles, logic puzzles, Mentagy, rebus picture puzzles, and even mystery puzzles. Every book in the Puzzazz bookstore can be browsed through before purchase, and every book includes at least one free puzzle, so solvers can try before they buy.

"The Puzzazz puzzle store provides a great way to connect puzzle solvers with puzzle constructors," said Leban. "As puzzles go digital like every other type of media, we have an opportunity to build a robust puzzle ecosystem serving both solvers and constructors."

Prices in the store range from $0.99 to $4.99 (US). Unshackled by the constraints of the paper publishing world, the Puzzazz puzzle store lets solvers easily sample different puzzle types and authors, while constructors can create new puzzle types and explore new packaging models.

WORLD-CLASS PUZZAZZ AUTHORS

Authors with books in the store at launch include:

Wayne Robert Williams - Creator of the syndicated A Daily Crossword, former editor of the Chicago Tribune crossword, and creator of more than 100 puzzle books.

Mike Selinker - Prolific game and puzzle designer with credits in GAMES, the New York Times, Wired, the Chicago Tribune, and elsewhere. Creator of Risk Godstorm, Axis & Allies Revised, Unspeakable Words, and many other games. Author of Puzzlecraft: The Ultimate Guide on How to Construct Every Kind of Puzzle.

Brian Greer - Former Crossword Editor of The Times of London and The Independent, published in many British publications as well as the New York Times and GAMES Magazine.

Michael Wiesenberg - Constructor of the daily crossword in Metro, Canada's most read national newspaper. Other credits include the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Sun and numerous magazines and books. He also writes about poker, in books and magazines.

Brendan Emmett Quigley - The sixth-most published constructor for the New York Times, with 132 solo puzzles to his credit. Other credits include the Los Angeles Times, the New York Sun, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. Author of over thirty different books.

David Steinberg - Fifteen-year-old who was the fourth-youngest puzzle constructor in New York Times history, with additional credits in the Los Angeles Times, Fireball Crosswords and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Allyn Kahn - Creator of the award-winning Mentagy puzzle, philosophy and math professor, chess coach.

T Campbell - Sci-fi and comic writer who also creates crosswords, including the largest crossword to follow American rules.

Emily Dietrich - Novelist, poet, and mystery writer, creator of the Anabel puzzle mystery series.

Victor Fleming - Full-time judge and part-time puzzle creator and editor, constructs the I Swear Crossword and Rotarian Crossword series. Other credits include GAMES, Simon & Schuster, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and the Random House crossword books.

Ian Livengood - Editor at Penny Publications, with constructor credits in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Fireball Crosswords and the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

Puzzle constructors interested in publishing their work in the Puzzazz puzzle store should visit http://puzzazz.com/constructors.

ABOUT PUZZAZZ

Puzzazz is the best way to buy and solve puzzles in the digital world. Our goal is to make sure that every solver has fun and gets challenged through high-quality puzzles and a great solving experience.

Founded in 2008 by expert puzzle constructor and software architect Roy Leban, Puzzazz introduced the first interactive puzzle ebooks in 2010 and the first digital store dedicated to puzzles in 2012. Puzzazz also offers a free daily puzzle on its web site.

PRESS ASSETS

http://puzzazz.com/assets (includes logo, product images, book covers)

CONTACT

Roy Leban
pr@puzzazz.com

The Puzzazz.com web site and all puzzles and content on Puzzazz.com, except where explicitly stated otherwise, are © Copyright 2008-2024 by Puzzazz. All rights reserved.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Puzzazz Launches First Handwriting Recognition for Kindle with Sudoku Unbound Volume 3

Redmond, Washington - February 14th, 2012 - Puzzazz, a puzzle technology company building the future of puzzles for the digital world, has launched the first handwriting recognition for any ebook reader with Sudoku Unbound Volume 3, it's latest puzzle ebook for the Amazon Kindle family of devices.

Puzzazz's exclusive TouchWrite technology allows puzzle lovers using a Kindle Touch to solve puzzles by writing directly on the page of an ebook, like they were writing in the sand. TouchWrite's natural interface recognizes a wide variety of handwriting styles without requiring special writing or training by the user, delivering high-quality recognition never before seen in a device under $100.

The first ebook to incorporate TouchWrite technology is Sudoku Unbound Volume 3 by Scott Blomquist, the third ebook in the company's top-rated and best-selling series of Sudoku ActiveBooks. The ebook features 100 carefully crafted puzzles sure to delight solvers. Sudoku Unbound Volume 3 is also available for all other E Ink Kindle models, including the current-generation Kindle and the Kindle Keyboard (though handwriting recognition is only supported on the Kindle Touch).

Since 2010, the company's interactive ebooks for the Kindle have been met with rave reviews. The first of their kind, Puzzazz's ebooks combine the best of ebooks with the interactivity expected of a paper book. Its top-selling title, Sudoku Unbound Volume 1, reached #1 among all paid Kindle titles and is a consistent best-selling title for the Kindle.

ABOUT PUZZAZZ

Puzzazz is the best way to buy and solve puzzles in the digital world. Our goal is to make sure that every solver has fun and gets challenged through high-quality puzzles and a great solving experience. Founded in 2008 by expert puzzle constructor and software architect Roy Leban, Puzzazz offerings include a wide variety of interactive puzzle ebooks, currently available for the Amazon Kindle family of ebook readers, plus free daily puzzles on its web site.

PRESS ASSETS

http://puzzazz.com/assets (includes video, product images, logos)

CONTACT

Roy Leban
pr@puzzazz.com

The Puzzazz.com web site and all puzzles and content on Puzzazz.com, except where explicitly stated otherwise, are © Copyright 2008-2024 by Puzzazz. All rights reserved.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Puzzazz Raises Angel Round

Redmond, Washington - July 1st, 2011 - Puzzazz, a puzzle technology company and creator of carefully crafted puzzles and puzzle games for the digital world, has raised a round of financing backed by angel investors. This is the first outside capital the company has raised and will be used to accelerate development and extend the reach of the company's products.

Rave reviews have greeted the company's first products on the Amazon Kindle -- the first puzzle ebooks that lets users solve puzzles directly on the pages of the book. Its top-selling title, Sudoku Unbound Volume 1 by Roy Leban, reached #1 among all paid Kindle titles and is consistently outselling all other Sudoku titles on the Kindle. Puzzazz has an aggressive release schedule of additional titles through the rest of 2011.

Puzzazz was founded by Roy Leban, a prolific puzzle creator and serial entrepreneur. He noted, "Puzzazz is bringing a unique focus to the casual games market -- we're grounded in the immense and addictive popularity of puzzles. We know that giving people great experiences will get them to return over and over again. We've been excited by the reception for our initial products and are honored to have the support of our investors."

Investors in the round include Charles Fitzgerald, Richard Garfield, Shel Kaphan, and Mike Koss.

ABOUT PUZZAZZ

Puzzazz is the best way to buy and solve puzzles in the digital world. Our goal is to make sure that every solver has fun and gets challenged through high-quality puzzles and a great solving experience. Founded in 2008 by expert puzzle constructor and software architect Roy Leban, Puzzazz offerings include Puzzles Unbound, a line of ActiveBook puzzle collections, as well as daily puzzles on its web site.

CONTACT

Roy Leban
pr@puzzazz.com

The Puzzazz.com web site and all puzzles and content on Puzzazz.com, except where explicitly stated otherwise, are © Copyright 2008-2024 by Puzzazz. All rights reserved.

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Puzzazz Announces New Free Format for Puzzles

Puzzle community rallies around new implementation-independent format

Redmond, Washington - April 13th, 2011 - A new data format for representing puzzles on the Internet and electronic devices was announced today by Puzzazz, and has already garnered support from a number of key companies in the puzzle software community. In the interests of aiding widespread adoption, Puzzazz has released the specification a Creative Commons license and is explicitly stating that the format is free, forever, with companies, constructors, and solvers alike being granted a "perpetual, irrevocable, free license to use the ipuz format for puzzle data, and to read, write, and/or store the ipuz format in any software." The ipuz trademark is also being made available free, forever for any and all puzzles and software which conform to the ipuz standard.

Puzzazz designed ipuz to meet the following goals:

• Provide a simple, clean, consistent, and free industry standard format for representing puzzles.
• Provide an implementation-independent format.
• Provide a format that is easy to work with in code, for both creation and usage.
• Support the vast majority of puzzle types.
• Support significant puzzle variants.
• Support extensibility for company-specific information and variants.
• Support single puzzles (as a file, download, or as part of a larger file).

A number of companies and have already stepped up to support ipuz:

• Beekeeper Labs has added it to their CrossFire crossword construction software (currently only in beta versions of their next release).
• Crossdown will be adding support in the next version of their crossword construction application.
• Crossword Man will support it in the next version of Sympathy Crossword Construction.
• The Krosswordz solving application for Mac OS X will support it.
• The Black Ink solving application for Mac OS X will support it.
• XWordInfo will be supporting it for puzzle analysis.
• The new site 14Across.com will be supporting it for puzzle upload.
• Derek Slager's HTML 5 solver will support it.
• Puzzazz is supporting it for puzzle submissions.

The full ipuz specification is available at http://www.ipuz.org. An example of an ipuz formatted puzzle is at http://www.ipuz.org/example.

ABOUT PUZZAZZ

Puzzazz is the best way to buy and solve puzzles in the digital world. Our goal is to make sure that every solver has fun and gets challenged through high-quality puzzles and a great solving experience. Founded in 2008 by expert puzzle constructor and software architect Roy Leban, Puzzazz offerings include Puzzles Unbound, a line of ActiveBook puzzle collections, daily puzzles on its web site, and ongoing puzzles on Twitter.

CONTACT

Roy Leban
roy@puzzazz.com

The Puzzazz.com web site and all puzzles and content on Puzzazz.com, except where explicitly stated otherwise, are © Copyright 2008-2024 by Puzzazz. All rights reserved.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Puzzazz Launches First ActiveBook for Kindle, Wordoku Unbound

New title introduces interactivity into puzzle books for ebook readers

Redmond, Washington - December 10th, 2010 - The next wave in content for electronic book readers has started, with the release of Wordoku Unbound Volume 1, the first in a series of ActiveBook puzzle collections for the Amazon Kindle platform. The Wordoku Unbound title is the first electronic book to allow solvers to complete puzzles directly on the page. Wordoku Unbound Volume 1 by Puzzazz, containing 100 carefully crafted Sudoku-style puzzles, is the debut title in what will become a complete line of books in the coming months which take advantage of the unique digital ink display to create a compelling user experience.

"Books like this are what Kindle was made for," said Roy Leban, Founder and CTO of Puzzazz. "When we've tested our puzzle books with solvers, we've seen over and over how natural the puzzles feel to solvers. It really showcases the long-term potential of electronic book readers."

Puzzle solvers can start solving minutes after they order Wordoku Unbound Volume 1, with the book downloaded quickly via Amazon's Whispernet. Just like a paper book, solvers can page through the puzzles using the Next and Previous Page buttons to choose a puzzle they'd like to solve. And, it will feel familiar to Kindle owners as they interact directly with the book, using the five-way controller to navigate and the letters on the keyboard to enter their solution or take notes.

Every puzzle in Wordoku Unbound Volume 1, and in every puzzle collection, is designed to challenge and delight solvers, with calibrated difficulty levels. With professionally-constructed puzzles, Wordoku Unbound contains some of the best Sudoku-style puzzles available anywhere. While paper books require solvers to choose a difficulty level before purchase, Puzzazz ActiveBook puzzle collecitons allow solvers to choose how hard the puzzles in the book are at any time so they can tune the book to their personal skill level. ActiveBook solvers never get stuck or frustrated, with their choice of hints at any time and even the ability to remove mistakes.

Wordoku Unbound Volume 1 is priced at $3.99, roughly half the price of comparable paper books, and is available now in the Kindle Store on Amazon.com. It is available for the third-generation Kindle 3 as well as the previous generation Kindle and Kindle DX.

More information and snapshots: http://puzzazz.com/unbound

ABOUT PUZZAZZ

Puzzazz is building the premier source for puzzles and puzzle games, with a goal of making sure that every solver has fun and gets challenged through high-quality puzzles and a great solving experience. Founded in 2008 by expert puzzle constructor and software architect Roy Leban, Puzzazz offerings include Puzzles Unbound, a line of ActiveBook puzzle collections, daily puzzles on its web site, and ongoing puzzles on Twitter.

CONTACT

Roy Leban
roy@puzzazz.com

The Puzzazz.com web site and all puzzles and content on Puzzazz.com, except where explicitly stated otherwise, are © Copyright 2008-2024 by Puzzazz. All rights reserved.

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Puzzazz Works with Evernote

Redmond, Washington - July 14th, 2010 - Puzzazz, the popular internet puzzle site, announced today that it has partnered with Evernote to deliver puzzles to Evernote users through Evernote's new Trunk, also announced today.

Evernote's Trunk provides a quick way to find and access existing add-ons and accessories as well as a new feature -- downloadable content notebooks. Puzzazz is one of six launch partners for Evernote's content notebooks, providing an exclusive sampling of three of the types of puzzles available on Puzzazz.com -- Anagram, LetterPlay, and TraceOut puzzles. These puzzles currently run on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, respectively.

"Everyone at Puzzazz uses Evernote and we're excited to be working with the market leader in this space," said Roy Leban, Puzzazz Founder and CTO.

Once you add Puzzazz puzzles to Evernote, they are accessible on all Evernote platforms and provide what Puzzazz has always provided -- a quick, fun diversion. If you're an Evernote user, update to the latest version and click on the new Trunk icon next to the Sync button, then click on the Notebooks tab to add Puzzazz to Evernote.

ABOUT PUZZAZZ

Puzzazz (puzzazz.com) was founded in 2008 by puzzlemaster Roy Leban. Roy's puzzles have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, GAMES magazine, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and in newspapers, books, and puzzle collections around the world. He has constructed thousands of puzzles ranging from crosswords to cryptograms to logic puzzles. His recent puzzle book Who-doku: Sudoku with Personality can be found at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and your local bookstore.

In the world of software, Roy has more than twenty years experience defining, designing, architecting, managing, and building highly usable and highly scalable software and technology-based systems. He has shipped more than twenty commercial products and services, including groundbreaking products in desktop productivity, early tablet computers, and web publishing.

CONTACT

Roy Leban
roy@puzzazz.com

The Puzzazz.com web site and all puzzles and content on Puzzazz.com, except where explicitly stated otherwise, are © Copyright 2008-2010 by Puzzazz. All rights reserved. Puzzazz and the Puzzazz logo are trademarks of Puzzazz. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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Puzzazz Launches Twitter Puzzles

Redmond, Washington - June 4th, 2009 - Puzzazz, the popular internet puzzle site, announced today that it has launched a new class of web-based puzzles on Twitter, the fast growing social networking site.

To get the puzzles, Twitter users simply follow Puzzazz on Twitter and the puzzles appear in their Twitter stream, the list of tweets from all the people they follow. The puzzles are "successive reveal" puzzles, which consist of a series of clues. The more clues you have, the easier the puzzle is. Followers compete to solve the puzzles first and the first person to solve each puzzle is designated the winner and immortalized forever on the puzzle's page on Puzzazz.com. To keep everybody happy, other solvers can still visit the puzzle's page to verify their answer or get additional clues.

The Twitter puzzles are a mix of different puzzles, ranging from Hangman Trivia to What Goes With? puzzles and everything in between.

The Puzzazz Daily Puzzles, a staple of the site, will continue, as will the larger Sunday puzzles and the once-a-month super-sized puzzles. Solvers can get the daily puzzles by visiting the site, through email or through a feed reader.

Q & A

What's a Twitter puzzle?

A Twitter puzzle is a puzzle revealed as a series of clues on Twitter. Follow Puzzazz on Twitter to get the clues. The puzzle gets easier the more clues are revealed. If you're the first person to solve the puzzle, Puzzazz will publicly congratulate you and your handle will be listed on the puzzle page on the web site.

What do I need to solve Puzzazz puzzles?

Puzzazz puzzles are "pencil and paper" puzzles, meaning that they can be solved with just your brain, along with a pencil and paper (or a computer screen and a keyboard). You don't need scissors, glue, or fancy gadgets.

How do I submit a solution?

Every Puzzazz puzzle includes a form for submitting the answer. The answer to a Twitter puzzle may also be tweeted directly using any Twitter client. The first person to tweet the correct solution wins and gets their handle listed on the puzzle page.

How hard are the Twitter puzzles on Puzzazz?

Twitter puzzles get easier as clues are revealed. At the beginning, they can be quite hard. At the end, they're pretty easy. Most Twitter puzzles are solved somewhere in the middle.

What does Puzzazz mean?

Puzzazz is a made-up word -- a portmanteau of puzzle (a baffling problem to test your ingenuity) and pizzazz (the quality of being exciting or attractive).

ABOUT PUZZAZZ

Puzzazz (puzzazz.com) was founded in 2008 by puzzlemaster Roy Leban. Roy's puzzles have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, GAMES magazine, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and in newspapers, books, and puzzle collections around the world. He has constructed thousands of puzzles ranging from crosswords to cryptograms to logic puzzles. His recent puzzle book Who-doku: Sudoku with Personality can be found at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and your local bookstore.

In the world of software, Roy has more than twenty years experience defining, designing, architecting, managing, and building highly usable and highly scalable software and technology-based systems. He has shipped more than twenty commercial products and services, including groundbreaking products in desktop productivity, early tablet computers, and web publishing.

CONTACT

Roy Leban
roy@puzzazz.com

The Puzzazz.com web site and all puzzles and content on Puzzazz.com, except where explicitly stated otherwise, are © Copyright 2008-2010 by Puzzazz. All rights reserved. Puzzazz and the Puzzazz logo are trademarks of Puzzazz. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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