Westwords Crossword Tournament | Sunday, June 22, 2025 | 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific time | Berkeley, CA, and online
Learn more about us below, and explore our site via the menu at the top of the page.
Registration is now OPEN — select "Tournament Information" above or click here to book your spot!
If you wish to be added to our email list, please fill out the form here.
What We Are
Westwords is a one-day crossword tournament, which will have its second event on Sunday, June 22, 2025. The tournament will be held in person, in Berkeley, California, as well as online (same puzzles, same time, separate scoring), thanks to our partnership with the virtual-tournament wizards at Boswords. Select "Tournament Information" in the top menu or click here to learn more!
Our Mission
The impetus behind Westwords is the desire to serve people who have not had the chance to participate in crossword tournaments in the past — whether because of being relatively new to crosswords, or because geographic distance makes travel too expensive, too time-consuming, or too much of a health risk — along with solvers of all abilities and experience levels. Crossword lovers everywhere are welcome!
Other Sites to Check Out
We are very happy to be part of the Boswords family! Boswords is a series of crossword tournaments and events that take place year-round. They welcome solvers of all skill levels to participate remotely (and in person for their summer tournament). Visit their site to learn more.
The New Yorker, where Westwords co-director Kate Chin Park works as an editor in the Puzzles & Games Dept., has released a new puzzle called Laugh Lines. It's a fun drag-and-drop game, released weekly on Mondays, that challenges you to guess when a group of cartoons from The New Yorker’s hundred-year archive were originally published, relative to one another.
Here's a demonstration of how the game works, presented by the actor and screenwriter Jesse Eisenberg. Enjoy!
Our online solving experience is powered by PuzzleMe, the digital crossword platform offering from AmuseLabs.
2024 Tournament Recap
For our inaugural event, we hosted 127 attendees in person, as well as 149 individuals and 27 pairs online. We were overjoyed to find that for half of our in-person participants, it was their first time competing in a crossword tournament!
