How we make our puzzles

Last updated October 1, 2026

Every puzzle on Senior Puzzles Daily is made by a program and then checked by other programs before anyone plays it. This page says what those checks are, where the words come from, and what to do if you find a mistake. For who is behind the site, see the About page.

How puzzles are made and checked

Sudoku. Every Sudoku, in all five kinds, is tested to have exactly one solution, so you never have to guess. Easy and Medium puzzles can be finished with simple moves: finding the one square where a number fits, or the one number a square can hold. Hard puzzles need a little more than that. The solver that proves this runs over the whole library before the site is released.

Word Search. Every word in your list appears in the grid exactly once, running only in the directions that level allows, and no listed word hides inside another. Easy words read left to right or top to bottom; Medium adds backwards and upwards; Hard adds diagonals.

Crossword. Grids are generated so that all the words connect into one piece and no random letters form accidental words. Answers are everyday words of three to nine letters, no answer is repeated within a puzzle, and a clue never contains its own answer.

Cryptogram. Each puzzle is decoded again by program to make sure it gives back its quotation, and no letter ever stands for itself.

Where the quotations come from

Cryptogram quotations come from three places only: works published in 1930 or earlier, which are out of copyright in the United States; traditional proverbs, which belong to everyone; and short sayings written for this site, which appear only in the humorous theme. The author and source are shown when you solve each puzzle. We do not use more recent writing, even a single line.

We are still working through every quotation, checking its wording, author and year against published sources, and we correct anything that turns out to be wrong.

How clues are written

Every crossword clue is written for this site in plain everyday English. None is copied from a newspaper or a published puzzle. A good clue has one clear answer, sticks to facts that do not change, and is short enough to read at a glance. After the automatic checks above, clues are corrected whenever a reader or we spot a problem.

Reporting an error

If you find a clue that is wrong, a puzzle that cannot be solved, a quotation with the wrong author, or anything else that looks like a mistake, please tell us on the contact page. Say which kind of puzzle it was, its level and theme, and what is wrong. We read every report. When a mistake is confirmed we correct the clue or the credit and, if a puzzle itself was faulty, replace it. Puzzles are otherwise never changed once published, so the puzzle you finished stays the puzzle you finished.