Adam Simpson
Like a lot of people, I spent the pandemic searching for new ways to stay sane. One of the first things I dove into was horror movies. I’d always loved the genre, but there were still so many classics I hadn’t seen. Lockdown turned out to be the perfect excuse to finally start crossing them off my watchlist—and even better, it gave me a way to stay connected with friends. Every week, we’d fire up Zoom, dim the lights, and scare ourselves silly.
The other hobby I fell in love with was crossword puzzle construction. With my background in video game design, I assumed it would be pretty easy to get puzzles into newspapers. Boy, was I wrong! After a year of rejections, I finally got my first puzzle published in 2021. Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to see my work featured in outlets like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and many more.
With these two passions taking over my life, it felt only natural to combine them. That’s how my two books, Nightmare Crosswords and Nightmare Word Search, were born.
The Puzzle Construction Process
My first book, Nightmare Crosswords, is a collection of 50 horror-themed crossword puzzles. Creating a crossword puzzle is a long process that takes a lot of planning. My first step was making a list of horror movies I wanted to feature. I aimed for a wide variety of references so that people of all ages—from casual fans to die-hards—would find something to enjoy.
Once the list was set, I moved on to puzzle construction. Every new crossword starts with the theme—the marquee entries that anchor the puzzle. From there, I build a fully interlocked grid and fill it with fun words and phrases. Then I prepare the meat of the puzzle: writing all the tricky clues. The last step is always my favorite—coming up with a punny title for each puzzle. Some of my favorite titles include Weapon of Choice, Dangerous Compounds, and Cross My Heart.
Every puzzle was test-solved by my amazing friends, who gave me sharp, insightful feedback all along the way. (Huge thank you to the team!)
The excitement around my first book pushed me to create a follow-up: Nightmare Word Search, which is also now available on Amazon.
If you’re a horror fan who loves wordplay—or a puzzle lover who’s ready to explore the darker side of pop culture—my Nightmare Puzzle Series is made for you. Happy solving!
