Personal Education
Wicked Wonderful Wordies Archive
Solving Help
In the sample puzzle below, the word "cow" is the focus in the puzzle frame. Circle bits have been removed to make it look like holes in the word. "Holy Cow" is the target idiom, including a play on spelling "holey" becomes "holy".
Sample Wordie Puzzle
Sometimes words have shapes or are outside the frame, or are on top, etc. Those hints should help to make you think of the desired idiom.
The wordies here have been made with Inkscape,
the excellent Free Software (open source) graphic design program. It is available for
many different computer types including Macintosh, Windows and Linux.
If you are interested in making your own wordies, check out these instructions.
This top section of the archive page shows just the most recent puzzles, ones which have not yet been converted into sets of twelve puzzles with answer keys. Those sets are available as PDF files you can download and print to challenge yourself and share with friends.
Small Screen? Tap/Click a wordie image to see it larger.
Currently, set 51 is in progress.
it goes without saying
ramping up
come to terms with it
round of golf
In honor of the great work done in Games Magazine, my version of a "wordie" will appear on this site. Many will also be placed in other online locations like my Independent Social Media/Fediverse/Mastodon Account. If you enjoy these puzzles, you should also check the "Wuzzles" of Tom Underwood.
My own students enjoyed the challenge of wordies when I was still teaching. (So did the staff at my school!)
* Wicked is a New England regionalism. When somebody says "Wicked Wonderful", they are saying they approve.
Dozens of Dozens
Printable PDF pages
You may download and share printable pages (with answer keys) licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution license which encourages sharing the work. Links back to this site will be appreciated if you reuse any of these wordies on your own website or use them in your own printed materials.
Sets of 12 wordies with answer key
(Click link for browser view of US Letter PDF or right click and choose Save link as...)
Set 2
Set 3
Set 4
Set 5
Set 6
Set 7
Set 8
Set 9
Set 10
Set 11
Set 12
Set 13
Set 14
Set 15
Set 16
Set 17
Set 18
Set 19
Set 20
Set 22
Set 23
Set 24
Set 25
Set 26
Set 27
Set 28
Set 29
Set 30
Set 31
Set 32
Set 33
Set 34
Set 35
Set 36
Set 37
Set 38
Set 39
Set 40
These PDF files can be opened, viewed, and printed using many programs. You are free to download, save and to make as many copies as you wish and may also freely pass the file along to others. Sharing is good. (Please learn about and promote the use of Creative Commons Licensing.)
If you are interested in making your own wordies, check out these instructions.
Galleries:
Some sets of wordies are also available in a gallery format. The galleries seem to work well with a computer browser which provides the option to hover. Unfortunately, the current gallery versions do not work well with tablet and phone browsers which only give the "click" effect when a thumbnail is touched. The click/touch reveals the answer. My apologies to all mobile visitors. I'm exploring alternatives. In the meantime, mobile users can enlarge the thumbnails with a two-finger action to get a better look before tapping reveals the answer. Please contact me if you have suggestions.
JavaScript license information
Copyright © Algot Runeman, 2012-Content licensed
Use the wordies as you see fit.I'd appreciate a link back if you post on your own site, but that's your choice.
Sharing is good. User freedoms of Free Software are the best.
Thanks to the Creative Commons and Free Software Foundation.