Today, I am excited to share Capture, a chess-based logic puzzle that we are introducing as an exclusive to readers of this newsletter. The goal is to make a series of captures such that you are left with only your king at the end. Joel Fagliano, a puzzle editor who worked on Capture, said it should be fun for both devoted chess players as well as those who are less familiar with the game. As a lifelong fan of chess myself, I think Capture feels fresh and works out a different part of my brain than a traditional chess puzzle. The boards are programmatically generated, and then Joel goes through them to pick out the best ones for solvers. “If a puzzle has five bishops on the same diagonal, that’s just not fun,” he said. “The most interesting puzzles feel like there are many paths to solving.” As far as difficulty goes, Joel said: “If you can solve a standard puzzle, you should be able to solve the advanced one; it just might take you a little longer.” If you have any ideas or suggestions for the game, email us at crosswordeditors@nytimes.com. Play Capture
Column of the WeekThis week, Julia Reinstein, a reporter, wrote in her column about today’s puzzle by Gary Cee: “Growing up, I watched my mom do the crossword, a hobby she’d picked up from her mom, and I always savored how she filled in square after square with capital letters. By the time I hit my tween years, I was ready to try it myself, though I could usually solve only a handful of clues. Still, I relished that sense of discovery and accomplishment, even if the puzzle remained mostly blank.”
How are we doing? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to crosswordeditors@nytimes.com. Thanks for playing! Subscribe to New York Times Games.
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