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The World's Oldest Puzzlers' Organization

The Guide is the collection of what makes us the NPL, from the basic instructions to our puzzles, to our history and information about the social aspects of our organization. We have a long history, so there's a lot to cover. Navigate using the menu down the left - some of the bars open to reveal subdirectories - or peruse the table of contents:

  • Preface - Credits and thank-yous for this edition of the Guide

  • History of the NPL - Where we started and major contributors to our growth and success
  • Membership - Who we are, and an introduction to how things work in the NPL in general
  • Sharing - The social aspect of being a puzzler within the NPL
  • Guidelines - The basics of our brand of puzzling, from ground rules to submitting solutions
  • Editorial Verses - Notes on how to turn a legal puzzle in verse into a finely-crafted one
  • Flats - Our mainstay puzzle type; Most of the wordplay we cover, with a special focus on the rebus
  • Forms - Information about the ancient cousin of the modern crossword puzzle
  • Cryptograms - Special rules about our coded puzzles, and tips on how to crack them
  • Extras - Help with cryptic crosswords (for both the writer and the solver) and other puzzle types that don't fit the other categories
  • Reference Books - A list of the tools every solver should know about
  • Constitution - ...and our by-laws
  • Glossary - Explanations of NPLish jargon and slang
  • Supplements - Anything that might be useful for NPLers, but that isn't in the official Guide, of which this is only an on-line mirror. In particular, “non-Guide” puzzle types are recorded here
  • Errata - Our list of what may be added to the Guide in future editions.
    (For errata for the current Enigma, see here.)