In the beginning, you could only play A.I. generated puzzles in the Live Arena. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

I find myself torn between appreciating the AI-generated puzzles for what they are and, to borrow from the literary theme that we’ve got going here, experiencing the moment when the beauty of the dream vanishes, only to be replaced by horror and disgust. Well, not really horror and disgust—more like mild disappointment—but hey, the line is 'horror and disgust,' so we're going with it.

Today, I’m excited to announce a new feature on CrosswordRace.com: A.I. lobbies and Community Puzzle lobbies. In an A.I. lobby, puzzles are generated by A.I. software created by, well, me—just one person here at CrosswordRace. In a Community Puzzle lobby, the puzzles come from the Community Puzzles published on our site by players. To be eligible for the Live Arena, a Community Puzzle must have at least 5 votes.

The A.I. puzzle lobby offers the advantage of having hundreds of puzzles available, with new ones generated continuously. If you’re a hardcore solver, you might prefer the variety this lobby provides. On the other hand, the Community Puzzle lobby is designed to address feedback we’ve received about A.I. puzzles, particularly concerns about the lack of engaging clues. Here, you can solve top-rated Community Puzzles, offering a more curated experience.

We hope this feature strikes a balance between players who enjoy solving many puzzles and those who prefer fewer, but higher-quality, puzzles. As our Community Puzzle backlog grows with player contributions, we hope the Community Lobby will become just as popular as the A.I. lobby.