Outside the Fox Puzzles is proud to sponsor the 5th Triple Crown Fox Derby! Up to three winners of this contest will receive their choice of one of these prizes, for themselves or for anyone else of their choice:
• A 1-year subscription to Outside the Fox Puzzles, which comes with 150 puzzles just like the ones in this contest!
• A $10 gift card for Grandmaster Puzzles, with which one can buy ebooks of beautiful logic puzzles written by talented authors from around the world!
• A 2-month Premium membership on Board Game Arena, with which one can play board games in real-time and turn-based modes against opponents from around the world!
My plan is to run these contests on the first Monday of every January, April, July, and October, at 12:01 AM Central Time. The entry deadline will be 13 days later (on a Sunday) at 11:59 PM Central Time; in this case, the deadline is Sunday, January 18, 2026, at 11:59 PM Central Time.
This contest combines a Touchword puzzle, a gridded logic puzzle, and a variety word puzzle with a fox race. Yes, in the real world, people bet on horse races and greyhound races, but in the fantastic world of Outside the Fox Puzzles, it is foxes who race. To participate in the contest, send an e-mail to glmathgrant@[at]gmail[dot]com. Your entry should include:
• Your answers to the three puzzles, as explained in their respective instructions. (Any format, including scans or photos of printed pages, screenshots, or plain text, will work, so long as I can read and judge it.)
• The name of the fox you'll be entering in the race (this is just for fun and has no effect on the outcome).
• The number of the gate your fox will start from (any integer between 1 and 50 inclusive) in each of the three races (the Kittucky Derby, the Sneakness Stakes, and the Tailmont Stakes). You can use the same gate any number of times.
The first race is the Kittucky Derby; to qualify, you must have submitted correct solutions to all three puzzles. The second race, the Sneakness Stakes, requires only two correct solutions, and the Tailmont Stakes requires only one. Winning an earlier race disqualifies you from a later race; otherwise, you can qualify for, and participate in, one, two, or all three races. The winner of each race is the fox that started from the lowest-numbered gate that nobody else selected! Unfortunately, when two or more foxes are crammed into the same gate, they have a tendency to fight each other and to not notice when the race has started. If no foxes qualify for a race, or if all qualifying foxes end up in fights, then there will be no winner.
• A 1-year subscription to Outside the Fox Puzzles, which comes with 150 puzzles just like the ones in this contest!
• A $10 gift card for Grandmaster Puzzles, with which one can buy ebooks of beautiful logic puzzles written by talented authors from around the world!
• A 2-month Premium membership on Board Game Arena, with which one can play board games in real-time and turn-based modes against opponents from around the world!
My plan is to run these contests on the first Monday of every January, April, July, and October, at 12:01 AM Central Time. The entry deadline will be 13 days later (on a Sunday) at 11:59 PM Central Time; in this case, the deadline is Sunday, January 18, 2026, at 11:59 PM Central Time.
This contest combines a Touchword puzzle, a gridded logic puzzle, and a variety word puzzle with a fox race. Yes, in the real world, people bet on horse races and greyhound races, but in the fantastic world of Outside the Fox Puzzles, it is foxes who race. To participate in the contest, send an e-mail to glmathgrant@[at]gmail[dot]com. Your entry should include:
• Your answers to the three puzzles, as explained in their respective instructions. (Any format, including scans or photos of printed pages, screenshots, or plain text, will work, so long as I can read and judge it.)
• The name of the fox you'll be entering in the race (this is just for fun and has no effect on the outcome).
• The number of the gate your fox will start from (any integer between 1 and 50 inclusive) in each of the three races (the Kittucky Derby, the Sneakness Stakes, and the Tailmont Stakes). You can use the same gate any number of times.
The first race is the Kittucky Derby; to qualify, you must have submitted correct solutions to all three puzzles. The second race, the Sneakness Stakes, requires only two correct solutions, and the Tailmont Stakes requires only one. Winning an earlier race disqualifies you from a later race; otherwise, you can qualify for, and participate in, one, two, or all three races. The winner of each race is the fox that started from the lowest-numbered gate that nobody else selected! Unfortunately, when two or more foxes are crammed into the same gate, they have a tendency to fight each other and to not notice when the race has started. If no foxes qualify for a race, or if all qualifying foxes end up in fights, then there will be no winner.
The Triple Crown Fox Derby now also supports the three food banks featured previously in Kevin’s Puzzles at Home. For every valid puzzle solution received during the contest, I will add $1 to a money pool which will be split between the Food Bank of West Central Texas, the Food Bank for Larimer County, and the Palm Beach County Food Bank. The money pool is capped at $150 ($50 per food bank), and will be matched by three anonymous benefactors.
These statistics on the previous Triple Crown Fox Derbies may give you an estimate of how many entrants the current Derby will have and help you plan your strategy. Enjoy the puzzles, and yappy racing!
Derby #1: 22 triple solves, 24 double solves, 24 single solves
Derby #2: 21 triple solves, 23 double solves, 23 single solves
Derby #2: 21 triple solves, 23 double solves, 23 single solves
Derby #3: 22 triple solves, 23 double solves, 23 single solves
Derby #4: 13 triple solves, 15 double solves, 15 single solves
TOUCHWORD
Every
row has one or more answers clued in order. Every letter shares an edge
with at least one identical letter either immediately above or
immediately below. The top and bottom rows are considered adjacent. To qualify for the Triple Crown Fox Derby, submit the completed grid.
2 Electric light fixtures that resemble candlesticks / A greenish shade of blue
3 Slide while seated / Rotation force
4 Italian dish often colored with saffron / Anger
5 Racy / Vibrato
6 Sport played in a four-walled court
7 Glossy varnish / Catherine who played Daisy Duke
8 Send off, as a rocket / Insect of order Blattodea, commonly
9 Like food that makes loud grinding sounds when chewed / Sign of things to come
10 Pleasure trip on a boat / Oman’s southwestern neighbor
11 Commendations / Pataky of Netflix’s Tidelands
PENTOMINOUS
Illustrated rules on puzz.link | Solve on puzz.link
Rules summary: Divide the grid along the grid lines into regions, each containing exactly five cells. A letter in a cell indicates the shape of its region; the legend below indicates which letter corresponds to which shape, but shapes may appear rotated or reflected from their orientations in the legend. A region may contain no letters, one letter, or multiple letters. No two regions with the same shape (counting rotations and reflections as the same) may share an edge. To qualify for the Triple Crown Fox Derby, submit the completed grid.
Illustrated rules on puzz.link | Solve on puzz.link
Rules summary: Divide the grid along the grid lines into regions, each containing exactly five cells. A letter in a cell indicates the shape of its region; the legend below indicates which letter corresponds to which shape, but shapes may appear rotated or reflected from their orientations in the legend. A region may contain no letters, one letter, or multiple letters. No two regions with the same shape (counting rotations and reflections as the same) may share an edge. To qualify for the Triple Crown Fox Derby, submit the completed grid.
PATCHWORK
Each row in this puzzle has two answers, to be entered in the grid in order from left to right. Answers will also be entered in irregularly-shaped patchwork pieces, always left to right, row by row within each piece, as in the examples at right. You must determine how the grid is divided and which answer goes with which piece; every square of the grid is part of exactly one piece. To qualify for the Triple Crown Fox Derby, submit the completed grid, including piece boundaries.
Each row in this puzzle has two answers, to be entered in the grid in order from left to right. Answers will also be entered in irregularly-shaped patchwork pieces, always left to right, row by row within each piece, as in the examples at right. You must determine how the grid is divided and which answer goes with which piece; every square of the grid is part of exactly one piece. To qualify for the Triple Crown Fox Derby, submit the completed grid, including piece boundaries.
ROWS
1 Portugal’s neighbor / ____ wave
2 “Bohemian Rhapsody” band / What a window is made out of
3 Shaved piece of citrus peel / Saint Paul’s birthplace
4 Fashionable / Bit of corn
5 Towards shelter / Certain kitchen appliances
6 It’s in an envelope / Involuntary spasms
7 Macdonald who once hosted Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update / Ninety-nine divided by nine
8 Move smoothly / 4:3, for example
9 ____ Claire, Wisconsin / Strictly self-disciplined
10 Become less harsh / Leaf-gathering implement
PIECES
• Item in an art gallery
• NHL team with mascot Victor E. Green: 2 wds.
• Intelligent
• Throw down the gauntlet
• Nissan compact car brand
• Face the ____ (CBS public affairs program)
• Extracts toothpaste from a tube
• Enjoy a share
• Futile
• Extra hours of work
• Hardy’s partner
• Board game in which players form train routes by playing sets of matching train cards: 3 wds.
• Single-named country music singer-songwriter who collaborated with Morgan Wallen
1 Portugal’s neighbor / ____ wave
2 “Bohemian Rhapsody” band / What a window is made out of
3 Shaved piece of citrus peel / Saint Paul’s birthplace
4 Fashionable / Bit of corn
5 Towards shelter / Certain kitchen appliances
6 It’s in an envelope / Involuntary spasms
7 Macdonald who once hosted Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update / Ninety-nine divided by nine
8 Move smoothly / 4:3, for example
9 ____ Claire, Wisconsin / Strictly self-disciplined
10 Become less harsh / Leaf-gathering implement
PIECES
• Item in an art gallery
• NHL team with mascot Victor E. Green: 2 wds.
• Intelligent
• Throw down the gauntlet
• Nissan compact car brand
• Face the ____ (CBS public affairs program)
• Extracts toothpaste from a tube
• Enjoy a share
• Futile
• Extra hours of work
• Hardy’s partner
• Board game in which players form train routes by playing sets of matching train cards: 3 wds.
• Single-named country music singer-songwriter who collaborated with Morgan Wallen
