June 09, 2025
Bobby Pache/Harper Collins
In her second 'Black Crossword' book, Juliana Pache includes six-by-six, seven-by-seven and eight-by-eight grids with clues focused on Black literature, history and culture.
When Juliana Pache began creating crossword puzzles that emphasized the African diaspora in 2022, she opted to make smaller grids that would take people just a few minutes to finish — exactly how she liked to solve puzzles.
"Occasionally I would do a full-sized crossword puzzle, but I really love a bite-sized thing that I can fit into my day," said Pache, whose Black Crossword project releases a new online puzzle each day.
Her first book of crossword puzzles, released in August 2024, continued this pattern. But in her second book, "Black Crossword: 100 Midi Puzzles Connecting the African Diaspora," available now, the Temple University graduate moved on to six-by-six, seven-by-seven and eight-by-eight-letter grids. The book includes 100 puzzles with clues on sports, music, activism, literature, food, politics, writers and more, all centered around Black culture.
On Tuesday, Pache will appear at the Free Library's Parkway Central branch at 6 p.m. to discuss the book in a conversation with Desirée Gaines of The Philly Download, a digital news source that caters to young Black readers, creators and storytellers.
Pache began making puzzles in the fall of 2022. As she tried to solve the New York Times Mini — another small, daily crossword — she found the clues to be very white-centric. After attempting to find a crossword based on Black culture and coming up short, she decided to make her own. She launched Black Crossword in January 2023 to a warm reception.
"It just felt like a no-brainer. I was like, 'I'm going to start it,'" Pache said. "I had never made a crossword puzzle before, but I was like, 'I'll figure it out.'"
To make her crosswords, Pache pulls from a list of hundreds of people, places and things. It serves as word bank for her puzzles, and she adds to it frequently, drawing ideas from her own life, news and pop culture. Much of the list also stems from her background working in libraries, including Temple's Paley Library, where she learned a lot about Black literature and history.
"A lot of times, I start with a word that I know I want to include in the puzzle, and then I'll see what words can fit around it," Pache said. "But then other times, I'm just winging it and seeing what words come together and then I'm relating those words back to the Black diaspora."
After more than two years, Pache said making puzzles is still a rewarding, wholesome process, and she likes that the project is educational for others. Eventually, she'd like to do a full-size puzzle book, but in the interim, she's eager to share her new book of midi puzzles.
"What I'm excited for in the second one is for all of those people who graduated from the minis to feel more challenged by the midis," Pache said. "They're bigger puzzles, so it's going to take everyone a little bit longer, but they're still smaller than a standard size, so it's meatier, but it won't be anything too overwhelming."
