Cozy Cubs Puzzle Club

Sage Kitamorn, creator of Cozy Cubs Puzzle Club

Sage Kitamorn is the puzzle guy. You can find him most weekends on the lawn below the Conservatory of Flowers, weaving between bountiful picnic blankets and contented sunbathers. With folder and custom-branded pens at the ready, he passes out his hand-crafted puzzle sheets free of charge.

The full-color spreads are double-sided and chock-full of word games. He's got the classics: crosswords, word finds, games you're likely to find in the NYT puzzle app. But then there are also word ladders and scrambles, and a dizzying spiral crossword whose clues produce a sequence of words running both clockwise and counterclockwise.

Sage produces one sheet per month, and each follows a unique theme. You can find that spiral puzzle in January 2025's nostalgic "The Mall" edition, which depicts a Cinnabon cinnamon roll that one might inhale while strolling through the Serramonte Center.

He has dubbed this project, community, whatever you want to call it, the Cozy Cubs Puzzle Club. Subhead: Casual games for consenting adults.

Sage very kindly agreed to sit down for an interview where I asked him about that unusual description, why he started passing out his puzzles in the first place, and how people tend to respond to his effort to spread a little joy on the weekends. Take a listen and scroll through some photos of Sage and his casual Puzzle Club as they enjoy a lovely Mother's Day in the park this past May.

Donning his bear-eared hat crocheted by a Puzzle Club member

People choose between The Mall and Bees themed sheets

People tend to have questions for Sage about the puzzles and himself

A lot of people immediately start on the puzzles once handed a sheet

Providing a hint on a particularly difficult clue

The Birthday Partiers offer Sage a temporary tattoo as a "thank you" for his puzzle sheets

Cozy Cub's mascot, Bearnard, in drag on May 2025's Bee issue

Repeat customers approach Sage for this month's issue

This woman, also celebrating her birthday, offers Sage a slice of cheese

You can check out previous issues of Sage's puzzles here, but I highly recommend getting one from him in person at the Conservatory of Flowers the next time you're free on a sunny weekend afternoon.