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New Year’s word search

Sixteen words for the last night of the year and the first morning of the next: the countdown and the ball drop, confetti, streamers and party hats, a champagne toast at midnight and a resolution for January.

Words read across, down and diagonally, left to right, on a 12 by 12 grid of big capitals. The letters left over spell an old line about the turn of the year.

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Prints on US letter paper: the puzzle page, then the answer key on its own page (2 pages in all). In the print window, choose your printer, or Save as PDF to keep a copy.

Solving tips

Look for the rare letters first: a Z, Q, J, X or K is easy to spot in big print. Then circle the long words, which cross more of the grid. Every letter belongs to a word or to the hidden saying, so the uncircled letters left at the end are the saying, in order.

In this grid, 5 words read across, 4 words down and 7 words diagonally, and none read backward. The longest is Resolution and the shortest is Toast, which hides best: look for it last.

About the words

January 1 became the start of the Roman civil year in 153 BC, and Julius Caesar’s calendar reform of 46 BC kept it there. Britain and its American colonies moved New Year’s Day from March 25 to January 1 only in 1752, when they adopted the Gregorian calendar.

Ball drop: A lit ball has been lowered in Times Square to mark midnight since the party that welcomed 1908. The idea came from time balls, which ports dropped at a set hour so sailors could set their clocks.
Balloons: The English scientist Michael Faraday made the first rubber balloons in 1824 for his experiments with gases. Toy balloons went on sale the following year.
Calendar: Most of the world uses the Gregorian calendar, introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to correct the slow drift of the older Julian calendar against the seasons.
Champagne: True Champagne is sparkling wine from the Champagne region of northeastern France. The bubbles form when the wine ferments a second time inside the sealed bottle.
Cheers: English speakers say “cheers” as glasses are raised. The word comes from an Old French word for the face, and came to mean good spirits.
Clock: Mechanical clocks appeared in European towers in the late 1200s and 1300s. Many early ones had no face at all and simply struck a bell on the hour.
Confetti: The word is Italian, the plural of confetto, a small sweet. At Italian carnivals people once threw sugared almonds, and paper pieces took their place in the 1800s.
Countdown: Crowds count the last ten seconds of the year aloud. In Times Square, New York, the count follows a lit ball sliding down a pole, which reaches the bottom at midnight.
Fireworks: Fireworks were developed in China, where gunpowder was invented more than a thousand years ago. Their colors come from metal salts: strontium burns red, barium green and copper blue.
Glitter: Modern glitter is cut from thin sheets of plastic film. Henry Ruschmann, a machinist in New Jersey, is credited with finding a way to cut it in bulk in 1934.
January: January is named for Janus, the Roman god of doorways and beginnings, who was shown with two faces, one looking back and one looking ahead.
Midnight: Midnight is the moment one calendar day becomes the next. Because of time zones, the new year arrives hour by hour around the world, beginning in the central Pacific.
Party hat: Cone-shaped paper hats and cardboard tiaras are handed out at New Year’s Eve parties along with noisemakers, often printed with the number of the new year.
Resolution: A New Year’s resolution is a promise to yourself for the year ahead. The custom is often traced to the ancient Babylonians, who made promises to their gods at their new year festival about 4,000 years ago.
Streamers: Paper streamers are long, thin rolls of colored paper, thrown so that they unroll in the air. They decorate rooms and parades alongside confetti.
Toast: Raising a glass to someone’s health is an old custom. The word is said to come from the piece of spiced toast once dropped into a cup of wine to flavor it.

The hidden saying (no peeking until you have found every word): The phrase is a tidy way to say that the turn of the year is a time to clear things out and start fresh. It is heard most on New Year’s Eve, and it sums up the idea behind a resolution.

The history of the Times Square ball is told by the Times Square Alliance.

Prefer a screen? Cottage Word Search is the same kind of puzzle to play free in your browser, with hints and saved progress.

New Year’s word search