Yesterday there was a random question about end of year lists and the consensus seemed to be that they are lame. In the spirit of lameness, I’ve made an end of year list of ten One Word Wonders/Warm Ups from 2007 that I really enjoyed. The only criterion was that I liked the puzzle. Well, and that it be objectively awesome. You’ll probably notice that these puzzles tend to be fairly easy; that’s because I’m not too terribly bright. You’ll probably also notice that many of these puzzles were created by my Tanga “friends.” If that seems cliquish, my apologies, but the primary reason I asked them to be my “friend” was probably due to their excellent puzzlemaking. There were many, many great puzzles this year, and I’ve probably missed some that I liked even better than these, but I didn’t want to slog through every single puzzle published this year. Instead, I used a highly sophisticated method called “random clicking.” The titles I’ve given each puzzle are of my own design and are entirely unofficial:

http://tanga.com/puzzles/493-6-15-2007 “V JECT” by dajagr
This was one of those puzzles where I was absolutely clueless at first.

http://tanga.com/puzzles/1153-6-20-2007 “Dominion Location Device” by renfurdson
A very nifty solution mechanic in this puzzle by He Who Sits Upon High.

http://tanga.com/puzzles/1168-7-22-2007 “When time is lost, the answer is found.” by Apparatus
I just really liked this puzzle. Maybe it’s the bright green background.

http://tanga.com/puzzles/1274-8-5-2007 “Select One” by Donimo
Who doesn’t like checkboxes?

http://tanga.com/puzzles/1336-8-9-2007 “Your Average Alchemist” by robrizob
Shameless self-promotion, but I enjoyed making this puzzle more than any other.

http://tanga.com/puzzles/1505-9-17-2007 “Initial Instincts” by Murdoctor
Cool solution method and one time I didn’t mind the red herring.

http://tanga.com/puzzles/1515-9-18-2007 “SETEC ASTRONOMY” by isudoog
Mind bogglingly difficult puzzle, but I was impressed by the technical skill involved. Plus, I learned something.

http://tanga.com/puzzles/1592-10-4-2007 “Super rebus” by kweee
Very funny, kweee.

http://tanga.com/puzzles/1611-10-10-2007 “Um… there’s something in my soup.” by John
One of those “oooooh, I get it” twists to get the final answer. Good stuff.

http://tanga.com/puzzles/1727-10-30-2007 “Irritable Vowel Syndrome” by gameczar
Another, very funny puzzle. I like funny in puzzles.

Thanks to all the puzzlemakers out there for making fun, challenging puzzles for us! I hope you all enjoyed basking in my end of year list lameness. Please submit links to puzzles you enjoyed too.