Here are the 26 highest rated puzzles of 2012, as rated by visitors to this blog. Puzzles must have received a minimum of 10 individual ratings to be considered. Puzzles that received 15 or more ratings have had the highest and lowest ratings removed from their total.
Links are to the unsolved puzzle when available; otherwise, they lead you to the commentary for that puzzle on this blog.
| Rank | Constructor | Link to Puzzle | Overall rating |
Number of ratings |
| 1. | Matt Gaffney | “At the Present Time” | 4.95 | 19 |
| 2. | Matt Gaffney | “Depth Squad” | 4.94 | 17 |
| 3. | Matt Gaffney | “Just My Type” | 4.91 | 22 |
| 4. | Matt Gaffney | “Treasure Hunt” | 4.9 | 20 |
| 5. | George Barany | “A Cryptic Tribute” | 4.88 | 80 |
| 6. | Matt Gaffney | “Mix & Match” | 4.86 | 14 |
| 7. | Merl Reagle | “Get Over It!” | 4.85 | 20 |
| 8. | Patrick Berry | “Spelling Trouble” | 4.81 | 21 |
| 9. | Matt Gaffney | “Let’s Run Those Numbers” | 4.77 | 13 |
| 10. | Matt Jones | “Adjusted to Fit Your Screen” | 4.76 | 21 |
| T11. | Brendan Quigley | “Themeless Monday” | 4.75 | 16 |
| T11. | Ben Tausig | Onion A.V. Club | 4.75 | 48 |
| T11. | Matt Gaffney | “Range Rover” | 4.75 | 60 |
| T14. | Jeffrey Harris and Ian Livengood | “Instance Messages” | 4.73 | 15 |
| T14. | Matt Jones | “Stretch Those Quads!” | 4.73 | 30 |
| 16. | Matt Gaffney | “You CAN Go Back Again!” | 4.72 | 25 |
| T17. | Caleb Rasmussen | “Thinking Inside the Box” | 4.71 | 38 |
| T17. | Merl Reagle | “The Guy on the Right” | 4.71 | 17 |
| 19. | Matt Gaffney | “Shady Businesses” | 4.7 | 20 |
| T20. | Patrick Blindauer | “Operators Are Standing By” | 4.69 | 13 |
| T20. | Matt Gaffney | “National Assembly” | 4.69 | 13 |
| 22. | Matt Gaffney | “Oh, It’s a Clue!” | 4.68 | 19 |
| T23. | Brendan Quigley | American Values Club | 4.67 | 18 |
| T23. | Erik Agard | “The Operative Words Being…” | 4.67 | 24 |
| T23. | Caleb Madison | Onion A.V. Club | 4.67 | 12 |
| T23. | Brendan Quigley | “Start Over” | 4.67 | 12 |
