No comments about The New York Times Rise and Shine Crossword Puzzles: 75 Puzzles to Start Your Day.

1 comments about Chicago Tribune Sunday Crossword Puzzles, Volume 4 (Chicago Tribune).

1. I love crosswords but am not up to par with this NY Times type puzzler. Excellent for you masters of the crossword, tough on your average player. Well worth the price.

No comments about Posh Crosswords: 75 Puzzles (Crosswords).

1 comments about Newsday Sunday Crossword Puzzles, Volume 1 (Newsday).

1. Any crosswords edited by Stanley Newman are super crosswords. I will always purchase books of his puzzles, over any other collections.

5 comments about Gridlock: Crossword Puzzles and the Mad Geniuses Who Create Them.

1. Gridlock, along with its recent predecessors in various media (Marc Romano's book, Crossworld, and the film Wordplay) opens up a world at once familiar and arcane. The familiar is the crossword puzzle, pastime of tens of millions (or maybe now fives of millions, what with sudoku's encroachments). The arcane is the world of top solvers and constructors who congregate every March at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, CT. I am a part of this world, having been in the Class B playoffs one year, and having done crosswords and other word and non-word puzzles for 50 years.
   
   Puzzle mavens will find much that is new here--and much that is familiar. The new includes: (1) an attempt to determine how badly sudoku and other logic puzzles are undermining the more literate and humanistic discipline of word puzzles; (2) a peek at the judges' room at Stamford; (3) a visit to Penny Press publications; (4) a sad/funny description of his attempt, with Matt Jones, to market hip, alternative crossword puzzles; (5) in-depth discussion of grid construction. Not so new are the obligatory Will Shortz bio and house tour, and the run-through of the Stamford tournament (though not the same one covered in Crossworld and Wordplay).
   
   There are many new insights, some quite funny. I agree with him that it is counterintuitive that so many crossword constructors are math-based, and that it would be difficult to imagine witty solving stories involving sudoku conquests. I can also personally vouch for the fact that solving giga-sized crosswords can produce lower back pain!
   
   However, the big problem with the book is that he misses many opportunities for making his chosen topics more interesting and useful. His treatment of cryptic crosswords is cursory and not likely to gain many new converts. One could consume a thousand pages without exhausting this mega-faceted, international subject. A few well-crafted pages showing: some masterful clues by, say, Trip Payne; the difference between British and American cryptics; and the many types of variety cryptics would have been better. He unveils the news--astounding, if true--that Kappa Publications produces a magazine with crosswords more difficult than the New York Times',and then does not name it! Another extremely valuable bit of information overlooked is the link to other puzzling sites on the Stamford tournament's website, www.crosswordtournament.com. His description of a visit to grandmaster Henry Hook makes no real attempt to describe the brilliance of his achievements, which would have necessitated delving into one or more of his many great books. Also, since at least 80% of the book is about members of the National Puzzlers' League, it would have been helpful to mention its existence, and that of the Enigma (its puzzle journal) and its annual convention. Finally, he does not do the in-depth analysis necessary to convince us that the New York Sun's crosswords are equal or superior to those in the Times.
   
   Recommended for crossword aficionados who can't get enough. There is plenty of fresh information here, despite my cavils.



2. A delightful ramble through the world of the big time crossword people. It's not exactly a coordinated story. It's just a bunch of random thoughts, stories, memories that he comes up with that are related to crossword puzzles. He tells of the big names in the crossword arena, of the annual meeting, about the impact of computers, and the strange new game of Sudoku.
   
   All in all, you won't learn a great deal from this book. You will not learn how to create or solve a crossword. But you'll have a delightful time roaming around the countryside.
   
   You do come away with the feeling that the world of the avid crossworder is a rather lonely one. It's a solitary thing.



3. I found this book to be an entertaining and informative trip into the world of crossword puzzle constructors.
   As a fan and solver myself, I think these constructors are blessed with some sort of supernatural powers that allow them to do these things (and whoever dreams up those rebus puzzles should win some kind of Nobel prize!). Gaffney seeks to humanize these folks and succeeds at letting the novice look at the man or woman behind the curtain.
   Interjecting some personal data into the books never hurts - I found his struggles to get published early in his career and his efforts to build a base of clients to support himself professionally to be a bit inspiring, He is living his dream and worked hard to be able to do that.
   On the heels of the 2006 movie "Wordplay" and other similar books I've read on the subject ("Crossworld", "The Crossword Obsession"), "Gridlock" is a good addition to my library and to that of any puzzling aficionado.



4. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I laughed out loud in places. The inside look at crossword puzzle creation was a lot of fun for me. It's actually an amazingly difficult process. I gave this book four stars, however.
   
   There are really two reasons for this.
   
   1. In the chapter where Matt was taking us through the process of creating a thematic puzzle........ I'm sorry to say that I was unimpressed with the theme. I really think that if one plans to write a book on crossword puzzles and it will contain a puzzle as an example of how to do this, the theme should be good... something different... fresh. I couldn't believe that was the puzzle he chose to put in.
   
   2. I needed better closure. I thought it ended too abruptly without a real conclusion. I may be being harsh as I'm writing this during a break from grading really bad senior research papers, but it really just seemed like he stopped writing too soon.
   
   Don't get me wrong. As I said, I really enjoyed this book and will most likely re-read chapters. Those issues are truly minor, but I had to say them. Is it 9:00 PM yet? The NYT puzzle is calling my name.



5. OK, OK, I admit it! I've been called a geek by the best of them. Even my family has indulged in a covert chuckle a time or two over my off-the-wall hobbies which include (aside from reviewing books for Amazon, of course) Sudoku and crosswords. I've even been known to take a crack at constructing a cryptic crossword from time to time. So you may well imagine my pleasure at coming across "Gridlock", an insider's look at what author Matt Gaffney describes as "the quirky subculture of America's crossword puzzles."
   
   Sadly, the idea was considerably better than the execution. I think the problem rests with the fact that there just simply isn't enough interesting material to pad out an entire book on the topic. Gaffney touches on the difficulties of making a living in the field, the growth of the use of computers in the industry, the evolution of theme-oriented puzzles and the quality of the puzzles in a national publication such as The Sunday New York Times versus the weakness and repetitiveness of puzzles in some of the off-the-shelf magazines. He talks at some length about the attributes that both solvers and creators alike look for in a well-constructed grid. He talks about some of the personalities in the field and even goes so far as to give us a peek inside some of the conferences that puzzle creators attend.
   
   But ,the bottom line is this ... even though I probably qualify for at least honourary membership in the geek's club, reading about them never really ultimately proved to be particularly compelling. Passably interesting, yes, but thrilling page-turning - sorry, no!
   
   Recommended (if you're REALLY into crossword puzzles).
   
   Paul Weiss

1 comments about Chicago Tribune Sunday Crossword Puzzles, Vol. 2.

1. The Trib Sunday crossword is a perfect difficulty level for travelling, a good challenge, but not as difficult as the New York Times Sunday puzzle.

2 comments about The Sunday Times Cryptic Crossword Book 6 (Sunday Times Cryptic Crossword).

1. This was purchased for my husband who is an avid crossword puzzle fan. He does them in several different newspapers daily - in pen - and completes them. However, he seemed a little intimidated by this particular book and style of puzzle. I notice he picks it up every once in a while and does one - but he doesn't seem to enjoy the challenge as much as I thought he might! So, if your crossword puzzle lover is used to the New York Times crossword puzzles and such, you may be better off to stick with those.



2. I've done a lot of cryptic puzzles. These are too dry in their clues. Many others that I have been challenged by are more "playful" or "cute" in their unraveling. The Mensa book, Frank Rich's of The Nation magazine to name 2 were much more fun.
   These are just plain hard and don't give me nearly the same sense of pleasure doing them.
   Maybe it's a British thing.

No comments about The New York Times Sunday Crossword Tribute to Eugene T. Maleska (NY Times).

5 comments about Random House Webster's Crossword Puzzle Dictionary, 4th Edition.

1. Meets the needs in helping to solve crossword puzzles



2. Very satisfied, one suggestion though, Should put size of book in discription. Was very suprized at the size.



3. Being an avid crossword puzzle fan, I have a lot of puzzle dictionaries. The description sounded like this one would be a "must have" addition. I have been so very disappointed. Most anything I look for is not in there. The very best continues to be "The New Comprehensive A-Z Crossword Dictionary". Happy puzzling WITHOUT this one - you'll waste your money.



4. Not only are a great many words included, but they are nicely organized and the large print makes it very easy to use.



5. This was bought for my husband and he said it is good , but not as good as the last edition. Which by the way fell apart.

No comments about The New York Times Cup of Crosswords: 75 Easy-to-Medium Crossword Puzzles.