With 1,500 words and their definitions to help you name that obscure actress from the 30s or a three-letter word for “vase,” solving crossword puzzles has never looked so easy. Crossword Puzzler’s Handbook, Revised Edition has all the answers to help you become an expert crossword puzzler. With 1,500 words and their definitions to help you name that obscure actress from the 30s or a three-letter word for “vase,” solving crossword puzzles has never looked so easy. This pocket-sized handbook is the perfect gift for the crossword puzzle lovers in your life.
Crossword addicts are always in search of a new and better tool to boost their solving skills—and the answer’s not yet another dictionary. This handbook is something a lot more valuable: a comprehensive compilation of “cross weirds.” These are the words we don’t often hear in general conversation, but they do tend to pop up in crosswords frequently, either because they use the most common letters of the alphabet or are featured in some of the most popular subjects. So it’s fantastically helpful when you need to figure out who starred in that 1933 film or name an island in the Central Philippines. Organized by subject, this collection is broken down into three sections: People, Places, and Things. You’ll find invaluable clue-solvers in such categories as Abstract Ideas; Actors and Actresses; Adjectives; Bodies of Water; Cities and Towns; Folklore; Foreign Words; Health, Medical Care, and Sickness; Music; Transportation; and many, many more. You can either use this as a reference when an answer’s on the tip of your tongue (but you just can’t get it), or as a handy study guide. The sturdy reinforced binding will keep it in great shape for years of service—and the small size makes it perfect to take anywhere!
If you've always wondered how crosswords and other word puzzles are made, or you've thought of trying your hand at it yourself, this book explains the craft step-by-step: how to put words and black squares together, write clues, and market the finished product. There's little to compare with the thrill of entertaining millions of people -- and getting paid in the bargain! If you're new to puzzle solving, you'll find many helpful tips to get you started or improve your skills. If you regularly solve the crosswords in your newspaper but are mystified by diagramless puzzles, acrostic puzzles, or cryptic crosswords, this book will help you tackle these challenging and entertaining variations. An introduction by the New York Times crossword editor, Will Shortz, and a fascinating history of word puzzles and luminaries round out the Random House Puzzlemaker's Handbook, making it the complete cruciverbalist's reference -- the only book of its kind.
Whether it's your daily commute or a holiday vacation, The New York Times Little Flip Book of Crosswords is perfect for any trip. This sleek hardcover holds more than 200 puzzles on an easy tear-off pad. Solve your favorite crosswords on the go, while you wait, or pass a puzzle to a friend!
This handbook is the result of the authors experience in solving crosswords (almost exclusively from the New York Times) for a period of over 10 years and is designed to help puzzle solvers of all abilities. It covers such strategic subjects as themes in puzzles and what a clue is attempting to elicit, as well as such tactical subjects as what, precisely, is to be written in the squares in a puzzle. Thus, the scope of the handbook ranges from the general to the detailed. Some of the subjects covered are foreign languages (French is the most popular, by far), mythology, the Old Testament, literature (including poetry and drama), classical music, sports (baseball is the crossword favorite), entertainment (comics, movies, television, and pop music), art and architecture, geography ( Ireland wins out here), science and math, travel and transportation, computers and the internet, as well as a list of those special words that are favorites of puzzle constructors (and hardly used by anyone else). Crosswords are fun, and this handbook helps you to enjoy them. To quote from the acknowledgments, The author and his readers are in the debt of all those puzzle makers and their editors, who give us such pleasure every day. Our lives are greatly enriched by them, and they help show us what a wonderful legacy we have in the English language.
The National Puzzlers' League (NPL) was founded in 1883 and is the oldest puzzlers' organization in the world. For over 100 years, crosswords and other word puzzles that appear in the NPL's monthly magazine, The Enigma, could be enjoyed only by NPL members. Now, for the first time, a selection of the league's favorite cryptic crosswords is available in book form for puzzle fans everywhere to enjoy. Unlike regular crossword puzzles, each clue in a cryptic crossword has two parts--one that's straightforward and one that involves one or more types of wordplay--and part of the fun is determining which part is which and what type of wordplay is involved. For example, Shoestring allowances lead to tears (11) is a cryptic clue for LACERATIONS. The straightforward part of the clue is tears, which is a definition for LACERATIONS. The wordplay part of the clue is Shoestring allowances which can be expressed as LACE + RATIONS which lead to LACERATIONS. The number in parentheses tells you the number and length of the answer words--in this case, it's one 11-letter word. Another example, with a different type of wordplay is Rearrange, rearrange ram's front (9) which is a cryptic clue for TRANSFORM. Rearrange is a straightforward definition of TRANSFORM and rearrange ram's front tells you to rearrange, or anagram, the nine letters in ram's front giving you the nine-letter word TRANSFORM. One of most fascinating things about cryptics is that the clues are a combination of tremendous creativity and imagination, on one hand, and strict, formal rules, on the other. This book contains 45 variety cryptics from members of the NPL, many of them by distinguished puzzle authors, as well as a foreword by Will Shortz, the New York Times crossword editor and the NPL's official historian PuzzleMeter: Difficulty--Very Difficult; Style--Contemporary]
Part aviation trivia, part crossword, this amusing puzzle book is all entertaining fun. Raising pilot's knowledge activity book will challenge and entertain aviation enthusiasts of all levels with aircraft anagrams, aviation word play, and famous pilots and procedural trivia. Convenient references provide the definition, origin, and aviation jargon regarding weather, aircraft systems, navigation, regulations, communications, all of which will undoubtedly be learned while having fun.
Solving puzzles is fun, but the real challenge lies in creating them. "Puzzlecraft" has been a popular series in Games magazine for years, and now all the instructions have been compiled and updated (along with brand-new sample puzzles) to teach you everything you need to know to construct puzzles of all kinds, from crosswords to word searches to sudoku. Guided by Mike Selinker and Thomas Snyder, two pros who really know their stuff, you'll be making puzzles and entertaining your friends in no time.
The crossword companion with a contemporary edge: a hip, one-of-a-kind reference that offers up-to-date terms, names in the news, facts about pop culture, and other tidbits that comprise most puzzles today.
'Beautifully researched account, full of humour and personal insight' David Crystal, author of Making Sense: The Glamorous Story of English Grammar 'A witty, wise, and wonderfully weird journey that will change the way you think . . . This book is a delight' Bianca Bosker, author of Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste 'Delightfully engrossing, charmingly and enthusiastically well-written history of the crossword puzzle' Benjamin Dreyer, author of Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style 'Full of treasures, surprises and fun . . . richly bringing to life the quirky, obsessive, fascinating characters in the crossword world' Mary Pilon, author of The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game 'A gold mine of revelations. If there is a pantheon of cruciverbalist scholars, Adrienne Raphel has established herself squarely within it' Mary Norris, author of Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen Equal parts ingenious and fun, Thinking Inside the Box is a love letter to the infinite joys and playful possibilities of language, a treat for die-hard cruciverbalists and first-time crossword solvers alike. The crossword is a feature of the modern world, inspiring daily devotion and obsession from millions. It was invented in 1913, almost by accident, when an editor at the New York World was casting around for something to fill some empty column space for that year's Christmas edition. Almost overnight, crosswords became a phenomenal commercial success, and have been an essential ingredient of any newspaper worth its salt since then. Indeed, paradoxically, the popularity of crosswords has never been greater, even as the world of media and newspapers, the crossword's natural habitat, has undergone a dramatic digital transformation. But why, exactly, are the satisfactions of a crossword so sweet that over the decades they have become a fixture of breakfast tables, bedside tables and commutes, and even given rise to competitive crossword tournaments? Blending first-person reporting from the world of crosswords with a delightful telling of the crossword's rich literary history, Adrienne Raphel dives into the secrets of this classic pastime. At the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, she rubs shoulders with elite solvers from all over the world, doing her level best to hold her own; aboard a crossword-themed cruise she picks the brains of the enthusiasts whose idea of a good time is a week on the high seas with nothing to do but crosswords; and, visiting the home and office of Will Shortz, New York Times crossword puzzle editor and US National Public Radio's official Puzzlemaster, she goes behind the scenes to see for herself how the world's gold standard of puzzles is made.
