December 12, 2007

Holiday shopping guide for crossword nuts

One of Rex's readers wrote to ask him for some crossword gift recommendations, so Rex and Orange have teamed up to give you some ideas of what to buy for the crossword lovers in your life—or what to put on your own wish list. There are many hundreds of other crossword books out there, but this list can get you started and steer you towards the books and series with the Crossword Blogger Seal of Approval. Alas, we have no recommendations for crossword dictionaries, because we don't happen to use 'em.

NONFICTION

  • Amy Reynaldo's How to Conquer the New York Times Crossword Puzzle: Hands-on coaching to improve solving skills, along with 60+ NYT crossword puzzles (Orange put this category at the bottom, but Rex said to move it to the top for proper self-aggrandizement)
  • Matt Gaffney's Gridlock: An engaging book about crossword constructors, the art of construction, the business aspects, and the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. Both Orange and Rex's favorite portrait of the crossword world.

FOR KIDS


SUNDAY-SIZED PUZZLES

Simon & Schuster Crossword Puzzle Book #257: The S&S books contain puzzles in a variety of sizes, including mid-sized 17x17s and 19x19s—good training for the crossword tournament if you want to check your speed on those puzzle sizes

THEMED DAILY-SIZED CROSSWORDS


THEMELESS AND/OR HARD PUZZLES


ALT.CROSSWORDS


FOR POP-CULTURE VULTURES


FOR SPORTS FANS


FOR LITERARY LIONS

Matt Gaffney's Literary Crosswords
Stanley Newman's Literary Crosswords

FOR TRIVIA BUFFS

Francis Heaney's Trivial Pursuit Crosswords
Stan Newman's Ultimate Trivia Crosswords

OTHER TYPES OF PUZZLES

  • 101 Cryptic Crosswords: From the New Yorker: A good introduction to cryptic crosswords for new cryptic solvers
  • Frank Longo's Wordoku: Sudoku logic puzzles with a word twist—each grid will have a 9-letter word in one row or column, so anagramming the given letters can assist in solving
  • Matt Gaffney's Kaidoku: Crosswords with no clues, requiring a knack for logic and letter patterns/frequency
  • Henry Hook's Terribly Twisted Crosswords: Variety grids with tough clues and excellent fill
  • Henry Hook's Twisted Crosswords: The predecessor of the above book; this one might be a little tougher

STOCKING STUFFERS

  • Sterling's Sip & Solve Series and Sit & Solve Series of mini-books: Crosswords, sudoku, word searches, hangman, logic puzzles, math puzzles, trivia quizzes, and more. Barnes & Noble stores have racks of these to browse through. The books are shaped like toilet seats, coffee cups, and modes of transportation.
  • Patrick Merrell and Helene Hovanec's Coffee Time: A chunky little book with puzzles and trivia about the caffeinated lifeblood

AND A VIRTUAL GIFT

  • A gift subscription to the New York Times Premium Puzzles service: If you or someone you love are fond of the Times crossword, Premium Puzzles lets you get your hands on the crossword the night before it's published in the paper, and also gives you access to a decade of archived puzzles