Patrick Berry

This book is a bit of a surprise. From the title (Crossword Puzzle Challenges for Dummies), one would expect to get a book full of hard crossword puzzles. And, in fact, the first seventy pages or so do have puzzles of varying degrees of difficulty.

But the last hundred pages contain a very good introduction to crossword puzzle construction. (It's advertised on the back of the book as being a "bonus" section.) Patrick Berry is a prolific puzzle creator, and he offers a number of incredibly show more helpful tips. Most beneficial are the asides about how he made many of the puzzles in this book -- even including the false starts and the dead ends that he bumped into while constructing the puzzles.

I think the now out-of-print Random House Puzzlemaker's Handbook by Mel Rosen has more concrete information about the "rules" of crossword puzzle construction, but Crossword Puzzle Challenges comes pretty close to being the best beginners book in this field. show less

These puzzles are a world unto themselves, like nothing else out there. I haven't technically finished. There are some puzzle types (visual, logic, cards, mazes) I can't really do, so I've done all I can and put the book aside. That doesn't take away from its awesomeness.

I have 2 copies of this book - one to write in and one to admire. Now that Patrick's newest book "Adventures in Puzzling" is out (haven't ordered yet), I figured I could break open the masterpieces. These are not crosswords but ingenious word interlockings in various shapes. I was solving in pen, so occasionally had to peek at the answers to, uh, make sure I was on the right track. I don't know how Patrick does it. Masterpieces is the correct word.

A really nice collection of puzzles, a few easy, most difficult, some really hard. All high quality crosswords by NYT-published creators (who all happen to be named Patrick). A few gimmicks, several freestyles, all excellent. More, please.