Great Guide for a Crossword Fan | How to Conquer the New York Times Crossword Puzzle: Tips, Tricks and...

A Must-Have for Novice Solvers | How to Conquer the New York Times Crossword Puzzle: Tips, Tricks and Techniques to Master America's Favorite ... | The New York Times, Amy Reynaldo

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	• How to Conquer the New York Times Crossword Puzzle: Tips, Tricks and Techniques to Master America's Favorite ... The New York Times, Amy Reynaldo St. Martin's Griffin, 2007 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

2 to five stars, depending on you

If you are an experienced "NY Times" Crossword solver, you'll find very little of solving value in this book beyond some useful lists of common words and perhaps some solving hints you may have forgotten. What you will find is a model of a kind and empathetic teacher helping less experienced solvers. Hint: emulate Amy when others ask for your help solving a crossword puzzle.

If you generally finish "The New York Times" puzzles but don't keep track of time or accuracy -- pretty much my level after 30 years solving under four different editors -- you'll like the lists of words and devour the hints. You'll probably skip doing the puzzles in the book unless you solve your puzzles with pen or pencil.

If you are a beginner, or stuck on at any particular level, Ms. Reynaldo's book will teach you to improve your solving and increase your solving pleasure. The lists and hints are first class with no clinkers apparent to me. Actually doing the puzzles, and consulting her hints and especially her overall comments in the end page, cannot but help you improve your solving. This is the best educational approach I've seen in any puzzle book.

I skipped doing the puzzles in her book. I prefer doing puzzles on the computer, and I've often consulted Ms Reynaldo's website on other puzzles. She posts similar commentaries every day on her blog at DIARY OF A CROSSWORD FIEND. Her analysis covers puzzles from the "NY Times" and several other papers as well.

So, I've bought a copy of her book to thank Ms Reynaldo for maintaining her blog, and I've sent her book out into Book Crossing's Wilds. Perhaps the Finder will be introduced to crosswords and become enchanted with this minor art form -- just as I became enchanted so many happy years ago.

Robert C. Ross 2008

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Great Guide for a Crossword Fan

As an avid crossword fan of modest ability, I found this to be a most helpful tutorial. It delivers just what the title promises -- all sorts of tips and strategies for solving the NYT crossword (or any crossword for that matter).

I found the list of words any crossword fan must know as well the lists of common crossword answers to be particularly helpful. But perhaps the best praise I can provide is that after reading Amy Reynaldo's book, my solving skills have noticeably improved -- from a confident Tues. solver at best to someone who can now tackle a Thur. puzzle with a relatively high degree of confidence (Fri. and Sat. remain a significant challenge, but I'm working on it).

Also, if you're looking to get a taste of this book, you might want to check out Ms. Reynaldo's blog, Diary of a Crossword Fiend (http://crosswordfiend.blogspot.com/), which provides great daily insight into the NYT and other crosswords.

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A Must-Have for Novice Solvers

I received this book as a Christmas gift. And it has changed my world. I was born and grew up during Chinese Cultural Revolution. Moved to the US when I was 30 years old. So American crosswords were almost impossible for me to crack, until I read Amy Reynaldo's book.

Her chapters on "100 Must-Know Words" & "Word Banks" have saved me hours and hours of google time. Without her succinct explanations on "Crossword Glossary", "Understanding Themes" & the "Constructor's Tricks", I would have been forever lost in the darkness of this puzzling crossword world.

I was so excited over Amy's book that I started my own Star Tribune Crossword Corner blog before I even finished her chapter on "Step-by-Step Thursday Puzzle".

I've also emailed Amy (Orange) many times as I constantly encounter all sorts of crazy clues when I am blogging. She has never disappointed me, not even once. She always provides me with the concise information I need, always in a very efficient manner. And she is so patient in explaining the WHY and HOW to me (a total stranger to her).

If you want to start doing NY Times, or TMS, or any crossword, you should consider buying this book. It's full of gems, and so easy to carry around for reference (little over 200 pages).

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Helpful, but perhaps not as intended

I picked this up because I'm a fan of Reynaldo's blog, and because I've been stuck at a Thursday level of solving for longer than I liked. I can't say that any of the solving tips really helped all that much -- I've been solving long enough to have already learned them -- but what did help was just grinding my way through eleven Friday/Saturday level puzzles in a row. I just now finished last Friday's NYT puzzle in one sitting, which I don't think I'd ever done before, and I attribute that to the experience of working through all the puzzles in this book. I would imagine, though, that the word lists and other hints and tips would be helpful to a less experienced solver.

Although the Hints and Tips section was not of much use to me while solving the puzzles (though I might still be stuck on 55A in puzzle 44 without them), I did enjoy that section for her commentary on the puzzles. In fact, it would have been nice if Reynaldo had provided URLs for the puzzles about which she had blogged.

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The New York Times is the gold standard of crossword puzzles. Drawing from the top puzzle constructors in the nation, the Times puzzles are considered the cleverest, most engaging and at times, trickiest puzzles of all. This guide will help puzzlers of all skill levels improve and enjoy the New York Times crossword. Along with helpful discussions and hints, every puzzle in How to Conquer the New York Times Crossword Puzzle is annotated with solving tips and insight from veteran constructors and solver to help you master the nation's #1 puzzle!
This volume includes:
*60 Times puzzles from easy Monday to devilish Saturday and giant Sunday, each with helpful tips and clues
*Lists of most common crossword words, clues, and ways constructors try to trick you*Step-by-step solving instructions provide readers with instruction on how to tackle puzzles of every difficulty level*How to construct a puzzle: A chapter offers a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into making a great crossword
*Introduction from puzzle great Will Shortz, crossword editor for The New York Times

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