New York Times Sunday Crossword Omnibus, Volume 4

This collection has what it takes to keep me happy. The book itself is a well made soft-bound type where the pages don't come out, but I don't have much trouble with them. I just fold the thing over and work on either side. You can use either pencil or pen, but pencil can get blurry... The puzzles are long enough to occupy my mind for a few hours each. The clues are mostly solveable with a fair amount of thinking and puzzling. I have to peek sometimes. I like this kind of action over a set that either has me in the back half the time or I'm never in the back and can get the puzzle done in under an hour. The time frame's pretty current, so you have to know your current history along with the stuff from the last decade, which is good, in my book- tripped me up a few times already.. All-in-all, I'd say it's standard fare for this particular line. If you've never tried these puzzles, give them a whirl. They give good value for your money. If you do them in pencil, they erase well, so you can replay the book a few times before it wears out. When I started this type of puzzle, I needed a dictionary a lot, but rarely do now, having learned how to constructively solve and get the maximum type of enjoyment these books offer.

Two hundred New York Times Sunday crosswords at a nickel apiece is a great deal. The book is loaded with the work of well-known as well as less well-known constructors. Most of the puzzles are quite challenging and interesting to work and there is an ample number of humorous concepts included in the batch.The drawback to the book - i.e., the "price" we pay for the publisher's generosity - is the lack of perforation and/or distance between the working areas and the binding. Having to write around curves on the top couple of lines across is a bit irksome.Yet, all in all, this book is a true bargain and well worth the cost and the minor inconvenience.

I'm pretty good at word puzzles but these books by the NY Times are continually able to stump me. I keep doing them because they increase my vocabulary enormously. I always keep a dictionary close by, and disect each clue after I have completed the puzzles. NEVER have I done a whole puzzle without aid! This keeps me humble!