The Everything Crossword Challenge Book: Take It to the Next Level!

A little more than a year ago I went through the predecessor to this book: "The Everything Easy Crosswords Book: Challenging Fun for Beginners". I had never done crossword puzzles before and that book got me hooked. It seemed natural to pick up this second book. I found that it was a good next step. Since I am still a relatively new puzzle solver I wanted to pass along some things that frustrated me about working on the puzzles in this second book. I wanted to pass along my experiences so others would not quit doing crossword puzzles if they went through the same frustrations. I worked through about two thirds of this book before running into problems. Two things frustrated me: 1. Clues and answers that I did not like very much, and... 2. Clues with answers that I had to research. I also found that there were puzzle authors in the book whose puzzles I consistently did not enjoy working on. There were also authors whose puzzles I enjoyed more than others. As I worked through this book I talked with some of my friends who regularly worked on crossword puzzles. They told me that they also ran into clues and answers that they didn't agreed with. And, they also had to research or look up the answer to clues sometimes. They also said that they also ran into puzzle authors that they liked and others that they didn't like. We compared it to book authors: Some you like and some you don't. At about the same time that I was getting frustrated at certain clues and answers, and certain puzzle authors I saw the movie "Word Play" with Will Shortz, editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle on DVD. If you like crossword puzzles at all, then I highly recommend this movie. You might not think that a movie can be based on crossword puzzles, but...well, just get this movie. I don't want to give anything away. (Be sure to watch the deleted scenes and extra features, too.) This movie also helped me with my frustrations with puzzle clues and answers. The movie interviewed a person who was a top-level competitor in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. There was one scene where he was working on a puzzle and had to look up an answer. Even after consulting a reference book, he was still frustrated by the clue and answer. He didn't agree with it. This made me feel better about being frustrated. After going through this book (I have about ten pages to finish) I learned to work a little bit harder on authors whose puzzles I did not enjoy very much. I found that, with a little bit of patience, I was able to get through their puzzles and enjoy them. I had to adjust my thinking processes. There are still clues that I have to research (like Iranian currency and the inventions of Georges Claude) but I actually enjoy looking these things up on the Internet now. It might mean that a puzzle takes a little bit longer, but I also learn a thing or two along the way. I do recommend this book to people who have worked through the first book. I also want to tell people w