The New York Times Little Black (and White) Book of Crosswords

I was surprised to find that several crossword puzzles had already been filled in by a previous owner

Wonderful format--spiral bound, nice paper, print not too small. Excellent variety of easy-to-difficult puzzles of varying craftiness. Our family of three has toted it on trips to do them in the car, while waiting for our meals, etc., and it's great for easier middle-of-the-night puzzles to help one drowse off. Highly recommended for puzzlers of all levels.

Can't wait for the next edition on this one. I hope they don't change the small format. It's just great! Someday I hope to be as good as Rex.

This travel-sized collection features 200 New York Times daily crossword puzzles originally printed in 2003. The puzzles are clustered from Monday to Saturday in increasing order of difficulty as shown by from one to six top hats on the page. There are 50 puzzles from each of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. There are 30 Thursdays and 10 each of Friday and Saturday. Clues appear on the left side and 4" x 4" puzzle grids appear on the right side. Answers are provided on the last 50 pages. The book is spiral bound with sturdy cardboard front and back covers. Unfortunately the puzzles herein overlap with about 75% of the 2007 page-a-day calendar content instead of mixing puzzles from several years. The predominance of easier early week puzzles make this a great gift for a casual or new crossword fan. This will be a fixture in my suitcase for some time and I hope that St. Martin's Griffin will print a second 'Little Black (and White)' collection.

This is a great choice for those (like me) who are new to the Times crosswords. There are puzzles of every level, Monday-Saturday, and unlike some other Times puzzle books they are organized and labeled by difficulty so you know where you are in the week. The smaller size is very comfortable, with the puzzle itself always on a right-hand page and clues on the left. That might make it a little tricky for left-handers to get around the spiral binding, but for the rest of us it's very comfortable. I really like the paper quality on this one, too. It's a heavier weight, slightly glossy, true white paper that feels nice to write on. All said, it's a great way to get started on Times crosswords!

When I got this book for Christmas, I was not only amazed, but stunned. The quality is unsurpassed. The paper quality is such, that if you do the 200 puzzles in pencil (yes I know, a sin to "real" crossword solvers"), you will be able to erase all traces of answers, and do them over and over again. The hardcover and spiral binding is top quality. I know I will never have problems taking this book with me. It is just the right size for my "bag of holding", I mean purse, or would fit nicely in a briefcase for lunch time sovling at work. The 200 puzzles are neatly arranged from One to Six Top Hats, based on the Mon - Sat New York Times difficulty. There are enough of each type that I can lope through them easily or if I want a harder challenge I can have that as well. I can't reccomend this book enough! Thank you Will Shortz for putting together such an amazing book!