Simon & Schuster Mega Crossword Puzzle Book #16

This is the sixteenth in Simon & Schuster's Mega Crossword Puzzle books, and this is the sixteenth one I'm eagerly and excitedly into. The Mega books are jampacked (+300 puzzles, starting with puzzles with less clues and gradually getting into larger puzzles towards the end), top-notch collections with puzzles crafted by top-notch cruciverbalists (crossword puzzle creators). The perforated bright white pages are great, making the puzzles very practical, and easy to detach and read. As for puzzle difficulty, it varies. I've found some puzzles quite easy, with several quite challenging. But as a crossword puzzle fanatic, I just love the "thrill of hunt," working on the clues, trying to figure out a given puzzle's theme, and exercising and stretching my mind. I solve several of the puzzles, but am perfectly OK if I don't. For me personally, solving the puzzles are a nice bonus, but not the end-all (you can learn a lot of interesting and enlightening trivia as well!)Highly recommended for crossword puzzle lovers and wordsmiths, and here's hoping the S & S continues the series (they've published one every two years or so).

These puzzles are fun, but not especially difficult if you're used to tough ones like the Sunday NY Times. I can work them in half an hour, and they all have a theme, sometimes a pretty clever one. I don't like puzzles so tough that they send me to reference books, the Internet, or a crossword puzzle dictionary. If you're an experienced puzzle-solver, these won't do that. If you're a beginner, you may have trouble with some of the trickier themes, but stick with it and you'll catch on. Hint: Every time the clue mentions a cookie, and answer is "Oreo."

Simon and Schuster crossword books are great. They are challenging but (mostly) solvable if we think about them enough. Compared to other years, this particular year had more foreign word as answers. But, it was not so much as to make them unsolvable for us folks who don't speak French.

Perfect for bedtime before dozing off to sleep. There is a combination of easy and hard in each puzzle so I feel that it challenges my brain without being too discouraging. Perforated pages is a bonus!

I finished my easy crossword book so I decided to order this one for more of a challenge. I was frustrated at first adjusting to the style of these crosswords (for example, the clues don't tell you if the answer is two words), but I'm getting more used to it. I will say as someone who doesn't have a ton of crossword/life experience, some of these puzzles are frustrating to the point of not being fun. The first one had a rule that I didn't even know was a thing in crosswords so I didn't have a favorable opinion going into it (in retrospect it was cool but how are people supposed to know that's allowed?). Overall, this book is fun because it's challenging, but it's not full of puzzles that most people would be able to finish quickly. It requires diverse knowledge of languages, history, pop culture, etc. in addition to riddle solving. I prefer crosswords with fun riddle solving, more wordplay, and less trivia, so these aren't my favorite. But overall it's a great collection of challenging puzzles. I imagine they would be more fun for someone much older than myself.

I purchased this book for my grandma. She loves crosswords. She said it was a good book.

My friend loved it.

The biggest problem, and the reason I stopped purchasing this series several years ago, is that the puzzles don't get Sunday-size until number 200. The first 200 are less than daily-size and are like potato chips, going really fast.