Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Crosswords for persistent puzzlers

Here are some of the best sources of crosswords if you like them challenging. Many publications offer quick and easy crosswords — these can’t be aimed at true crossword lovers.

On mobile it’s tough to beat New York Times Crossword. They start you off with free packs ranging from mini to midi to full size.

When you run out of those, and are hooked, they ask for a subscription: monthly $9.99 or annual $54.99.

Is that a lot? It depends on how you look at it. If you’re dropping $5 or $6 a week on crossword books from the local newsstand, it’s a good deal.

The best crossword app for the Mac is Black Ink from Red Sweater. It links to the Wall Street Journal, the Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Times Premium, American Values Club and The Inkubator.

The app itself costs $29.95, but the good news is that some of the crossword sources are free — you get a lot of bang for your buck.

In the magazine section of your local store there are many publications to choose from, but few for puzzlers who enjoy a good challenge.

Two of the best are Dell Sunday Crosswords at $4.99 and The National Observer Book of Crosswords at $6.50.

Dell says its puzzles “are edited with clever, challenging clues that will make you think, smile and solve.” It should be noted that sometimes the smile is accompanied by a groan — but that’s OK.

National Observer promises “these puzzles are, and will continue to be, tough but fair.”

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Saturday, October 10, 2020

Cross word? ACRIMONY

Crossword puzzles are one of my favourite things. I like them challenging, but not too challenging. I found a magazine at the grocery store that’s just about perfect — Dell Sunday Crosswords.

The clues I like least are the ridiculously obscure — so arcane that not even a search on the Internet yields answers.

The clues I like most are a play on words. Often these are signalled with a question mark at the end. Below are some that tickled my fancy. See if you can solve them.

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Saturday, March 16, 2019

The anti-apps you won't find on your phone

On a quiet little street in Norwalk, Connecticut, across from a thrift store and a pre-school, just down from a large church, is the headquarters of a puzzle empire that spans hundreds of publications filled with crosswords, fill-ins, logic and math problems, sudoku, word seek, and just about any other puzzle you can think of.

PennyPress and Dell publications are tucked in with the magazine section of pretty much every grocery and drug store in Canada and the United States. They hearken back to a time when doing a puzzle meant putting pen to paper, not firing up an app on your phone. These are puzzles that might seem too hard for the attention-challenged brains of today.

Yet their continued existence is proof that ordinary, everyday people were and are capable of solving complex cryptograms and perplexing logic. You can tell there is nothing elitist about these collections. Just look at the cartoon image of a bunny sitting in a top hat to symbolize anagram magic squares. Or the cliché Sherlock Holmes looking for cryptogram clues.

You might think these puzzles are best left to old folks who can’t figure out how to use a computer. But you would be wrong. They are for anyone who wants to grow new connections between the synapses in their brains. Or at least nourish the ones they’ve retained.

Think of them as anti-apps. Think of them as a way of renewing your ability to think.

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