Customer Reviews

Bradford's Crossword Key Dictionary

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Bradford's Crossword Key Dictionary is another fine aid to both solvers and setters. A hefty paperback with 1174 pages, it boasts a comprehensive list of words. Its 390,000 entries are organised into chapters according to the length of the word (from four to fifteen letters) and sorted according to each letter position within the word. The method takes a bit to get used to but after a while it is easy to use. It means that the 4-letter words are entered four times, listed alphabetically according to the first letter, then the second letter and so on. Thus FRAB comes after FOZY in the first section, after ERYX in the second, after FOAM in the third and after FORB in the last. Of course, this means that the 15-letter words are listed 15 times.

What it means to the solver is that it is easy to find a word when you only have a few letters. If you only have the fourth and last letters of a ten-letter word it is a simple matter to find all the words that match and to choose the best match. It is far easier than trawling through Chambers. The book claims to be based on 20 dictionaries that they publish - Collins, I suppose. It proved to very efficient in finding words to complete a Guardian blocked puzzle.

Anne Bradford is a crossword solver with much experience of solving Ximenes and Azed puzzles. She has kept notes of all the clues that she has encountered in 40 years of solving. This is why her Crossword Solvers' Dictionary is such a superb aid for solvers. Unlike many other crossword dictionaries, hers includes lots of rare and unusual words.

The real test for solvers of Azed or the Listener puzzles is whether the Crossword Key Dictionary includes all those obscure words. Using this month's Azed competition puzzle there were at least four of the answers that were not in this book. Then I compared pages at random against the entries in my 1978 edition of Chambers Words. The Key dictionary missed a few of the entries but included words that did not appear in the Chambers list. For instance, it included DJIBOUTI but omitted DJELLABA. I have not had time to give the book a thorough test but it initially it does seem to be inferior to the Chambers' listing.

This is certainly a book that I will keep on my desk and I will certainly use it to help me solve a puzzle or compose a grid.