Customer Reviews

The Random House Crossword Puzzle Dictionary

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Being a crossword "freak" with shelves and shelves of reference books on various subjects I was delighted to find this dictionary. Besides the standard crossword dictionary fare it includes many facts found in Almanacs (awards, sports trivia, etc) plus extensive information on people ranging from Presidents to movie stars plus detailed information on plays and even television shows. When I travel this is the only reference book I need to carry.

I've owned about a half dozen crossword dictionaries over the years. Most I just selected based on price. (The cheapest that is). This Random House edition is not only very reasonably priced, but the very best I have come across as well in a softcover. If you have never seen or owned a crossword dictionary, you should know that they differ from regular dictionaries in that they offer little in the way of meaning, only synonyms of words. (The actually meaning being pretty much able to be deduced from that alone in most cases). They offer the word or clue in bold and then follow it up with as many synonyms that seem reasonable, or the editors could think of. Even if the correct word is not listed, it still aides you in sending you in the right direction as to the clue words meaning. This book also carries a healthy amount of trivia style data for those clues that ask something specific about movies, famous people, locations, political figures, cities of the world, events, etc. Personally I feel it is by far the most comprehensive reference of its kind anywhere near its price. And I highly recommend it.

One last thing, one problem that I have found with a lot of these books is the print being either too small, or the clue word not being bold enough to see and scan effectively. Sometimes the clue word is barely bigger or bolder than the synonyms that follow and it takes longer to find what your looking for. And other times the print is just to darn small for those of us whose eyes have seen better days. The Random House book has both very bold and clear clue words, and the print is a reasonable size. All 'round the very best of the lot in this price range in my opinion...

I bought this and the MILLION WORD DICTIONARY for my Mom. She liked them both but found this one slightly less useful than the other. Still a good dictionary though.

I had a previous edition of this dictionary, so essentially knew what I was getting. Of all the crossword puzzle dictionaries I have, this is the most comprehensive and useful - I refer to it more than any of the others.

Attractive display: both broad and indepth. The easy-to-find terms are numbered according to the number of letters; terms of general interests are given a box to themselves. Usually more terms per word than any other dictionary I have consulted. Get the hardbound for easier reading.

I'm shocked that this dictionary is so useless. In the dozen times I used it I found nothing helpful. Type face is small, pages are super thin and layout is inconsistent. I'll stick with my tattered copy of Edy's A-Z.

A special person in my life rquested this item for a birthday gift because she had worn out a previous issue and liked it well enough to want another

This is the best crossword puzzle I've looked at. It's vastly superior to the N.Y. Time offering. I pretty exclusively work on their puzzles but from my point of view, their dictionary is almost unusable. I've also found this to be an incredibly handy basic thesaurus...

While no crossword dictionary is completely comprehensive, I have found this one to contain the most possible answers per clue of any that I have seen.

Worth noting is plenty of information on movies and Academy Award winners in years past.

This edition was published in 1994, so keep in mind some information is dated.