Customer Reviews

The New York Times Will Shortz's Funniest Crossword Puzzles: From the Pages of The New York Times

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

 

 

These crossword puzzles are, for the most part, easy to medium difficulty. The twist is that they're "funny". By funny, I mean kind of corny, but in a good way. People who are familiar with NY Times puzzles will recognize this type of puzzle: there's often a gimmick or particular style of pun that shows up in 3 or 4 large clues in the puzzle. They often show up in Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday puzzles.

I can easily recommend this book, it's a great one to do on airplanes to stave off the grumpiness that most people feel while traveling. It also makes for a nice go-to book when you know you want a quicker or less difficult puzzle. A great gift, for yourself or someone else!

I got this book for a Christmas present and finished it fairly quickly. It was pleasant. The puzzles are a mixed lot of difficulty, mostly on the easier side. The "funny" part involves puns and wordplay and the humorous quotation format.
Good for medium level solvers.

I didn't like these puzzles much. They had some amusement value, but my chief complaint was that they were too easy. Maybe even easier than the Monday New York Times puzzle.

This is a nice selection of fun crosswords, but they are too easy.

I enjoy puzzles with a funny or punny theme, but many, many of these puzzles contain a pet peeve of mine. I much prefer that the longer theme answers be self-contained to give a decent chance of solving them; in this book, however, the theme answers are all part of a single quote, or even worse, a made-up quip. Half the fun of solving a themed puzzle is figuring out what the theme IS, then solving each clue. I would say about half of these puzzles have clues that consist of "Quip, part 1" or whatever. Boring!

I did not find these puzzles either challenging or amusing - would have been better off just to buy a penny press book off the grocery store shelf.

The crossword puzzle is great. It is fun to work and gives me quite a few challenges. It is a great mind stimulant.

The New York Times crossword puzzles many times contain longer word answers that are answers to word plays or puns in the clues. The book claims to be full of "side-spliting" humor and while that may be a stretch, the puzzles are pretty challenging of the weekday variety. I got this at the bargain price of $3.98 and considering the actual daily paper costs a $1.50, this was a steal.

I guess they gave me a slight chuckle, but they are generally hardly drop dead funny. Regardless, they are moderately hard New York Times puzzles, on good paper, spiral bound for easy use. All in all, I'm glad I bought it.

I'm a medium-level solver and thought this collection was too easy and not incredibly funny (esp since there are funnier Times crosswords out there). I'm only halfway through the book and not particularly interested in finishing the rest. The only thing that keeps me going is the thought that perhaps Will saved the best for last.