Word Searches For Dummies (For Dummies (Sports & Hobbies)) (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Become a word search whiz — and boost your brain power to boot!

Are you wild about word searches? This fun, go-anywhere guide is packed with puzzles to stretch your skills and strengthen your mind. Inside you'll find eight different kinds of word searches — including one invented by the author! — as well as extensive tips and tricks to improve your puzzle-solving abilities. You'll have a great time mastering increasingly difficult searches while you reap the brain-boosting benefits.

• Working with word searches — get familiar with the eight word search varieties in the book and the strategies for solving each collection

• Start with straightforward puzzles — try simple and story word searches, find hidden words, and solve secret-shape puzzles

• Conquer more complex searches — gather your wits for scrambles, quiz questions, and secret-list and winding word searches

• Play like a pro with bonus puzzles — tackle anagrams and other word games that are guaranteed to make your brain hurt!

• Try not to peek — the answers to all puzzles feature full grids, so you can see where each word is placed

Open the book and find:

• 250 brand-new, handcrafted puzzles

• The brain-boosting benefits of doing word searches

• A chapter with hints for every puzzle

• Ten letter-pattern tips

• Extra or "Ultra" challenging puzzles

• Secrets to designing your own word searches

• Web addresses for online resources

• Fascinating word puzzle facts

About the Author

Denise Sutherland is a syndicated Australian puzzle author. Her crosswords, word searches, and other puzzles appear in a wide range of Australian and international publications, and she has written five themed puzzle books. Sutherland runs her own graphic design business, Sutherland Studios, where she concentrates on creating handcrafted puzzles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies (May 11, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470453664
• ISBN-13: 978-0470453667
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #257,706 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New to word puzzles, June 18, 2009

By	Ellen Bernstein - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm new to word puzzles, and because of this book I'm now a convert. In free moments I'm finding it a pleasure to work my way gradually through this book, yellow highlighter in hand. The Introduction got me going. I liked its clear instructions and found them both intriguing and reassuring. (I would probably not have picked the book up were it not for its title: "Word Searches for Dummies.") I'm enjoying putting my gray cells to work in a most agreeable and interesting way. The book is excellently and thoughtfully put together. Chapter 12 (Helpful Hints to Keep You Going) has given me many a nod and a chuckle, and it has made it possible for me not--not yet, anyway--to resort to Chapter 13 (The Answers You Seek). I think the book will appeal especially not only to oldsters but also, with its themed format, to youngsters.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Word searches for dummies - found, June 13, 2009

By	Mr. Phiilip W. Berrie "Phillberrie" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was given this book by a friend and have become a fan of Word Searches because of it. I thought over Amazon customers might be interested in my thoughts on the book.

I am a writer and editor so words are my stock in trade so I especially liked the themed puzzles where I was was quite often introduced to new words within the context of a theme. Yes, I admit, I'm a pedant, but I have a dictionary and I'm not afraid to use it, so be warned ;-).

The book is structured as an introduction for a novice, as one would expect from the Dummies title range. It introduces the reader to progressively more interesting and difficult puzzle types with lots of Easy, Medium and Hard puzzles in each of the types. The earlier puzzles I found too easy for me, so I skipped ahead. The book was obviously written with this in mind as I found myself at no disadvantage in doing so. Towards the end the author goes into some more theoretical discussions on the making of and general hints on solving these types of puzzles. I especially liked the chapters on word frequency and how these can be used in word searches, anagrams and even for finding Scrabble words (another favourite past time of mine).

I did notice a few errors in the book though - hardly surprising for such a complex book - and it was nice to see that the author had an errata page on her website. She was also quite friendly to me when I contacted her with my contributions.

All in all, I found this book to be not only interesting, but highly entertaining, and I think it would appeal to Word Searchers of all levels of competency.

Enjoy.

Phill Berrie.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Boost your brain power -- and have fun, too., July 11, 2009

By	Gina Pera "Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.?, a... (San Francisco Bay Area, United States) - See all my reviews

There's something for everyone in this collection. As the author writes in the introduction under "Foolish Assumptions":

"Word search puzzles have such a wide appeal and are so accessible to everyone that all I'm assuming is that you can read English -- you don't even need to have a wide general knowledge or know how to spell well to do most of the puzzles in this book."

That came as a relief, because I picked up this book in order to re-charge the ol' brain cells. With my vision and my focus entirely too much on either the computer monitor or non-fiction books as of late, my eyes as well as my mental muscles needed some balancing exercises.

The author hits just the right tone (friendly, fun, and interesting) and provides plenty of hints (one for every puzzle in the book, it says). So, if you're stumped, you don't need to jump right to the answers.

I enjoyed the variety of puzzle types as well as range of skill/cognition required.