How to Solve Crosswords: A Handbook

About the Book

This handbook is the result of the author’s experience in solving crosswords (almost exclusively from the New York Times) for a period of over 10 years and is designed to help puzzle solvers of all abilities. It covers such “strategic” subjects as themes in puzzles and what a clue is attempting to elicit, as well as such “tactical” subjects as what, precisely, is to be written in the squares in a puzzle. Thus, the scope of the handbook ranges from the general to the detailed. Some of the subjects covered are foreign languages (French is the most popular, by far), mythology, the Old Testament, literature (including poetry and drama), classical music, sports (baseball is the crossword favorite), entertainment (comics, movies, television, and pop music), art and architecture, geography ( Ireland wins out here), science and math, travel and transportation, computers and the internet, as well as a list of those special words that are favorites of puzzle constructors (and hardly used by anyone else). Crosswords are fun, and this handbook helps you to enjoy them. To quote from the acknowledgments, “The author and his readers are in the debt of all those puzzle makers and their editors, who give us such pleasure every day. Our lives are greatly enriched by them, and they help show us what a wonderful legacy we have in the English language.”

About the Author

The author has an eclectic background (handy for solving crosswords), having been a writer and editor in the sciences, in finance and accounting, and as the director of communications for a higher education association. He has worked in the actuarial department of an insurance company, as well as in the pension and benefits business, where he was a consultant to companies nationwide, many of them in the Fortune 500. The author has also taught corporate finance at the college level and, while in graduate school, served as a teaching assistant in business statistics. His background includes service in the U.S. Army, where he worked in basic medical research, and in the Department of Defense, where he analyzed, catalogued, and indexed scientific research documents. For many years the author was a writer and editor on the subject of higher education, especially its business and financial aspects. This work resulted in books on endowment management and investment policies, bond valuation, research management, insurance and risk management, and the financial responsibilities of governing boards, as well as in articles on tax-exempt organizations and their IRS reporting requirements. He has also reviewed books by others on the subject of higher education.