NYT GREATEST HITS OF THURSDAY XWORD PUZZ

This compilation is mostly the garbage left over after the brilliant Thursday puzzles have been eliminated. The same constructors appear over and over (Will's buddies, apparently), and they are mostly dregs. You'd have to work pretty hard to select these 100 puzzles from the thousands to choose from (3,652 Thursday puzzles every 10 years). I did NYT puzzles for 25 years and then quit a few years back, so I speak from lots of past experience. If what you crave is snobbish proper nouns, mindless TV actors' middle names and lots and lots of rap knowledge, this compilation is for you. If you are looking for clever themes and good cluing--forget it.

I have always loved the Thursday crosswords due to their unique themes, a clue to which is always given in the title of the puzzle. This one leaves out the titles! There is usually a hint within the clues, but it would have been very simple to include the titles and make this more like the experience of doing them in the NY Times.

Thursday Puzzles are my favorite because they always have a special trick, but I returned this book without even looking at the puzzles because the format was too small for me. The book dims are about half the size of other puzzle collections I have bought so the puzzle squares and text size are too small for me. If you have good eyesight and a fine-tip pen and like Thursday puzzles, maybe this small book would be a good choice for travel.

I found these hard (and even when completed, wasn't feeling triumphant) and about one in ten impossible. Some I finished but without ever understanding the gimmick. Then, too, if you're not up on the names of the actors on shows like "Baywatch" or "The Wire" or of the backup singers in contemporary bands, while you won't feel stupid you'll just feel out of it.

If you are good at word games and have some experience with more challenging puzzles this is a sweet spot. Takes a little getting used to their “tricks” and style, but very entertaining.