Merl Reagle's Sunday Crosswords, Vol. 1

I love all of Merl Reagle's crossword puzzle books and in fact they're the only ones I'll do anymore. I'm a Baby Boomer and I found about half of the clues to be out of my league, referring to cultural, political, etc. events that were completely out of my knowledge base. It didn't stop the puzzles from being fun, though.

A co-worker put me on to these puzzles about eight years ago. I liked them then and I like them now. Of all the crossword puzzle books available, this one is different. Rather than merely recalling a word, the definitions within make the puzzle enthusiast really think out phrases, thoughts and specifics. I do think, however, that the books are too short. I would prefer to find more puzzles in each book and divided by degree of expertise required. That's what pushed me to give a four star rating instead of a five-star rating.

I've loved Merl Reagle's Sunday crosswords in my local paper for many years, and was saddened to learn of his early passing a few years ago. Thankfully I can still enjoy his unique, intelligent, clever and witty puzzles with his books! You can't go wrong with any of his collections.

Being a California product also, I frequently enjoyed these crosswords in the Sunday San Francisco paper, and was happy to see Amazon carries the whole collection, of which I hope to get more volumes. Lest I be thought to be "damning with faint praise", I would like to add that these puzzles are delightful. Each puzzle carries a theme, and when you deduce the theme many of the clues which initially baffle one becomes clear. Each puzzle also contains clues that are puns, antonyms, synonyms and often just plain clever. Money well spent for hours of delighted amusement.

I do the Merl Reagle Sunday puzzle every week--my favorite puzzle creator. This is a collection of his puzzles that I hadn't seen before, so I was excited to get some new Merl puzzles. I would definitely purchase more of his books. The only criticism of the books is that I wish the puzzle grids were on the top, rather than on the bottom. It makes it much easier to fill in when using a clipboard. Otherwise, they are great puzzle books.

Absolutely love Merl Reagle's puzzles! His Sunday puzzles are challenging, humorous and fun to do! RIP Merl. He continues to bring joy with his collections of puzzles and this is a great volume.

While some of the puzzles are WAY too hard for me (too many foreign words or references to movies and TV I haven't watched), they're clever and fun. I've become a bit addicted to Reagle's work.

I'm working on this Volume 1 now and not only is it fun, but so challenging for me. It sure makes me think outside of the box (my box, that is). I received Book 18 from a friend as a gift and now I'm a total fan, as are so many others. Great crosswords and the clues are such fun.