Wordoku is a cool combination of sudoku and wordplay—and it’s the hottest new craze among puzzle lovers. This massive collection, which follows on the success of the two earlier Big Books, will provide solvers with hours of fun. It features an amazing 900 wordoku, with grids in a variety of sizes: smaller 8x8s, standard 9x9s, and extra-hard 10x10s. The rules are simple, and almost exactly like sudoku—except with letters in place of numbers. Because the levels range from easy to brainbusting, everyone will find puzzles that are just challenging enough. Plus, when players are finished filling in the grid, they get to uncover a hidden word to complete the puzzle!

Stretch your mental powers and become an IQ wizard. Stimulating and fun, these logic puzzles, mind-benders, mathematical teasers, and conundrums are a must-have for anyone serious about reaching his or her full potential. And they're compiled by two of MENSA's leading puzzle editors who really know something about giving the brain a workout. Each of the 20 sections contains 25 puzzles; no specialist knowledge is required to answer the questions, and hard and easy ones are randomly mixed. Solve them using standard mathematical or alphabetical calculations. (Some tables up front--including a multiplication table and lists of square, cube, and prime numbers--offer a little extra help for those in need.) Here's an example of just one brain-baffling challenge:

Starting at midnight, snow fell 1 1/2" every 6 hours. If there was already 2 1/4" of snow at midnight, what was the thickness of the snow at 9 o'clock?

So start using that gray matter to its fullest and watch in amazement as your IQ soars to exceptional heights.

Brainiacs on the prowl for challenging fun will find everything they're looking for in these cunning conundrums. Puzzle master Terry Stickels has created a mind-melting collection filled with hundreds of diverse and fiendishly tricky problems--including wordplay, math, analytic reasoning, logic, visual dilemmas, and code breaking. Figure out the next number in a series, find hidden phrases, and determine what a three-dimensional object would look like from two-dimensional drawings. Every puzzle provides a workout that strengthens mental muscles. And while these brainteasers do require concentration, they don't demand any special training or high-level math skills. A little practice, patience, and imagination are all it takes.

Accompany Thomas Stanwick as he hears about a crime, arrives on the scene, interviews the authorities and witnesses, examines the body, surveys the surroundings, and announces which suspect to arrest. All under 5 minutes. You'll be right there with him for dozens of different crime scenes, and if it takes you less than five minutes to bust the case open, consider yourself a match for the brilliant Stanwick. 96 pages, 40 b/w illus., 5 3/8 x 8 1/4.

Along with Lateral Mindtrap Puzzles, try some that are even tougher, because you've got to rely on your powers of observation, not just your talent for detecting verbal clues. Photos show close-ups of ordinary objects, and offer a tantalizing clue in words, often a taunting rhyme or quotation. The answers appear on another page, where you see the objects the way you usually look at them. Have you ever really looked at a single red-and-white spiral on a candy cane? Could you recognize a notch on the gear of a can opener? Or, a pair of kernels of corn? Of course you've seen them all before. They're so familiar, they're almost impossible to recognize! In addition, there are lots of trick questions: Is there a Fourth of July in Canada? Yes! It's the day after July 3!

Test your brain power and your ability to "think outside the box" with this collection of clever conundrums. Perfect for family fun and friendly get-togethers, as well as school settings and management training seminars, these challenging puzzles force you to check assumptions, use deductive reasoning, and uncover creative solutions. Best worked in small groups, lateral thinking puzzles present a seemingly bizarre situation that needs to be explained. Solvers ask a "quizmaster" questions to gather information and arrive at the "right" answer. Clues are provided for those who get stuck. Critical thinking puzzles can be worked individually, and are designed to stretch the way you interpret the world. You'll need to uncover relationships, look for sequences, and make observations. Some require inexpensive, readily available materials such as scissors, toothpicks, and a yardstick. Every puzzle will force you to think in new ways, but just as importantly, they are fun to do!


Think you're up to the challenge? Try these:

Free Lunch
A man in a restaurant used two forks and one knife. He did not pay for his lunch. What was happening?

Clues:
The man ate his lunch with one knife and one fork.
He provided a service.
The restaurant provided an intimate atmosphere in the evenings.

Solution: The man was a piano tuner who had come to tune the piano in the restaurant. He brought his own tuning fork. The restaurateur repaid the service with a free lunch.

Spare Change
Jonathan has a pocket full of coins. Yet he doesn't have the right combination of coins to make change for a nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, or dollar. What is the largest value of coins Jonathan can have in his pocket?

Solution: $1.19. Jonathan has four pennies, four dimes, one quarter, one half dollar. Added together, they amount to $1.19.

A second helping of fun for solvers who enjoy the popular combination of sudoku and wordplay. And this time, #2 includes five larger-than-usual, super-challenging grids that measure 12 x 12.

Wordoku follows the same basic principles as sudoku, except that solvers fill the grid with letters. Under each grid, the letters for that puzzle appear, in a pronounceable anagram. Then, just like the original, you arrange them so that every letter appears in every column, every row, and every box just one time. Unlike sudoku, the fun doesn’t end there, because the answer to the anagram lies buried inside the grid. But beware: in some cases the anagram actually has more than one possible solution!

If you thought sudoku was irresistible, wait till you try kakuro! This number/logic game adds a fascinating new dimension to the problem-solving challenge. While filling the boxes in the diagram so each number appears only once in each row or column, the solver also has to make sure each group adds up to a special clue number. The puzzles come in several sizes, from fairly easy 6 x 6 grids to giant 30 x 30 brain-melters. For those new to kakuro, there’s a start-to-finish walk-through of a sample puzzle, complete with helpful hints and tips. Special tables provide handy shortcuts that will help the reader solve any kakuro puzzle. It’s the ideal introduction to this sophisticated new craze.

Find out what it takes to become a puzzle master. More than 500 IQ brainteasers--some of the most devious ever published--offer a challenge that will stretch anyone's analytic and lateral thinking abilities to the limit. The requirements for cracking these puzzles include a sharp mind, keen mathematical skill, and a supremely logical approach. Go through a group of grids, determine the logic in their organization, and decipher the missing pattern in the final one. Check out the time on four different watches, and then figure out what hour the fifth watch should read. Look at dominoes lined up side by side, and calculate what number should appear on the last domino to complete the series. Every puzzle is brainy fun.