Puzzle Books

To wind down after a long day, before going to bed, I like to knock off a few logic puzzles. What might frustrate many is calming to me. Ok, I am a bit odd. Over the years, I have purchased many puzzle books which sit on night stand until finished. Here are few of the better ones.

Title: Mensa Exercise Your Mind Math & Logic
Authors: Dave Tuller & Michael Rios
Website: amazon.com

Title: Brainteasers on the Flip Side
Authors: Dave Tuller & Michael Rios
Website: amazon.com

Back with more, Tuller and Rios produce some of the best puzzle around. Each book includes hundreds of puzzles. The puzzle types vary. Each includes some original Tuller-Rios puzzles, see my post on a previous version for some examples. The puzzles are well constructed and challenging. Another thing which might seem silly, but matters: the paper is of high quality. This nice when you have to erase.

In the interest of full disclosure, I know Dave Tuller and have talked to him about his books. He in no way encouraged me to include any mention of his books in this blog.

Title: Jumbo Book of Number Puzzles
Author: http://www.puzzlepress.co.uk/
Website: WHSmith.co.uk



This is great puzzle book I got at Costco for $5.49 about a year ago, but I have not seen there in a while. It seems hard to find on-line. WHSmith claims to sell it, but but does not have a picture of the cover and lists the availability as 4 or more weeks which makes me suspicious. If you see it again at Costco, grab it. Grab two, one for you, and one for a friend.

It contains many of the standards: Domino Puzzles, Slitherlink, Sudoku, Mind Sweeper, Mastermind, Hitori, Kakuro. It also includes a couple of new puzzle types. One which I found every interesting is called Piecework. It is a set up as nonogram, however there is not enough information given to solve the puzzle. You have to use the additional constraint that the picture consists of the 12 pentomino arranged in the grid so that no two touch. This results in some brilliant puzzles.





Title: Japanese Logic Puzzles
Author: The Times
Website: amazon.com

Here is a book I picked up on my last trip to England. It is a collection Hashi (aka bridges), Hitori, Mosaic, and Slitherlink puzzles. What really struck me about this collection was the quality of the Hitori puzzles. There are only 30, but they are very well done. I had never given generating Hitori puzzles much thought. Is there no good computer method for generating these puzzles? There are 20 Mosaic puzzles, 75 Hashi, and 75 Slitherlink. The only downside to this book is the paper quality is lower than the others.

Title: KrazyDad Slitherlinks
Author: Jim Bumgardner aka KrazyDad
Website: http://www.krazydad.com/slitherlink/

Free slitherlink puzzles in pdf format. Download, print, and solve. The real find here is the puzzles in different grids. I really found the Penrose Tile puzzles a great twist.