Games World of Puzzles February 2017

Packed with puzzles, brimming with brainteasers, chock-full of challenges—this issue truly has something for every puzzle fan. We’ve got a feeling you’ll welcome this news, especially if the February doldrums are setting in. A host of puzzles, from the visual to the logical to the cryptic, will help you escape the chilly weather outside.

In the color section, we’ve forgone our customary feature article in favor of a handful of fun, lighthearted puzzles: Animal Eye-Dentification (page 34), There Was a Crooked Man… (page 36) and Island Hopping (page 37). These puzzles will have you thinking in a variety of ways, and they are fun with a group if you tire of solo play. Of course, if board or video gaming is your thing, Thomas L. McDonald’s game reviews can be found on pages 46 and 47, and Raymond Simon offers some further suggestions for video gamers in Game On! on page 48.

The special cryptic crossword section, starting on page 60 and ending on page 65, is the star of the Pencilwise section. Along with the two standard cryptics, you’ll find three variety cryptics, all from the pages of Cryptic All-Stars, Volume 3, edited by Roger Wolff and featuring a distinguished list of contributors. If you like what you see here, the entire volume can be purchased at www.crypticallstars.com. Also in the Pencilwise section, we welcome first-time contributor David Aiken, whose puzzle Wordstroke is based on an original concept: using the number of strokes used in each letter to decode words. Give it a try!

If you finish all the puzzles in this issue and are left wanting more, go to www.kappavariety.com and check out our new line of variety puzzle magazines. Two of these titles, Platinum Variety Puzzles and Elite Variety Puzzles, are geared toward a higher-level solver and will especially appeal to former WORLD OF PUZZLES readers. They are available only at the newsstand right now; please write to us at games@kappapublishing.com with your location to find out where to buy them. In addition, we offer Print-at-Home puzzles—24 puzzles in PDF format that can be printed from the comfort of your own home. At present, the available choices are Sumoku, Code Crosswords, and Binary Puzzles, but we are open to suggestions for other types of puzzles.

That’s enough from us…time to start solving!