What better way is there to spend a half-hour than by curling up with a creative and challenging crossword? You’re sure to enjoy many hours of brain-stretching fun with these lively and engaging puzzlers. Each of the more than 70 examples has been designed to be completed in just 30 minutes-but don’t make the mistake of thinking they’re easy. You’ll have to work quickly and correctly if you’re to complete them in the allotted time. This outstanding collection includes such engaging themes as “On the Q.T.,” “DJ Culture,” “Spaghetti Western,” “Fill in the Blanks,” and “To the Shores of Triple-E.” The answers for each are included, just in case you get stuck.

Set your watch to 30 minutes, because that's how long you have to finish each of these 72 fiendish, timed crosswords. They're created by some of the members of CrosSynergy, a syndicate of a dozen top puzzlemakers. None of their puzzles see the light of day until it has gone through a brainstorming and peer review process; along the way, reviewers weed out obscure or unsuitable words, and if anyone feels that a clue is unclear it's eliminated. That's why the final product is so much fun, so well constructed, and so delightfully challenging to tackle. The intriguing crossword themes include Wedding Traditions, Color Commentary, Giver of Gifts, All Saints' Day, It's No Longer Elementary, and You Wanna Piece O' Me?

Match wits with one of the country’s most popular crossword creators. Since his first puzzle was published in the New York Times when he was nineteen years old, the author has been challenging newspaper readers from New York to San Diego and Miami to Spokane. Offering the elegance and sophistication of the toughest daily crosswords yet remaining accessible to newcomers, these 72 puzzles will test your knowledge of history, pop culture, science, literature, sports, and more, as well as your ability to figure out clever themes. If you enjoy solving conundrums such as “What the Russians did in 1999” (10 letters), and “Jean-Claude Van Damme sits on the fence” (14 letters), these really clever crosswords are for you! Answers: PUTINPUTIN, BELGIANWAFFLES

Thirty million loyal TV Guide� readers know where to find the best TV crosswords ever created. Puzzles with television themes from the most widely read weekly magazine in the world make this collection a television lover’s dream book. It’s spiral bound, oversize, and filled with hundreds of crosswords that will challenge anyone’s television IQ. There are classic favorites from the 1960s, ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s; take a walk down memory lane, and answer “___ Masters in Rin Tin Tin” (just 3 letters). Try the best contemporary crosswords from TV Guide� Crosswords Magazine. All that, plus brain teasers and fun trivia quizzes offer hours of fun.

The answers are fairly common words and phrases--but the clues are diabolically difficult, with mischievous misdirections, trivia, puns, and other trickery. Try this: "change of heart" (15 letters). Answer: "organ transplant." "Finely crafted crosswords that will put your word and trivia skills to a severe test."--Will Shortz, Crossword Editor, "The New York Times."

Are you tough enough? Only for the bravest crossword solvers, this collection contains 75 fiendish Saturday puzzles! Put your solving skills to the ultimate test and see if you're tough enogh for these devious puzzles. Features: -Seventy-five of the Times' toughest puzzles -Portable format is perfect for travel or solving at home -Edited by the biggest name in crosswords, Will Shortz.

The Crosswords Club Collection returns with more of the puzzles enjoyed by the subscribers of the exclusive mail-order service that provides original Sunday-size crosswords. In addition to these special puzzles, there is a unique Answers section, which provides interesting tidbits about each crossword.