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2022 was a rather strong year for puzzle books and I thought I'd mention a few of them for those looking for some gift ideas for the headz out there. In the top spot I've got A.J. Jacob's "The Puzzler." It's an entertaining, gonzo journalism, deep dive into All The Puzzles. And I mean, pretty much all of them. Crosswords, manipulation puzzles, jigsaws, you name it. Loads of characters too along the way: Peter Gordon shows up in the first chapter. Yours truly says a few profane things in there. The jigsaw chapter hit real close to home as Chez BEQ has become ground zero for doing jigsaws (Tabitha's favorite puzzle by a country mile). And it really can't be a puzzle book without, you know, puzzles. Not to sweat: Greg Pliska ably stepped up and put together a lovely mini-suite at the back of the book. Dig in.
One that slipped by me, as it was published in paperback late last year, but was brought to my attention this year is Alex Bellos' "The Language Lover's Puzzle Book." The Guardian's puzzle columnist compiled 100 different brainscramblers in, well, all sorts of languages. Fluency in any of them not needed. I mean, I don't speak any of these, (other than English) but they're still approachable logic puzzles, breaking down text to their purest form. And they're all in there, even some left field stuff: Cherokee, Inuktitut, even the theoretical Toki Pona. I've not seen anything like it, and it comes highly recommended.
Oliver Roeder's "Seven Games" is not about puzzles per se, but it is about a lot of other recreational games that a lot of us puzzle folk enjoy doing: histories of chess, poker, bridge, go, checkers, backgammon, and Scrabble (okay that last one is definitely crossword adjacent). Oliver did his homework here, but it never comes across as stuffy. In short, I know this guy, he's okay.
Speaking of knowing okay guys, it's always fun to shout out some friends, so let's do it rapid-fire, shall we? First up, Fred Piscop's "The Healthy Brain Book of Word Puzzles." The big draw here is the Split Decisions that Fred ably makes for the New York Times already. Loads of other new forms as well. Speaking of variety puzzle collections, Jeff Chen put out a lovely collection as well. Those looking for some smaller but still high-quality crosswords could do worse than these collections by Robyn Weintraub and Adesina Koiki. And last but not least, can't forget all my gals at the Inkubator who put out an anthology of their greatest hits.
Y'all know that I'm cryptic mad, and if y'all know somebody who fits in that category, I've got two titles: Dan Feyer's gang of pranksters at "The Browser did an anthology of their stuff. That's part of my appointment puzzling, so it comes with huge BEQ thumbs up. Also part of my weekly must-do content is the always great Out of Left Field puzzles by Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto. They dropped another collection this year, but get the lot.
Looking for more puzzles? The Hub Crossword (Sunday puzzles by me and Joon Pahk) and Marching Bands year eight has begun. Both make great gifts! So if that To Do list needs even more puzzles, you know what to do.
Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.
Brendan Emmett Quigley creates custom-made puzzles for all occasions: birthdays and bar mitzvahs, anniversaries and retirements. You name it. Need a puzzle for your website or your publication? He can do that, too.
Brendan's custom work clients have included The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, BeerAdvocate, Boston Magazine, De Beers, The Decemberists, ESPN, The Improper Bostonian, Lollapuzzoola, McSweeney's, Phish, Reflexive, The Smithsonian Magazine, St. Martin's Press, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, and Andrew Weil.
Call (617) 2-999-BEQ or click 
