Ready for a Puzzle Challenge?
Written: May 02 '03 (Updated Jun 19 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Great variety of puzzles, portable, good fun!
Cons: The puzzles in this magazine are more difficult than easy.
The Bottom Line: A puzzle book for puzzle lovers.
|
|
|
| dlstewart's Full Review: Tournament Variety Puzzles Plus Magazine |
I love challenging my brain and purchase a lot of PennyPress puzzle magazines to feed my competitive nature. The more puzzles the better, and variety is a must! PennyPress delivers word-game fun and challenges in their puzzle magazine Tournament Variety Puzzles.
I thought it interesting to compare three of the different types of “Variety Puzzle” magazines published by PennyPress (the “Tournament”, “Master’s”, and “Approved” editions). You can find links to the other two reviews at the bottom of this page.
Overall View of the Magazine
Each issue of Tournament Variety Puzzles showcases a different type of puzzle. Each issue is 114 pages and measures 7 1/2 inches across by 10 3/4 inches high and is about a 1/4 inch thick. The paper is reminiscent of newspaper, and the puzzles are printed in black ink. Sometimes when holding the book or if rubbing the fingers over the pages, the black ink might transfer to the fingers. It easily washes off. I randomly chose from my puzzle magazine collection one edition of Tournament Variety Puzzles as a review example. Open the cover to view the Table of Contents, which is arranged by puzzle type. The Table of Contents lists the name of the puzzle and the page number where the puzzle is located. At the back of the magazine are solutions to every puzzle.
Each puzzle comes with an explanation of how to solve it. The explanations, for the most part, are easy to understand. Some of them require a couple of readings if the puzzles are more complicated. The letters and numbers in the puzzles are large and bold for easy reading. Each puzzle page lists the page where the puzzle solution is located.
What types of puzzles will I see in the magazine?
In this edition there are 75 different types of puzzles and 175 total puzzles. I don’t have room in the review to describe every puzzle; but here are some of my favorites. These are listed in order from the Table of Contents.
Syllacrostics -- the “showcase” puzzle in this issue
There are 20 Syllacrostics in this edition. A list of word clues is provided with dashes indicating how many letters are in the answer and a number in parenthesis telling how many syllables the answer has in it. The answer is then deducted from a random list of syllables at the top of the page. For example: The clue might read: “Talkative” with the number 3 in parenthesis and nine dashes indicating the answer has nine letters. Going to the top of the page to the list of syllables, you might find these syllables: ATE, GAR, IM, LOUS, RU, SEC. The object is to combine three syllables to form the nine-letter answer, which is "Garrulous".
Alphabet Soup
There is only one Alphabet Soup puzzle in this edition. The alphabet is displayed across the top of the page. Each letter of the alphabet is used once. Beneath the alphabet appears a table 26 lines long and 13 letters wide. Twelve of the 13 letters are already filled in. The challenge is to fill in the missing letter to form a word five or more letters long on each of the lines. Sounds easy? Try it.
Anagram Magic Square
There are two Anagram Magic Square puzzles in this edition. This puzzle works several different ways. First, there are 25 squares holding scrambled 5-letter words. Second, there is a list of clues beneath the puzzle numbered Clue #1 through Clue #25. Each scrambled word answers one of the clues. When you match a clue to the scrambled word, unscramble the word and write the word in its square and also write the number of the clue in the square. If you have correctly completed the puzzle, all the Clue Numbers, when added, will equal the number 65 across each row and the number 65 down each column. Lastly, at the bottom of the page are 25 dashes. Take the first letter of each unscrambled word and place it on the dash matching the Clue Number. An “Anagram Magic Saying” will appear.
Bowl Game
There is only one Bowl Game puzzle in this edition. Ten bowling pins are drawn on the page. Each bowling pin contains 10 letters. The object is to use the given letters to form one ten-letter word for a Strike and to form two other words for a Spare. Strikes are worth 20 points each and Spares are worth 10 points. Ex: The l0 letters might be: I, T, A, N, L, A, B, E, L, F. Can you form one 10-letter word and two other words from these letters? (Hint: The 10-letter word starts with "I".)
Codewords
There are five Codeword puzzles in this edition. I love this challenging game! There is a crossword puzzle diagram, and each square has a number in it. Each number (1-26) corresponds to a letter of the alphabet. The challenge is you don’t know which number goes to which letter. Don’t panic. Each puzzle has two or three letters already filled in. There are no word clues in this puzzle. It’s a code ... and your challenge is to break it.
Masterwords
There is one Masterwords puzzle in this edition. This game reminds me of Scrabble. Across the top of the page are ten tiles, each marked with a letter of the alphabet. Each letter tile is assigned a point value (Ex: Letter A = 5 points, Letter R = 3 points). Beneath the tiles is a diagram of squares. The object is to combine the given tiles to form words that fit into the empty squares on the diagram. The words link together just as if playing a Scrabble game. Total the points of each tile for your score. The page shows the puzzle-maker’s score (so you know what score you have to beat).
Word Seeks
There are four different Word Seek puzzles. I enjoy Word Seeks that are not traditional ... they have to offer something different than simply circling words to entertain me. Word Seek puzzles usually consist of a list of words to hunt and a rectangle filled with rows of letters. The object is to locate the words among the assortment of letters. One of the Word Seek puzzles in this magazine shows all the consonants but has empty circles where the vowels are supposed to be. As you circle the words, you write in the vowels. In another of the Word Seek puzzles, the words aren’t in straight lines; they are shaped in squares ... and yet another of the Word Seek puzzles, the words follow zig-zag paths.
Some of the Other Puzzles
Each puzzle fills one page in the magazine unless otherwise noted.
Brick By Brick – (2 puzzles) – Build a crossword puzzle in "6-letter brick sections”
Crostics – (6 puzzles) – Like a crossword, solve clues and fill in a puzzle that reveals a quote
Cryptic Crosswords – (2 puzzles) – A sneaky crossword where clues can be taken literally or not
Cryptograms – (4 pages - 27 puzzles) – Break the code using letter substitution; reveal a message
Diagramless – (4 pages - 5 puzzles) – A crossword; fit the answers into an unnumbered diagram
Double Trouble – (3 puzzles) – A crossword puzzle; split the answers into syllables and determine which syllables go in which squares
Escalators – (2 pages - 5 puzzles) – Solve the clues, then solve the mystery words
Fill-Ins – (2 puzzles) – Fill the given words into a crossword-style diagram
Frameworks – (4 pages - 6 puzzles) – Similar to Fill-Ins except the words interlink as in Scrabble
Match-Up – (1 puzzle) – Find the two identical pictures
Logic Problems – (4 puzzles) – Read the mini-story and clues; find out who, what, where, when
Perfect Fit – (1 puzzle) – Fit a list of words into a grid of empty squares ... a type of “reverse” word seek
Sum Totals – (2 puzzles) – A mathematical crossword puzzle
What does the magazine cost?
You can subscribe to Tournament Variety Puzzles by visiting their website at www.pennypress.com or by purchasing the magazine and mailing in a subscription form. Four issues a year in the United States cost $12.97 (or $22.97 for two years). Four issues a year at the international rate cost $17.97 (or 27.97 for two years). Purchasing this puzzle magazine in a store costs $3.50 U.S. / $4.99 Canadian per issue. I buy my puzzle magazines at the store. The cost savings via mail is negligible, and in my experience, unless specially packaged, magazines of this sort usually arrived ripped if sent through the mail.
Summary
The puzzles in Tournament Variety Puzzles offer hours of fun. I enjoy puzzles and usually manage to do at least one a day. This puzzle magazine is easy to carry, too. In case you were wondering, I solve my puzzles using an EraserMate pen. I’ve tried pencils, markers and other pens, and the EraserMate works the best for me. Love that erasable ink!
I hope you have found this review useful.
Enjoy your day,
Dawn
http://dlstewart.com
Please read my other reviews:
EraserMate Pen with erasable ink
PennyPress Master’s Variety Puzzles
PennyPress Approved Variety Puzzles
Mighty Bright Light
Stanley Contemporary Electric Pencil Sharpener
HON Metal Bookcase
Hoyle Table Games 2004 (software)
Hoyle Card Games 2003 (software)
Gateway 500X Desktop Computer
Dazzle 6-in-1 Card Reader
Belkin Home/Office Emergency Battery Backup
Copyright 2003 Dawn L. Stewart
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.