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Will Shortz Picks His Favorite Puzzles

The list of puzzles from his 2011 puzzle collection

Will Shortz Picks His Favorites
Click image to order the book

Bloggers express their opinions every day but in June 2011, Will Shortz himself picked his favorite puzzles from September 2002 to December 2010.

If you have an NYT Games Subscription you can solve them using the links here but the real value comes from reading Mr. Shortz's commentary on each puzzle. For that, you need to buy the book Will Shortz Picks His Favorite Puzzles: 101 of the Top Crosswords from The New York Times .

"In my opinion we're living in the golden age of crosswords. Puzzles have never been better or more interesting than they are now." This collection makes a great case for Will's bold claim. Working your way through all these would be quite a journey.

Across Lite files are no longer available, but you can solve each puzzle on the NYT website.

Here are the puzzles from oldest to most recent:

NumSolutionAuthorNYT SolverPDF
1.Mon Sep 9, 2002William I. JohnstonSolve
2.Thu Oct 24, 2002Patrick MerrellSolve
3.Fri Nov 15, 2002Brendan Emmett QuigleySolve
4.Thu Jan 23, 2003Cathy MillhauserSolve
5.Wed Mar 5, 2003Tyler HinmanSolve
*** 6.Thu May 8, 2003Elizabeth C. GorskiSolve
7.Thu Jun 26, 2003Patrick BerrySolve
8.Thu Sep 25, 2003Patrick MerrellSolve
9.Thu Dec 25, 2003John UnderwoodSolve
10.Sat Jan 3, 2004James M. and James C. JenistaSolve
† 11.Thu Jan 15, 2004Patrick MerrellSolvePDF
12.Thu Mar 25, 2004David Liben-Nowell and Ryan O'DonnellSolve
13.Thu Apr 1, 2004Byron WaldenSolve
14.Thu Jun 3, 2004Mike TorchSolve
15.Fri Aug 20, 2004Harvey EstesSolve
16.Thu Sep 2, 2004David J. KahnSolve
17.Mon Oct 11, 2004Jim HyresSolve
18.Tue Nov 2, 2004Patrick MerrellSolve
*** 19.Thu Dec 2, 2004Patrick BerrySolve
20.Fri Dec 10, 2004Frank LongoSolve
*** 21.Wed Jan 5, 2005Michael ShteymanSolve
22.Fri Mar 11, 2005Manny NosowskySolve
23.Wed Mar 23, 2005Mike ShenkSolve
24.Fri Apr 1, 2005David PringleSolve
25.Tue May 31, 2005Merl ReagleSolve
26.Wed Aug 3, 2005David Liben-Nowell and Ryan O'DonnellSolve
27.Tue Aug 23, 2005Holden Baker and Nancy SalomonSolve
28.Thu Nov 10, 2005Lee Glickstein and Craig KasperSolvePDF
*** 29.Thu Nov 24, 2005Michael ShteymanSolve
*** 30.Thu Dec 15, 2005Patrick MerrellSolve
31.Wed Dec 21, 2005David J. KahnSolve
32.Wed Jan 25, 2006John FarmerSolve
*** 33.Wed Feb 1, 2006Elizabeth C. GorskiSolve
34.Tue Apr 18, 2006Pete MullerSolve
35.Tue Apr 25, 2006Kevan ChosetSolve
36.Wed May 17, 2006Patrick BlindauerSolve
37.Thu May 18, 2006Peter A. CollinsSolve
38.Wed May 31, 2006Trip PayneSolve
39.Wed Jun 7, 2006Patrick BlindauerSolve
40.Tue Jun 27, 2006Damon J. GulczynskiSolve
41.Mon Aug 7, 2006Lynn LempelSolve
42.Tue Aug 22, 2006Michael J. DoranSolve
43.Tue Oct 3, 2006Ed SteinSolve
44.Thu Oct 5, 2006Joe DiPietroSolve
45.Thu Oct 26, 2006Todd McClary and Dave TullerSolve
46.Thu Jan 25, 2007Manny NosowskySolve
47.Tue May 1, 2007Courtenay Crocker and Nancy SalomonSolve
48.Thu Jul 26, 2007Joe KrozelSolve
49.Mon Aug 20, 2007Lynn LempelSolve
50.Mon Sep 10, 2007Edward M SessaSolve
51.Thu Sep 27, 2007Peter WentzSolve
52.Thu Nov 1, 2007Larry ShearerSolve
53.Thu Dec 20, 2007Peter A. CollinsSolve
54.Thu Jan 24, 2008Matt GinsbergSolve
*** 55.Fri Feb 15, 2008Patrick BerrySolve
56.Thu Jun 19, 2008Joe KrozelSolve
57.Thu Aug 14, 2008Damon J. GulczynskiSolve
58.Thu Sep 11, 2008Caleb MadisonSolve
59.Thu Sep 18, 2008Mike NothnagelSolve
60.Wed Oct 1, 2008Barry BooneSolve
61.Mon Oct 6, 2008Patrick BlindauerSolve
62.Tue Oct 14, 2008Lucy Gardner AndersonSolve
*** 63.Sat Nov 22, 2008Frank LongoSolve
64.Tue Jan 20, 2009Tim WescottSolve
65.Tue Feb 10, 2009John UnderwoodSolve
66.Wed Apr 1, 2009Ed Stein and Paula GamacheSolve
67.Thu Apr 2, 2009Brendan Emmett QuigleySolve
68.Wed Apr 22, 2009Daniel A. FinanSolve
69.Thu Jun 4, 2009Peter A. Collins and Joe KrozelSolve
70.Thu Jun 11, 2009Alex BoisvertSolve
71.Thu Jun 25, 2009Bill ZaisSolve
72.Wed Jul 1, 2009David J. KahnSolve
73.Thu Jul 30, 2009Ashish VengsarkarSolve
74.Wed Sep 2, 2009Jim HyresSolve
75.Fri Sep 4, 2009Joe KrozelSolve
76.Thu Oct 22, 2009Joel FaglianoSolve
77.Mon Nov 23, 2009Ben PallSolve
78.Tue Dec 8, 2009Joe KrozelSolve
79.Thu Dec 17, 2009Francis Heaney and Patrick BlindauerSolve
80.Mon Jan 25, 2010Holden BakerSolve(see GIF)
81.Fri Feb 12, 2010Kevin G. DerSolve
82.Tue Feb 23, 2010Joanne SullivanSolve
83.Tue Mar 9, 2010Jeffrey WechslerSolve
84.Thu Mar 25, 2010Dan NaddorSolve
85.Thu Apr 1, 2010Lee GlicksteinSolve
86.Wed Apr 21, 2010Peter A. CollinsSolve
87.Thu Apr 22, 2010Caleb MadisonSolve
88.Fri Jun 25, 2010Robin Schulman and Byron WaldenSolve
89.Thu Jul 8, 2010John FarmerSolve
90.Wed Jul 21, 2010Oliver HillSolve
91.Thu Aug 5, 2010Gary J. WhiteheadSolve
92.Wed Aug 25, 2010Clive ProbertSolve
93.Sat Sep 18, 2010Natan Last, Brown University '12Solve
94.Mon Oct 4, 2010Adam G. PerlSolve
*** 95.Thu Oct 7, 2010Patrick BlindauerSolve
96.Tue Oct 12, 2010José ChardietSolve
97.Thu Oct 21, 2010Dan NaddorSolve
98.Tue Oct 26, 2010Chris HandmanSolve
99.Thu Nov 4, 2010Mike NothnagelSolve
100.Fri Nov 5, 2010Mike NothnagelSolve
101.Thu Dec 16, 2010Charles DeberSolve

*** indicates puzzle also appears in the Will Shortz's Favorite Puzzlemakers collection.

† Erratum: The book lists the date for puzzle #11 as 1/1/2004 but the puzzle in the book is actually 1/15/2004.

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