The 8 Best Crossword Puzzle Dictionaries

For American solvers, the standard reference is Merriam-Webster's Crossword Puzzle Dictionary, now in its fourth edition. You look up a word from the clue, and answers are grouped by length, so a five-square gap points to a short list. It holds more than 340,000 clues and answers, plus lists sorted by category, in a pocket paperback over 1,400 pages long. That bulk is the catch: the type is small, and the thick spine won't lie flat.

Puzzle editor Stanley Newman and constructor Daniel Stark compiled The Million Word Crossword Dictionary, the big desk reference for American puzzles. Its second edition added slang, brand names and celebrity names, the kind of answers older books miss, for more than a million answers, set in larger type. At desk size it won't travel well. The paperback now sells well above its cover price, and the Kindle edition costs less if you don't need paper.

Solvers of British cryptic crosswords, where each clue pairs a plain definition with a bit of wordplay, are the audience for The Chambers Crossword Dictionary. It holds more than 500,000 solutions, listed by length and then alphabetically, which suits cryptics, since they print the letter count after every clue. Code words flag the standard cryptic tricks, and the book explains anagram signals. British spelling and references run throughout, so it's a weaker fit for American puzzles.

Webster's New World Crossword Puzzle Dictionary sits between a pocket book and a doorstop. It lists about 300,000 clue and answer words, sorted alphabetically and by letter count, with extra tables for the lists crosswords lean on, such as Shakespeare's characters and the books of the Bible. The trade-size paperback gives more room on the page than a pocket book. The text dates to the 1990s, so recent names, brands and slang are thin.

New American Crossword Puzzle Dictionary is a pocket reference with a long history, edited by the Morehead family and last revised in 2004. Besides the main word list, it has a separate category section for groups of related answers and advice on solving cryptic puzzles. It fits a jacket pocket or a beach bag. Small print is the trade-off, and two decades without an update means newer names and phrases won't be there.

The New Comprehensive A-Z Crossword Dictionary, compiled by Edy Garcia Schaffer, puts clues and answers in one alphabetical list: look up the clue word and scan the answers under it. It packs over 225,000 entries into a pocket-size paperback, though a very thick one. It works best once a few crossing letters are in. The revised text dates to the mid-1990s, so newer answers are missing, and copies sell well above the cover price.

If pocket-book type makes you squint, look at the enlarged-print version of Merriam-Webster's Crossword Puzzle Dictionary, Third Edition. It carries about 335,000 clues and answers, grouped by letter count under each clue word. It's a big book to hold in a lap, so it suits a table or reading chair. This is the 2007 text, and an enlarged fourth edition now exists, but the low price makes this one a cheap second copy for home.

The Beginner's Crossword Dictionary is a starter book, not a full reference. Veteran puzzle editor Stanley Newman built its alphabetical list from an analysis of published puzzle grids, keeping the short, odd answers that turn up again and again, the words solvers call crosswordese. Learning those repeat answers pays off fast, and the book also walks new solvers through common clue tricks and traps. It won't crack tough or themed clues, since the list is short by design.