Shows how to make a variety of puzzles out of wood, string, and wire, and includes solutions

Shows a variety of antique and modern puzzles, including puzzle locks and rings, and folding, impossible object, vanish, dexterity, sequential movement, disentanglement, interlocking, and take-apart puzzles

Algorithmic puzzles are puzzles involving well-defined procedures for solving problems. This book will provide an enjoyable and accessible introduction to algorithmic puzzles that will develop the reader's algorithmic thinking. The first part of this book is a tutorial on algorithm design strategies and analysis techniques. Algorithm design strategies — exhaustive search, backtracking, divide-and-conquer and a few others — are general approaches to designing step-by-step instructions for solving problems. Analysis techniques are methods for investigating such procedures to answer questions about the ultimate result of the procedure or how many steps are executed before the procedure stops. The discussion is an elementary level, with puzzle examples, and requires neither programming nor mathematics beyond a secondary school level. Thus, the tutorial provides a gentle and entertaining introduction to main ideas in high-level algorithmic problem solving. The second and main part of the book contains 150 puzzles, from centuries-old classics to newcomers often asked during job interviews at computing, engineering, and financial companies. The puzzles are divided into three groups by their difficulty levels. The first fifty puzzles in the Easier Puzzles section require only middle school mathematics. The sixty puzzle of average difficulty and forty harder puzzles require just high school mathematics plus a few topics such as binary numbers and simple recurrences, which are reviewed in the tutorial. All the puzzles are provided with hints, detailed solutions, and brief comments. The comments deal with the puzzle origins and design or analysis techniques used in the solution. The book should be of interest to puzzle lovers, students and teachers of algorithm courses, and persons expecting to be given puzzles during job interviews.

A high-class puzzle book from the bestselling author of Alex's Adventures in Numberland; organised from easy-peasy to ninja level - with stories of puzzle mysteries, histories and scandals along the way this book will make your hippocampus happy.

Created by an art director at the Puzzles.COM website, these phenomenal original brainbusters-more than 200 of them-will stimulate your potential for thinking outside the box. Arranged from easiest to hardest, they're especially devised for mind-expanding visual solving. And all it takes to crack their mysteries are a pencil, an eraser, patience, and, of course, boundless imagination! Arrange a hinged chain of 11 squares of different sizes into one large square-without overlapping them. Play two-hole billiards on the page, sending two balls into their respective pockets in just two strokes. Figure out how eight patterned cars fit into a checkered parking lot so their colors match the background exactly. Floor plans, tangrams, matchstick puzzles: the variety is amazing.

The noted expert selects 70 of his favorite "short" puzzles, including such mind-bogglers as The Returning Explorer, The Mutilated Chessboard, Scrambled Box Tops, and dozens more involving logic and basic math. Solutions included.

(Book). PhDeath is a fast-paced thriller set in a major university in a major city on a square. The faculty finds itself in deadly intellectual combat with the anonymous Puzzler. Along with teams of US Military Intelligence and the city's top detective and aided by the Puzzle Master of The New York Times , their collective brains are no match for the Puzzler's perverse talents. Carse, Emeritus Professor himself at a premier university in a major city on a square shows no mercy in his creation of the seemingly omniscient Puzzler, who through a sequence of atrocities beginning and ending with the academic year, turns up one hidden pocket of moral rot after another: flawed research, unabashed venality, ideological rigidity, pornographic obsessions, undue political and corporate influence, subtle schemes of blackmail, the penetration of national and foreign intelligence agencies, brazen violation of copyrights, even the production and sale of addictive drugs.

Warning: Adults Only! Jonesin’ for Crosswords is a fresh and addictive new spin on solvers’ favorite pastime. The hip crosswords of creator Matt Jones, a syndicated puzzle master, have appeared in alternative papers all over the country. Expect a diverse mix of clues ranging from old school and modern pop culture, to historical and current events. Plus, you’ll find edgy drug references and too hot to show you X-rated words scattered throughout these outrageous puzzles with themes like Ribbed for Your Pleasure, The Big Owe, and Lets Get High.