Introduction
PART ONE
The why—How puzzling nourishes your neurons
Let the brain tour begin
AHA—The euphoria of eureka
TEMPO—Pouncing versus pacing
FOCUS—The endangered art of being present
MEMORY—Your brain as active archive
VOCABULARY—How porous is your thesaurus?
HAHA—Hip-hip for the hippocampus
PLAY—Survival of the funnest
DIS/CONNECT—Time to break and remake
TOGETHER—Thinking in harmony
Showtime
PART TWO
The how-to—Unlocking a cryptic crossword
HEALTH RESORT—Getting your brain puzzle-fit
BODY BUILDING—How cryptic clues work
NEURO-CARDIO—A cryptic crash course
Anagrams
Double definitions
Charades
Homophones
Containers
Hiddens
Reversals
Deletions
GURU YOGA—Bending the brain a little further
Spoonerisms
Manipulations
Codes
Alternations
Puns
Rebuses
Punctuation
Dot, dot, dot …
&lits
Hybrids
BOOSTER PACK—Top ten tips for solving success
PART THREE
The WTF—Fifty puzzles to keep your brain abuzz
MIND GAMES—The bending begins
FORMULA FORETASTES—Puzzles 1–6
RECIPES REVEALED—Puzzles 7–12
RECIPES ON REQUEST—Puzzles 13–18
TWO-SPEED—Puzzles 19–20
FRIENDLY CRYPTICS—Puzzles 21–28
TRICKY CRYPTICS—Puzzles 29–36
GNARLY CRYPTICS—Puzzles 37–44
THEMERS—Puzzles 45–50
Solutions
Acknowledgements
References
Selected bibliography