The Greatest Puzzles of All Time by Matthew J. Costello (1988)

Written by Matthew Costello years before he was hired for The 7th Guest. I don’t actually own this book, but Darkshoxx said he found Coins, Cards, Canals on Mars/Library Telescope, Maze Grate Sliding puzzle from before the maze, and the bathroom spiders from The 11th Hour.

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As much as I like puzzles, I like stories more. And that is what this book is all about - the story of puzzles and the tales of the puzzlers who created them.

"But have no fear. There are puzzles aplenty in this boo, some of the greatest ever designed. There are classics from unknown sources as well as puzzles that are brand new. There are important firsts, such as the first crossword puzzle and mechanical puzzles from the turn of the century. There are puzzles that dangled the lure of easy money before a staving nation’s eyes and puzzles whose solutions saved thousands of lives and helped win a war.

"And there’s murder, mystery, and magic. You’ll be tricked, and then given the chance to figure out how it was done. Puzzling crimes will be presented for you to test your sleuthing ability.

"I’ve also interviewed important people in the world of puzzles - people such as Martin Gardner, the Dean of American Puzzlers - and found out how they came to puzzle design (and just what their favorite puzzles are).

“All this, and, as they say, much more. It’s a book to read. And it’s a book to play with. For these are The Greatest Puzzles of All Time.”

–from the Introduction

MATTHEW J. COSTELLO is a contributing editor at GAMES magazine and a feature editor at Analog and Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. He covers film and video regularly for the Los Angeles Times. His first horror novel, Sleep Tight, was published in 1987, and he will have two new novels out in 1988.

archive.org/…/greatestpuzzleso0000cost_i3e4

And if you want more, apparently this also includes the telescope/Canals on Mars puzzle djm.cc/library/Cyclopedia_of_Puzzles_Loyd.pdf

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