Bloggers express their opinions every day but in June 2011, Will Shortz himself picked his favorite puzzles from September 2002 to December 2010.
"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 the journey.
| Num | Across Lite | Author | Answers |
| 1. | Monday, September 9, 2002 | William I. Johnston | Solution |
| 2. | Thursday, October 24, 2002 | Patrick Merrell | Solution |
| 3. | Friday, November 15, 2002 | Brendan Emmett Quigley | Solution |
| 4. | Thursday, January 23, 2003 | Cathy Millhauser | Solution |
| 5. | Wednesday, March 5, 2003 | Tyler Hinman | Solution |
| 6. | Thursday, May 8, 2003 | Elizabeth C. Gorski | Solution |
| 7. | Thursday, June 26, 2003 | Patrick Berry | Solution |
| 8. | Thursday, September 25, 2003 | Patrick Merrell | Solution |
| 9. | Thursday, December 25, 2003 | John Underwood | Solution |
| 10. | Saturday, January 3, 2004 | James M. and James C. Jenista | Solution |
| 11. | Thursday, January 15, 2004 (PDF) | Patrick Merrell | Solution |
| 12. | Thursday, March 25, 2004 | David Liben-Nowell and Ryan O'Donnell | Solution |
| 13. | Thursday, April 1, 2004 | Byron Walden | Solution |
| 14. | Thursday, June 3, 2004 | Mike Torch | Solution |
| 15. | Friday, August 20, 2004 | Harvey Estes | Solution |
| 16. | Thursday, September 2, 2004 | David J. Kahn | Solution |
| 17. | Monday, October 11, 2004 | Jim Hyres | Solution |
| 18. | Tuesday, November 2, 2004 | Patrick Merrell | Solution |
| 19. | Thursday, December 2, 2004 | Patrick Berry | Solution |
| 20. | Friday, December 10, 2004 | Frank Longo | Solution |
| 21. | Wednesday, January 5, 2005 | Michael Shteyman | Solution |
| 22. | Friday, March 11, 2005 | Manny Nosowsky | Solution |
| 23. | Wednesday, March 23, 2005 | Mike Shenk | Solution |
| 24. | Friday, April 1, 2005 | David Pringle | Solution |
| 25. | Tuesday, May 31, 2005 | Merl Reagle | Solution |
| 26. | Wednesday, August 3, 2005 | David Liben-Nowell and Ryan O'Donnell | Solution |
| 27. | Tuesday, August 23, 2005 | Holden Baker and Nancy Salomon | Solution |
| 28. | Thursday, November 10, 2005 (PDF) | Lee Glickstein and Craig Kasper | Solution |
| 29. | Thursday, November 24, 2005 | Michael Shteyman | Solution |
| 30. | Thursday, December 15, 2005 | Patrick Merrell | Solution |
| 31. | Wednesday, December 21, 2005 | David J. Kahn | Solution |
| 32. | Wednesday, January 25, 2006 | John Farmer | Solution |
| 33. | Wednesday, February 1, 2006 | Elizabeth C. Gorski | Solution |
| 34. | Tuesday, April 18, 2006 | Pete Muller | Solution |
| 35. | Tuesday, April 25, 2006 | Kevan Choset | Solution |
| 36. | Wednesday, May 17, 2006 | Patrick Blindauer | Solution |
| 37. | Thursday, May 18, 2006 | Peter A. Collins | Solution |
| 38. | Wednesday, May 31, 2006 | Trip Payne | Solution |
| 39. | Wednesday, June 7, 2006 | Patrick Blindauer | Solution |
| 40. | Tuesday, June 27, 2006 | Damon J. Gulczynski | Solution |
| 41. | Monday, August 7, 2006 | Lynn Lempel | Solution |
| 42. | Tuesday, August 22, 2006 | Michael J. Doran | Solution |
| 43. | Tuesday, October 3, 2006 | Ed Stein | Solution |
| 44. | Thursday, October 5, 2006 | Joe DiPietro | Solution |
| 45. | Thursday, October 26, 2006 | Todd McClary and Dave Tuller | Solution |
| 46. | Thursday, January 25, 2007 | Manny Nosowsky | Solution |
| 47. | Tuesday, May 1, 2007 | Courtenay Crocker and Nancy Salomon | Solution |
| 48. | Thursday, July 26, 2007 | Joe Krozel | Solution |
| 49. | Monday, August 20, 2007 | Lynn Lempel | Solution |
| 50. | Monday, September 10, 2007 | Edward M Sessa | Solution |
| 51. | Thursday, September 27, 2007 | Peter Wentz | Solution |
| 52. | Thursday, November 1, 2007 | Larry Shearer | Solution |
| 53. | Thursday, December 20, 2007 | Peter A. Collins | Solution |
| 54. | Thursday, January 24, 2008 | Matt Ginsberg | Solution |
| 55. | Friday, February 15, 2008 | Patrick Berry | Solution |
| 56. | Thursday, June 19, 2008 | Joe Krozel | Solution |
| 57. | Thursday, August 14, 2008 | Damon J. Gulczynski | Solution |
| 58. | Thursday, September 11, 2008 | Caleb Madison | Solution |
| 59. | Thursday, September 18, 2008 | Mike Nothnagel | Solution |
| 60. | Wednesday, October 1, 2008 | Barry Boone | Solution |
| 61. | Monday, October 6, 2008 | Patrick Blindauer | Solution |
| 62. | Tuesday, October 14, 2008 | Lucy Gardner Anderson | Solution |
| 63. | Saturday, November 22, 2008 | Frank Longo | Solution |
| 64. | Tuesday, January 20, 2009 | Tim Wescott | Solution |
| 65. | Tuesday, February 10, 2009 | John Underwood | Solution |
| 66. | Wednesday, April 1, 2009 | Ed Stein and Paula Gamache | Solution |
| 67. | Thursday, April 2, 2009 | Brendan Emmett Quigley | Solution |
| 68. | Wednesday, April 22, 2009 | Daniel A. Finan | Solution |
| 69. | Thursday, June 4, 2009 | Peter A. Collins and Joe Krozel | Solution |
| 70. | Thursday, June 11, 2009 | Alex Boisvert | Solution |
| 71. | Thursday, June 25, 2009 | Bill Zais | Solution |
| 72. | Wednesday, July 1, 2009 | David J. Kahn | Solution |
| 73. | Thursday, July 30, 2009 | Ashish Vengsarkar | Solution |
| 74. | Wednesday, September 2, 2009 | Jim Hyres | Solution |
| 75. | Friday, September 4, 2009 | Joe Krozel | Solution |
| 76. | Thursday, October 22, 2009 | Joel Fagliano | Solution |
| 77. | Monday, November 23, 2009 | Ben Pall | Solution |
| 78. | Tuesday, December 8, 2009 | Joe Krozel | Solution |
| 79. | Thursday, December 17, 2009 | Francis Heaney and Patrick Blindauer | Solution |
| 80. | Monday, January 25, 2010 (see GIF) | Holden Baker | Solution |
| 81. | Friday, February 12, 2010 | Kevin G. Der | Solution |
| 82. | Tuesday, February 23, 2010 | Joanne Sullivan | Solution |
| 83. | Tuesday, March 9, 2010 | Jeffrey Wechsler | Solution |
| 84. | Thursday, March 25, 2010 | Dan Naddor | Solution |
| 85. | Thursday, April 1, 2010 | Lee Glickstein | Solution |
| 86. | Wednesday, April 21, 2010 | Peter A. Collins | Solution |
| 87. | Thursday, April 22, 2010 | Caleb Madison | Solution |
| 88. | Friday, June 25, 2010 | Robin Schulman and Byron Walden | Solution |
| 89. | Thursday, July 8, 2010 | John Farmer | Solution |
| 90. | Wednesday, July 21, 2010 | Oliver Hill | Solution |
| 91. | Thursday, August 5, 2010 | Gary J. Whitehead | Solution |
| 92. | Wednesday, August 25, 2010 | Clive Probert | Solution |
| 93. | Saturday, September 18, 2010 | Natan Last, Brown University '12 | Solution |
| 94. | Monday, October 4, 2010 | Adam G. Perl | Solution |
| 95. | Thursday, October 7, 2010 | Patrick Blindauer | Solution |
| 96. | Tuesday, October 12, 2010 | José Chardiet | Solution |
| 97. | Thursday, October 21, 2010 | Dan Naddor | Solution |
| 98. | Tuesday, October 26, 2010 | Chris Handman | Solution |
| 99. | Thursday, November 4, 2010 | Mike Nothnagel | Solution |
| 100. | Friday, November 5, 2010 | Mike Nothnagel | Solution |
| 101. | Thursday, December 16, 2010 | Charles Deber | Solution |
Erratum: The book lists the date for puzzle #11 as 1/1/2004 but the puzzle shown is actually 1/15/2004.
