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Editor's Preface

Since its first appearance in 1940, the Crossword Puzzle Dictionary, compiled by the late Andrew Swanfeldt, has acquired a widespread and loyal following among crossword puzzle fans. Each successive edition improved and expanded the original. The third edition introduced the Instant Finder System, in which answer words are listed according to the number of letters. In this fifth edition, the editors have responded to many reader requests by providing separate lists for prefixes, suffixes, and combining forms, lists that can be found at the back of the book. To this fifth edition thousands of new words, both clue words and answer words, have been added and the book has been completely reset in larger type for easier reading. This fifth edition more than adequately reflects today's crossword puzzle clues and answers.

We are greatly indebted to Mr. John Willig, who began and completed a substantial amount of the revisions for this fifth edition. Mr. Willig died during his work on the book, and will be remembered with great fondness and deep gratitude. Ms. Ruth Adler took over the task of revising the book with admirable drive and attention to detail. She has our sincere thanks for a superb job.