I don’t just like word puzzles. I love them. They have to be good ones, though, which for me means they have to be tough. They also need to be interesting, and if they’re thought-provoking, that’s even better. Which is why I’ve always liked acrostics. A good acrostic (or double-crostic, as they’re also called), gives you not only a challenging set of clues to an eclectic word list, it rewards you with a pithy quote when you’re done. Oh, and you get the title of the book it’s from and the author’s name as a bonus.

The only thing I never really liked about acrostics is that when you solve them on paper, you have to spend a lot of time going back and forth entering the letters from the clues into the spaces in the grid, and vice versa. But now, I don’t have to! My friend Michael Dickman, who writes acrostics, has created Acrostica.com, where you can solve puzzles online! It’s great! (And I’m not just saying that because I helped him with the design. It really is great!)

Mike posts a new puzzle every Monday, and he builds them out of interesting quotes from a variety of contemporary nonfiction books. His puzzles are challenging (I’d rate this week’s puzzle very challenging), but if the going gets too tough, you can give yourself a little help with the “hint” button. There’s also an archive of previously posted puzzles.

Mike’s still tweaking the site and happy to get comments and suggestions. Check it out, and tell him I sent you!