Backpocket Crosswords: Handmade Puzzles


Backpocket Crosswords: Handmade Puzzles

$8 (paperback) 
$12 (spiral-bound)

Both formats available on Amazon

We hope you will enjoy these 24 handmade crossword puzzles (not computer generated) with common words and user-friendly clues.

The idea to publish a puzzle book began at an outdoor music festival where Joanne enjoyed the music and worked on one of her favorite hobbies: creating crossword puzzles. Before long, a crowd gathered around her and she noticed how much interest her hobby created.

This book is dedicated to the Radiation Oncology Department at Seton Medical Center (Daly City, California). While Joanne and her husband Tom Ekkens waited for his radiation treatments, they (and others in the waiting room) worked on the clues, which seemed to calm their nerves, raise their spirits, and even get a couple of laughs.

Creation, interior page design, and production by Joanne Shwed, Backspace Ink. Front cover painting “Alpha 2 Z” by Donald James Washburn, 1993. Back cover photograph by Thomas A. Ekkens. Cover art direction by Chuck Spidell, Illusio Design. Cover star illustration by Dennis Glorie.

For your reading enjoyment, Joanne has written a (very) short story about her puzzle demonstration experience at Jigsaw Java, In a Word: Backpocket Crosswords.