Simon Shuker's Code-Cracker (04)

Contains 125 puzzles. Code-Cracker is compiled by Simon Shuker, a Wellington, New Zealand resident, and is a hugely popular addictive puzzle enjoyed in many daily newspapers throughout New Zealand. The puzzles provide a sometimes tough but enjoyable challenge with great solver satisfaction. The puzzle originated when Britain's second-largest newspaper the Daily Mail (daily circulation 2.4 million) wanted to establish a new puzzle. The newspaper's puzzle editors knew of Simon Shuker's Take5 puzzle, a popular feature in the New Zealand Listener, and asked Simon to develop a larger puzzle in the same style as Take5. The result was a puzzle titled Codeword, which became an immediate hit with Daily Mail readers. Initially appearing five days a week in the Daily Mail, it quickly went to six puzzles a week, then seven when Daily Mail Weekend magazine also began running Codeword. In the hugely competitive UK newspaper puzzle world, the life-span of any puzzle averages about four years. Codeword is well into its second decade, still one of the Daily Mail's most popular puzzles and still compiled by Simon Shuker.