No chunky erasers, heavy reference books, or prescription tranquilizers needed here. If you think doing puzzles should be relaxing rather than nerve-racking, if you're a casual solver or even a novice, just grab a pencil and leave the rest to us. Here's what you'll find inside Casual Crosswords :

• 50 brand-new puzzles with straightforward themes, recognizable words, and no gimmicks or wordplay

• Subtitles that help you catch on to the puzzler's themes

• Clues with helpful hint such as 2 words , hyphenated , and abbr.

• A solving tip on every puzzle page that relates specifically to that puzzle—but many of the tips can e applied to all crosswords

• For each puzzle, a freebie—an optional "giveaway" answer printed upside down and on a different page (to remove some of the temptation)

Veteran puzzle editor Mel Rosen has created a relaxing and fun crossword book that will also make you a better solver. By the time you're done, you might even be ready to kick it up a notch.