Bill Cosby (letter dated 6/20/01)
"Cleverly presented to tease, intrigue and challenge. Naturally I scored off the charts!"


MENSA Bulletin June 2001
"...I had to solve almost every one (word game) in this book before I could put it aside."


Bill Cosby
“Cleverly presented to tease, intrigue, and challenge. Naturally, I scored off the charts!”


MENSA Bulletin, June 2001
“I’m not partial to puzzles, but I had to solve almost every one before I could set it (book) aside.”


The Midwest Book Review
...a fascinating puzzle book for all ages and educational backgrounds. Challenging yet lighthearted. ...the perfect gift book.


Book Description
Are You Smart, or What? is the most entertaining book of word games, ever! It combines clever challenges and surprising answers with playful innovations to both amaze and amuse readers of all ages. All puzzles are concise and uncomplicated. They are about ordinary words and things that everybody knows about so the entire family can enjoy them.


From the Publisher
International Puzzle Features is pleased announce that in addition to publishing Are You Smart, or What?, we also have taken over the publishing of Pat Battaglia’s previous best seller “So You Think You’re Smart, 150 Fun and Challenging Brain Teasers.”


From the Author
Bill Cosby captured the essence of my book when he stated “Cleverly presented to tease, intrigue and challenge.” That was my intent, exactly. I want people to have fun with my book. Bill Cosby did. I’m sure you will, too.


From the Inside Flap
This book combines clever word games with several fun features including: (1) ingeniously concealed answers that are read by looking through the page (2) tongue-in-cheek scheme for rating the reader’s solving ability for each puzzle (3) humorous evaluation of the reader’s brain power at the end of each section (4) special page for personalizing the book for gift giving


About the Author
After years of helping to develop space vehicles for NASA, Pat Battaglia turned from rocket scientist to author of playful word games. He is an expert on devising clever word games for readers both young and old. He is the author of three books including So You Think You're Smart that has been a best seller for TAB/McGraw Hill and is currently in its 11th printing. Battaglia is also the author of the If You're So Smart… newspaper column that has been in syndication for over 16 years.


Excerpted from Are You Smart, or What? A Bizarre Book of Games & Fun for Everyone by Pat Battaglia. Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Try this puzzle from the first, and easiest, Mental Warm-ups section: Tommy’s mother has three children represented by the three coins penny, nickel and dime. (The three coins are illustrated in the book.) The first child is named Penny. The second is named Nicole. What is the name of the third child? Did you get it? You’ll know for sure if you got it right. If you didn’t solve it, don’t look at the answer yet. It’s simple. Real simple! Keep trying. I’m warning you. If you resort to the answer now you’re going to feel embarrassed when you read the answer. Give up? The answer is below. Tommy’s mother’s third child is named Tommy. What else could it be? Want to try another? If so, here’s one from the Mental Workouts section: The same letter is missing 15 times in the string of letters below. Determine this letter and insert it in the appropriate places and separate the words formed to make a sentence. n r d v r k ’ s m m m l t h t h s s h r p c l w s n d t t c k s n t s. Did you get this one? If not, don’t give up. Okay, okay, I’ll help you. The missing letter is an a. Now work on it some more. It's easy now. Are you still lost? I hope not. But if you are, the answer is below. An aardvark’s a mammal that has sharp claws and attacks ants. Here’s one last sample from the most challenging, Mental Migraines, section. Each pair of hints below relates to a pair of four-letter words. The two words are composed of the same letters. Only the order of the letters is changed to form two different words. Determine the words. Example: hill of sand, unclothed Answer: dune, nude 1. food from animals, domesticated2. fibber, guard or barrier3. slight smile, circular band4. large stores, intelligent5. smell, entrance barrier6. uninteresting, nightwear7. deserve, close to8. a fruit, harvest9. layer, make weary10. leg wear, footwear As with all puzzles of this type with numbered parts, the solving gets more difficult with succeeding parts. Did you notice that? Including all parts to all the games, there are over 500 puzzles in this book. In the book, you get a score depending on how many of the parts that you solved correctly. Then, at the end of the section, your scores for all games in that section are totaled and an amusing evaluation of your brain power is given. Of course, it’s all in fun. Can you score off the charts like Bill Cosby did? The answers to this puzzle is as follows: 1. meat, tame 2. liar, rail 3. grin, ring 4. marts, smart 5. odor, door 6. bore, robe 7. earn, near 8. pear, reap 9. tier, tire 10. hose, shoe