This is the free software made available by Literate Software Systems that allows you to play certain crosswords online or from your hard drive.

This is the software (version 8 for $59 as of July 2008) that you should consider first if you want to create crosswords.  And they can be saved in the .PUZ format required by the Across Lite software discussed immediately above.

Another professional-strength crossword creator, this program is similar to Crossword Compiler and as of July 2008 version 6.1 costs $59.99.

Barry Haldiman's superb Web site for seeing New York Times crosswords, and a lot more.

Jim Horne's remarkable collection of facts about The New York Times crosswords, and a lot more.

Much good information about crosswords, not just the annual tournament.

A forum for crossword puzzle constructors, this is a bunch of brainy people talking about how to create and market crosswords.    Subscribing is free, and you can get a daily e-mail digest of posts.

This is the only mailing list I subscribe to, and I've read every post since I joined in January of 1999.

Pages from The New York Times Web site about their crosswords (duh) and other games, including forums.

This site covers not just crosswords but other types of puzzle as well.  I list it here as a sort of link exchange dating back to 1998 or so.

Note that as of at least August 2009 some of Puzzle Express's links do not "behave," and have not since roughly January of 2000.  For example, if you go there and then choose, say, the link back to this site, titled "BarelyBad Crossword Monograph," Puzzle Express's HTML code opens a new instance of your Web browser, which is not what you want or expect.

Yet another forum for crossword constructors, this one restricts its membership to people who've passed a rigorous series of actual blood tests and DNA screenings to weed out the genetically nugatory.

BarnesNoble

Amazon.com

I list these links because the introduction of this book, edited by Will Shortz, is based in large part on a very small part of the very essay on crossword puzzles you're reading now.  Also, the cover apparently underwent an update from April 2002 to July.

The full title is The New York Times Monday Through Friday Easy to Tough Crossword Puzzles.

Amazon.com

BarnesNoble

I list these links because snippets of the very crossword essay you're reading now are quoted on a few pages of this otherwise commendable book (Oct 2001) by Coral Amende.

The full title is The Crossword Obsession: The History and Lore of the World's Most Popular Pastime.