...who said, "I like to start off with an earthquake, and build up from there." Cathy Millhauser obviously took his advice.I have been a Millhauser afficionado for years, so this is not an unbiased review. She is also a big favorite of the New York Times crossword puzzle daily discussion forum, aka, the "Cru". If CCC (Cranium Crushing Crosswords by Frank Longo) was THE crossword book of 2002, then HUMOROUS CROSSWORDS is certainly the book for 2003.
The single biggest "earthquake" for me was Cathy's tremendous range of talent. Some world class cruciverbalists are grid jockeys (Klahn, Gordon, Berry, Johnston), some are riotous punners (Reagle, Silvestri), some are smoothies, i.e., seamless craftsmen (Longo, Shteyman, and anybody else who wants to get a NYT Monday published), some are sadistic eluders (Hook, Klahn), some are gimmickmeisters (Gorski, Gordon, Merrell) and any other chronic NYT Thursdayperson), some are masters of quip (Rosen). and some are master cluers (Klahn, Nosowsky, Quigley).
Millhauser is everything. She can run with the big dogs in any area, and lead in most.
The two UNIQUE categories, however, in which she is unchallenged, are WHOLESOMENESS (although Longo is in the running), and HOUSEHOLDNESS (no challengers). She can also, clearly, differentiate funny punny (riotous pun) from groaners. When you finish this book, you say, "Gee, I would really like to meet her someday just to see how that mind works realtime."
Two big problems with this author is that there seems to be a chronic low-level "Millhauser rage" on the forum because we can't get enough of her. This problem, however, should be solved by this 96 page book. When you run out, however, the rage may return. The other problem, is that, out of my top-ten puzzles, only one of them was in the first group of ten, but I guess that is what old Cecil was talking about when he said, "the earthquake must gain momentum." To correct this second problem, if you want to get blown away right away, here are my suggestions for starting the book. First go to:
ONSET (grid jockey and smoothie)
OUTSIDE THE BOX (gimmickmeistress)
GOING POSTAL and IN BLACK AND WHITE (quipmeistress)
US of A (groaner puns)
MIXED VEGETABLES (wholesomeness, householdness, and funny punny)
CAMPING TRIP (innovation, gimmickry)
Oh, did I forget to mention the cluing? Well, every time I do a crossword, I check off clues which bring an intense pleasure rush to my brain. If you are a crossword fan, you do not need any further explanation of what this is. Most good crosswords have at least one. We call them HOFs, because they should go into the crossword clue Hall Of Fame registry. Well, Cathy averages 3-4 per puzzle, and in ONSET, there were a whopping SEVEN (7)! Nuff said.
Going back to the desert island scenario, if you could take only three books to the desert island, and this wasn't one of them, I hope you would get rescued real quick!
John R. Minarcik, MD
aka, Popeye, of the "Cru"