No comments about Silver Screen Crosswords to Keep You Sharp (AARP).

No comments about Ultimate Large Print Crossword Collection (Spiral Crosswords).

No comments about The Crosswords Club Collection, Volume 5 (Other).

No comments about Simon & Schuster Large Type Crosswords #19.

No comments about SUDOKU 120 PUZZLES EASY MEDIUM HARD.

No comments about Crossword Puzzles: Their History and Their Cult.

No comments about Stanley Newman's Literary Crosswords: Something Novel (Other).

3 comments about Savage Crosswords #1 : 50 All-Original Ultrahard Puzzles--The Ultimate Challenge.

1. These are fiendishly difficult crosswords, and I recommend them to anyone who relishes a real mental workout. Savage uses a few obscure clues and answers, but nothing beats the satisfaction of actually finishing one of these monsters.

   In the one I just completed, Savage manages to use every double-letter combination from AA to ZZ in an answer (wait'll you get to QQ). It may take you a couple puzzles to get used to some unconvential cluing (I'll make up an example: Clark in "Gone with the Wind" would be a clue for GABLE, not RHETT as most constructors would have it), but these are really fun once you get on a roll....




2. Good, fun puzzles. Seldom trivial, but not super hard. I use a pen, however not unerringly. I have a second volume to enjoy.



3. These puzzles are witty and complex, requiring not only a solid knowledge of trivia but also insight into what Savage has in mind. Many of his clues are multi-level puns, and not just the theme clues, either. When I finished Volume 1, I was delighted to find Volume 2 ... but that's it, there's no Volume 3. Savage either fell off the face of the earth or got tired of the effort these puzzles must have required. I haven't seen anything of his in recent anthologies, either.
   
   At least Savage left us these 100 jewels before he disappeared.
   
   p.s. The gem in Volume 2 entitled "Stone Walls Do Not a Prison Make" is my favorite puzzle of all time. Elegant, beautiful, and philosophically intriguing, all in a single construction!

2 comments about Simon & Schuster Hooked on Cryptics Treasury #1: 70 challenging cryptics from the Henry Hook archives (Simon&Schuster No 1).

1. If you know and love cryptic crossword puzzles, this book really doesn't need a review. You already know Henry Hook and his puzzles, and know whether you like them or not.

   For the cryptic-crossword neophyte, this book offers a brief--possibly too brief--introduction to solving cryptic clues before launching into the puzzles. If you're just starting out with cryptics, you'll probably feel you're in over your head very quickly. (However, many people who like cryptics ENJOY feeling in over their head.) I'd recommend the Random House Cryptic books as a better starting point, because they open with some really simple puzzles (though by the end, they get trickier than the puzzles in this treasury).

   The book's seventy puzzles are relatively tame (as cryptics go), with the occasional really-obscure light or the "how-on-earth-does-THAT-parse?" clue, but nothing that'd pose a problem for your semi-seasoned solver. The last dozen or so puzzles venture into variety formats--I'd have preferred more variety puzzles, but tastes vary on this count. In the end, this book is no sumptuous feast of verbal bedevilment, but it is a good bread-and-butter type fix for your cryptic cravings.




2. What ruined this book for me were the frequent obscure words or dated proper noun references.
   
   It's frustrating to be stuck and not know whether I'm missing the twist, or whether I simply have never heard the term before ("in a pet") or the reference is dated but not clued a such ("nancy" for first lady).
   
   I prefer The Atlantic Monthly's style of declaring how many obscure and proper nouns are used in the puzzle.
   
   Beyond that, as a fan of aesthetic mathematical puzzles, I find Hook's basic grid boring. I much prefer Cox and Rathvon's puzzles that layer a logic or diagramming puzzle on top of the cryptic, and add a unifying theme. I find such puzzles more meaningful, and the overarching connectivity gives critical help when I'm completely stuck on a wordplay clue that involves a word I simply do not know.
   
   A great delight of a Cox/Rathvon puzzle is backsolving all the letters of an answer, and then looking it up in a dictionary to discover is is a word that means exactly what the clue says. This is missing from Hook's puzzles.
   
   
   Also, it's rewarding to "crack a puzzle" and discover the secret theme or hidden treasure, which gives a sense of elevated accomplishment even if I can't solve every crossword clue.
   
   This book will definitely kill time on long airline flight, but it's simply not as fun as Cox an Rathvon's work in the Atlantic Monthly.

1 comments about Crossword Italian!: Have Fun Learning Italian by Solving Crossword Puzzles (Toronto Italian Studies).

1. A disappointment for several reasons.
   First, there are numerous typographical errors. Some of the crosswords are missing clues, some numbers are missing from the grids, and there are several misspellings (very bad for a language book).
   Second, these aren't really crosswords. Often words are not integrated into the puzzle; they just stand off by themselves or in small clusters, unconnected to the rest of the grid.
   Third, in many cases, the puzzle grid is on the right-hand page and the clues are overleaf. It's annoying to have to keep flipping back and forth. The grid and the clues should be on facing pages.
   The lessons that go with the puzzles are very brief. You can't really "learn" Italian from this book; it's more useful as a first-year or first-semester refresher (though there are better books for that purpose).
   Not a bad concept, but poorly executed.