1 comments about The Daily Telegraph How to Crack the Cryptic Crossword (Daily Telegraph).

1. This book is both instructive and fun to work through; the different types of clues are explained carefully in separate sections, each demonstrated with an example crossword to solve.

   However the book only really serves as a 'foundation course' for the cryptic crossword novice. The clues to the majority of the crosswords are simplified by displaying the 'straightforward definition' in bold - this helps a great deal in clarifying how to dissect the clue, but unfortuately it also allows one to solve each clue in the same way one would solve a simple concise crossword. Once the 'straightforward definition' portion of the clue is solved, it is often easy to understand how the cryptic portion contributed to the solution - but by then one has missed the chance to attempt to unravel it for oneself. Because of this, I found I had to refer back to the explanations and re-learn a lot in order to solve the crosswords in the second half of the book that are not simplified in this way.

   Ultimately, while the book was very informative, I felt that I was not given much of an opportunity to absorb the information. The book would have been much more helpful if there had been two crosswords given after each explanation, one with the 'straightforward definition' in bold and the other without.

No comments about The "Guardian" Cryptic Crosswords Setters Series (Cryptic Crosswords Setters).

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No comments about The New York Times Giant Book of Holiday Crosswords: Festive, Fun and Easy Puzzles (New York Times Crossword Puzzles).

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No comments about The New York Times Crosswords in the Sun: Easy, Enjoyable Puzzles.

1 comments about Simon and Schuster Crossword Puzzle Book #234: The Original Crossword Puzzle Publisher (Simon & Schuster Crossword Puzzle Books).

1. I am enjoying doing this book, but I would have prefered more difficult question. The real joy of this book is the size of the puzzles and questions, not tiny and not huge.
   Great fun.