Customer Reviews

Henry Hook's Cryptic Crosswords, Volume 5 (Other)

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Henry Hook is one of the most devious and creative cryptic constructors in the world, and these collections show that he can be among the most prolific, too. Although there are some puzzles here that are pleasantly solvable, there are some that will challenge even the most jaded cryptic aficionado. And Hook's trickery depends on forcing solvers to look at words and letters in new ways, but his clues always play fair -- no mismatch of tense or parts of speech, no extraneous words, and no words used twice (once in the definition and once in the wordplay) -- errors that some other constructors, even very well-regarded ones, allow themselves with regularity.

I just discovered Henry Hook after many years of doing the Harper's Puzzle by Richard Maltby, Jr. These are excellent cryptics, and great fun to do. If you like the Harper's puzzle you will love these. Very very hard.

The most varied and interesting of cryptic puzzlers, Hook surpasses himself in this last edition. But when will we see a new one?

These cryptics are excellent for the solver who does not dwell in the abstruse depths of the English language. The structural ingenuity is very good, and the "tricks" are usually quite fair. The whole series of Henry Hook' cryptics is to be recommended -- but not for beginners.