Humorous Crosswords [Spiral-bound]

Cathy Millhauser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2003 | Series: Crossword

Puns can make you laugh or groan, but when they're clues to these challenging and fun crossword puzzles, they'll make you smile with satisfaction. Can you find the five-letter word for "a race that's always a tie"? (Answer: ASCOT.) How about the three-letter word for "performing a scull operation"? (Answer: ROW.) If you can get those in short order, how about moving on to a 10-letter word for "small fries." (That answer is MICROCHIP.) Most of the puzzles are built around themes with several related words such as vegetables, insects, or Dr. Seuss books. But watch out--the vegetables may be spelled backwards; the insects are puns; and some of the Dr. Seuss puzzle answers include FIGURE OF SNEETCH, GRINCH MEAN TIME, and LAUNCHED A WOCKET. You can find the answers in back, but they're scattered around to make it harder to cheat.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 96 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (March 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806989513
• ISBN-13: 978-0806989518
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,083,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Google confirms that it was Cecil B. DeMille...., August 30, 2003

By 

John R. Minarcik - See all my reviews

This review is from: Humorous Crosswords (Spiral-bound)

...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"