The Book of Cryptic Crossword Puzzles Volume 4

I had read reviews of other cryptic collections by this author, and there seemed to be a consensus of opinion that he uses too many anagrams in his puzzles. I bought one of his later collections, hoping that perhaps he had taken criticism to heart and branched out a little more into other kinds of cryptic clues. Alas, no. There were far too many anagrams. One puzzle consisted of 18 anagram clues out of a total of 30 clues. This isn't to say the puzzles are easy; it can be pretty hard to untangle really long anagrams sometimes. All in all, a disappointing collection.

These books are an oasis for me. When I first fell in love with the cryptic format (early 90s), cryptic puzzle books could be found in any bookstore. (Remember bookstores?) Now they're a challenge to locate. Thank goodness this series is available.

These cryptic crosswords are the perfect challenge for crossword fans who have grown tired of filling the grid with the same words time after time. They make the person solving them stop and think of the right word to fit the definition.

While I rather agree that Mr. Williams relies a bit too much on anagrams in his clues, I don't mind that so much. But what is irritating is when the wrong grids are given. In the case of this volume, the grids on page 46 and 48 are repeats of the ones on pages 45 and 47 and don't fit the clues. The puzzle on p. 48 uses only 6, 7, and 8 letter words, but the grid is for 4, 6 and 8 letters.

The puzzles were great but there were errors. Some puzzles did not have clues for all of the squares. Otherwise the puzzles were fun and challenging.