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Rating: 
Summary: Crostic Lovers -- check this out!
Review: Fun and challenging crostics. The puzzles in this book are rated as medium difficulty, with the style halfway between "middle of the road" and "contemporary" (via the "Random House PuzzleMeter"). Nice size with steel spiral spring binding. Pages are good-quality paper that accepts pencil well, yet erases easily and cleanly.
Rating:
Summary: Crostic Lovers -- check this out!
Review: Fun and challenging crostics. The puzzles in this book are rated as medium difficulty, with the style halfway between "middle of the road" and "contemporary" (via the "Random House PuzzleMeter"). Nice size with steel spiral spring binding. Pages are good-quality paper that accepts pencil well, yet erases easily and cleanly.
Rating: 
Summary: Something for everyone.
Review: I moved from New York to Arizona in 1993. What a change! Subways to Suburbans, crowded sidewalks to scattered cacti. The biggest change, though, was going from the usual 4 seasons to just 2 here: Summer and Not Summer. Wow, Heat.Com! Anyway, to stretch a metaphor beyond reason, that's how I view most of the puzzles I see. Some are hot, some are not so hot. And I try to make my puzzles hot, but not so hot and hard that only A Few Good Mensas can solve them. No, what I mean is that if you've gotten cocky with your local crossword and are filling the answers in with ink, then you're ready for me. And I'll give you a tussle, I promise you. But it'll be a fair fight, a genuine battle of wits. And I'll promise you this, as well: if you don't get a laugh or two along the journey with me, and have some fun, then Amazon.Com will give you your money back. Only please don't feel you need to mention that when you place your order.
Rating: 
Summary: Fresh and witty quotes - good for hours of fun.
Review: I started "playing" with crostics in Games magazine a number of years ago and was delighted to have this puzzler recognized by Random House in volumes. Hope this Volume 3 is soon followed by another volume of fun although would also like to see a return to the original 60 games.
Rating:
Summary: Something for Everyone
Review: In case you've never seen one before, crostics are based on quotations taken from a published source such as a book or magazine. And while they may look impossibly hard at first, as if only a few good Mensas could solve one, that's really not the case. My puzzles are about the level of difficulty of a good Sunday crossword, one you might struggle with a little to get finished. But unlike crosswords, crostics come with one large proviso: they get EASIER to solve the closer you get to the end. I can promise you that my puzzles will never stump anyone at the intersection of a Lithuanian coin and a piece of ancient Celtic armor. Every word in every puzzle is deducible. I can promise you one other thing as well: I've tried my hardest to give you a laugh or two along the way. Because I'm a big believer in searching out the funny side of life. But beyond my fondness for wit, I also love insightful observations, interesting facts, surprising bits of trivia, and devious word play. Well, maybe the latter's more a weakness than a strength. But if you've found yourself doing crosswords in ink, to raise the difficulty bar a little, why don't you try stepping into my world for a while? You'll discover as many others have: crostics have a simple, elegant beauty all their own.
Rating:
Summary: LITTLE BIT OF A LETDOWN
Review: Michael Ashley's previous four volumes of crostics were exceptionally good and fun to solve. Michael has given us crostics that don't rely on ridiculously esoteric clues, such as quotes from Shakespeare, unheard of islands, etc. Instead, Ashley uses contemporary clues to solve his puzzles. He also doesn't quote from stuffy writers, etc. However, in this edition, he starts to show a little bit of that "traditional" clue giving, and is not as imaginative as in his previous volumes. Still, he's head and shoulders above the rest, and I look forward to his future editions. Crostic lovers should check out Peter Scher's "Cinema Crostics" for some really fun puzzles!
Rating:
Summary: LITTLE BIT OF A LETDOWN
Review: Michael Ashley's previous four volumes of crostics were exceptionally good and fun to solve. Michael has given us crostics that don't rely on ridiculously esoteric clues, such as quotes from Shakespeare, unheard of islands, etc. Instead, Ashley uses contemporary clues to solve his puzzles. He also doesn't quote from stuffy writers, etc. However, in this edition, he starts to show a little bit of that "traditional" clue giving, and is not as imaginative as in his previous volumes. Still, he's head and shoulders above the rest, and I look forward to his future editions. Crostic lovers should check out Peter Scher's "Cinema Crostics" for some really fun puzzles!
Rating: 
Summary: Fun, but not enough bang for the buck
Review: The clues are plenty challenging and even tricky, chosen from a wide variety of subjects and levels of expertise, but the quotes at the end are not as interesting as in other acrostics I have done. They are taken mostly from popular humor books or self-help books or celebrity bios. I would rather see meatier quotes from history and science books or essays, or actual quotes from historical figures or documents like the Declaration of Independence. Too often I find that I have the quote figured way too soon and then it is a tedious job to go back and fill in the (almost impossible) clue words I couldn't guess. It would be nice if the quotes were longer and taken from more interesting sources to make them more difficult to guess. The puzzles are still fun, but the payoff at the end (finding out the quote) is too often a letdown.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, but not enough bang for the buck
Review: The clues are plenty challenging and even tricky, chosen from a wide variety of subjects and levels of expertise, but the quotes at the end are not as interesting as in other acrostics I have done. They are taken mostly from popular humor books or self-help books or celebrity bios. I would rather see meatier quotes from history and science books or essays, or actual quotes from historical figures or documents like the Declaration of Independence. Too often I find that I have the quote figured way too soon and then it is a tedious job to go back and fill in the (almost impossible) clue words I couldn't guess. It would be nice if the quotes were longer and taken from more interesting sources to make them more difficult to guess. The puzzles are still fun, but the payoff at the end (finding out the quote) is too often a letdown.
Rating:
Summary: Fun. Challenging. Frustrating. More!!
Review: These volumes are great fun. I find the ones that are modern music difficult but usually can work them out.
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