Random House Cryptic Crosswords, Volume 2 (Random House Cryptic Crosswords)

Rating:
Summary: Maybe a little too cryptic?
Review: People's tastes vary. Speaking only for myself, I like cryptic crosswords that are solved with the standard rules, as opposed to cryptics featuring specially invented rules (e.g., the answers are to be filled in backward, or with certain letters displaced or omitted, or with parts of words exchanged for parts of other words elsewhere in the grid). At least half the puzzles in this collection are oddball specimens of this type. If you're bored with regular cryptics and want a greater challenge, you'll love this book. If you prefer your cryptics "straight," there are better choices.

Rating:
Summary: Top-quality American-style cryptics
Review: This several-volume series contains reprints of cryptics from the regrettably defunct and sorely missed Tough Cryptics newsletter. Puzzles are appropriate for solvers who find the Globe and Mail puzzles too easy and prefer the tighter North American clue style to the looser and sometimes impenetrable UK style. Puzzles in this book tend to be comparable in difficulty to Cox/Rathvon's harder puzzles, generally not quite as difficult as Henry Hook's harder puzzles.