Henry Hook's Two-Step Crosswords

Rating:
Summary: Clever crossword and crostic combo
Review: Henry Hook has come up with an interesting twist to the usual crossword and crostic puzzle with "Two-Step Crosswords." In order to solve the 49-clue crostic puzzle at the end of the book, you must first solve the 49 crossword puzzles that precede it. Within each crossword puzzle are a half-dozen or more clues whose answers, when placed in the correct order, yield a rhyming couplet that is a crostic clue. Place the answer to that clue in the numbered cryptic line and transfer its letters to the crostic grid, as you would when solving a standard crostic puzzle, to create a quotation relevant to puzzle solving.

The crossword puzzles are of medium difficulty, but it is the crostic tie-in that makes it more challenging. It also means you must solve all 49 crosswords before you can solve the crostic. A word of caution about the answer pages: since the quotation is placed on the same page as the couplet clues, if you have to look up a couplet clue, be careful that your eyes do not stray to the quotation!

Eileen Rieback

Rating:
Summary: Clever crossword and crostic combo
Review: Henry Hook has come up with an interesting twist to the usual crossword and crostic puzzle with "Two-Step Crosswords." In order to solve the 49-clue crostic puzzle at the end of the book, you must first solve the 49 crossword puzzles that precede it. Within each crossword puzzle are a half-dozen or more clues whose answers, when placed in the correct order, yield a rhyming couplet that is a crostic clue. Place the answer to that clue in the numbered cryptic line and transfer its letters to the crostic grid, as you would when solving a standard crostic puzzle, to create a quotation relevant to puzzle solving.

The crossword puzzles are of medium difficulty, but it is the crostic tie-in that makes it more challenging. It also means you must solve all 49 crosswords before you can solve the crostic. A word of caution about the answer pages: since the quotation is placed on the same page as the couplet clues, if you have to look up a couplet clue, be careful that your eyes do not stray to the quotation!

Eileen Rieback