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Rating: 
Summary: Tasty!
Review: Am almost through with this book, and am dreading withdrawal symptoms, because I don't see any more in this series for sale yet. Frank, get cracking! We need at least one a day for mental health reasons.What makes these puzzles so much fun is that there are very few definitive answers, so you have to fill it in a little at a time at first, regardless of how good you are. But they all fall in place in time. It must be that Frank's sense of humor and mine are pretty close, because a fair number of my longshot answers have actually paid off. If only the late-week NY Times puzzles hold your interest anymore, get this book now! But solve them slowly until a continued supply is assured.
Rating:
Summary: IMHO, book of the year!
Review: OK, I knocked off all CCCs. Whew. The quickest one was 20-30 minutes, the toughest was 2-3 hours, but as you all know, the time measurements are very subjective depending on how long one keeps ones attention on the puzzle and how many (and long) breaks one takes. There appears to be no apparent major progression of difficulty. None were MOAHs (Mothers of All Habaneros) by the Cru's (NYT Crossword Forum people) standards. Trip Payne said this was the very best puzzle book he has ever worked. I would very much have to agree with him, but would add the adjective "challenging" to book. Probably the most entertaining books were Merl Reagle's books. All in all I would say that these puzzles are all in the difficulty level of the upper third of Saturday NYT's. But that is not the big thing about this book. The BIG thing is the phenomenal cluing the likes of which I have rarely seen. EVERY puzzle chock full of mind bending misleads and jolts of the cerebral electrodes. But you do not get mad because every puzzle is doable, and after you look at the finished grid you say, "HEY, I know all these common words and phrases." But when you look at the clue list BEFORE solving the puzzle you go into instant puzzle-shock and say "DUH!". If you appreciate Barry Haldiman's Cru habaneros as regular NYT Crossword Forum Tuesday fare, you MUST buy this book. Period! Popeye
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