Customer Reviews

The "Guardian" Cryptic Crosswords Setters Series: Rufus

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is for genuine crossword enthusiasts and, as such, the clues are challenging which is great. They are also extremely well constructed and are a delight to get your teeth into. I thoroughly recommend this for anyone who loves crosswords.

As a devotee of the Guardian's cryptic crossword for nearly 20 years, I find their weekly selection nearly always runs the gamut between gently engaging and fiendishly impenetrable. Sitting nearer to the gentle side of the equation is Rufus. In my experience, he's reasonably faithful to the classic Ximenean rules and is rarely so obscure that you have to go running to Google or the dictionary. Perfect for enthusiasts who want an enjoyable romp rather than a teeth-grinding hour of agony.

I've worked through the puzzles by Rufus and Gordius. Both compilers have provided some clever and amusing clues which can provide hours, in fact days, of entertainment. I preferred those by Rufus. They are a little easier and often witty. Some of those by Gordius have obscure solutions -- rare words, place names and so on -- which it seems to me require rather specialist knowledge.

He's one of the easier Guardian setters but still has you thinking! I'll order more titles - pity they're not currently doing Araucaria.

Boughtas a Christmas present for my mum who by the way is 88. She thinks it is fantastic and certainly tests her brain power.

My dad loves puzzles and these were no exception, made a good present and kept him going for hours So can't be bad

Purely personally I see no point in crosswords that include words of which few have heard. Some of the clues have some wit and use a lot of ambiguity but what destroys it for me is that once you know how many obscure terms are sprinkled in, you can 'give up' on difficult ones when you could possibly have solved them. Primarily it is between you and the puzzle so having to resort to abstruse research works to find answers is like asking someone else to solve it for you; you might as well look at the solution in the back of the book! No problem with a dictionery if all you are doing is checking spelling or precise meaning etc. but beyond that step forward university challengers! Having said all that, Bunthorne's ingenuity is evident throughout this book.