Acrostica I: Acrostic Puzzles Volume One

Mr. Dickman composes my very favorite acrostic puzzles.Whether you find his puzzles easy or difficult (I’ve enjoyed them as a fun challenge throughout his current total of ten books), you can trust him.1. He is consistent. A clue that is a list with “and” yields a plural noun, a list with “or” yields one in the singular. “Bacteria” is plural. So is “lice”.2. He checks his spelling. If you’re stuck in a corner finding a word for “fiance,” you don’t have to wonder whether he meant to write “finance”. Some puzzle creators have just enough misspellings to ruin the experience.3. He understands the proper uses of words and idiomatic expressions, and uses them correctly. He doesn’t present “to make away with” as the equivalent of “to do away with”. (I meant to keep notes on some of the nonsense I’ve seen in the puzzles of other cruciverbalists.)One simple honest way he adds difficulty to these puzzles is that he offers no theme to the book or titles to the puzzles that would help you narrow the vocabulary you’ll be using.Although I have finished a puzzle with a hauntingly moving piece about a scientific phenomenon as well as a lovely piece of prose by an author unfamiliar to me (later volumes), another way he adds challenge is that some of the quotes might be by writers unknown to almost everyone or with obscure content. You might be amused by quotes that never needed to be said aloud much less written down without editing. Otherwise, however, some of you would get just half the blocks filled in before recognizing a brief speech from Act II Scene 2 of Titus Andronicus. It’s much harder to guess what Ernest Hemingway yelled out a cab window. (Not real examples.)The puzzles were once online, but now that they are on paper it’s worth talking about the paper. The puzzle books are not spiral bound, which I once thought was important to me. However, if you want to keep the book intact, each puzzle has its own sheet of paper. As you fold the pages back, the left side is blank so you are not trying to write on the rounded surface. One puzzle to a sheet also means you aren’t seeing the shadow of the puzzle on the back as you’re doing the one in the front. I don’t mind a disassembled book, so I rip the cover away by hand and solve them in order, or pulling off a few sheets at a time for a clipboard. They tear off easily, although tearing sheets out of the middle of the full book is a little iffy. Strong paper means I can erase as many times as I need. I love a puzzle that makes me erase.It would seem a waste of paper to publish using just one side for a puzzle, but the back of each page is available for other purposes. It’s strong paper with good “tooth”. If you’re still waiting at the DMV when you’ve finished the puzzle, you can turn the page over and make sketches of the people still in line ahead of you.

The author introduces the collection by saying the puzzles are designed to be challenging and that he hopes you will have to look some things up. Mission accomplished, although generally, I don't like having to look things up in order to solve the puzzle. Fortunately there have been only a few acrostics where I had to do that. The clues are usually good, but not very contemporary. I wish the puzzle grids included punctuation; the lack of it makes solving them harder. I found the quotes themselves to be a bit boring too. I would say these puzzles are best solved by someone well educated and over 60. I'm not quite in that demographic, but I've enjoyed spending time on the puzzles. I'll be buying more of the series.

PROS:Puzzles are printed only on one side of each page, which makes it easier if you're working on your lap in the car.Plenty of clues for each one.Clues are sometimes pretty obscure, which requires a lot of deductive reasoning.CONS:Clue answers and quotes/authors are listed separately in the back of the book, so you have to look in two places to check your answers when you're done.Grid is oriented vertically instead of horizontally on the page, so the boxes and typeface are pretty small - I have to use a magnifying glass.I would prefer a spiral-bound book, so it would lie flat - as I'm nearing the end of the book, it's harder to do the puzzles because there's less thickness to write against, and the book doesn't want to stay open.Many of the quotes are serious and non-amusing/jocular; after years of working some of the popular acrostic books with amusing anecdotes, I find myself getting impatient to finish one because it's not that interesting. If I'm going to work that hard on a puzzle, I want at least a smile or a revelation at the end!But overall, I like these puzzles and will probably buy others in the series.

I love acrostics, but had been having trouble finding books of them until I happened across this series. The acrostics in this book are of just the right difficulty for my taste - the clues are not too obscure, but do require a bit of thought. My main complaint is that I would have preferred if this were in a spiral-bound format as the other acrostic books I used to get. While having all the acrostics on the right-hand pages makes them easier to work on than if they were on every page, as I work my way through them (I'm currently half finished) it's getting harder to keep the finished pages folded back. I'm thinking of actually cutting the pages out so I'm working with single pieces of paper instead of a bulky book. Also, as another reviewer pointed out, the answer key is not in the usual format of having the quote and clues together. This is not as big of a problem for me, as I seldom have to look at the answers, but I'm curious as to why it was done that way.

This was fantastic. But I must tell you that about 3 years ago I had a couple of strokes (plus some major surgery) which unfortunately have left me rather forgetful of words and names. Memory of those comes back again... but not always when I want them or expect them. I see everything visually, but to explain it all doesn't necessarily come together. It's a dreadful nuisance, but it is what it is.I am so grateful for Acrostics for those have kept my mind occupied, especially at night when I can't sleep. I would say thatAcrostics are medically a great help and I thank you for those hours when I need something to occupy my mind. SometimeI can't find words, sometimes I think you make some of them up. English is by and large a rather complicated language bringingin Latin, German, French, Greek , etc,, and I must say that I appreciate all the work that goes into creating even one acrostic..particularly when classical music, operas.. composers, etc... are included. Please keep 'em coming. I truly appreciate when I find something new, and thank you from my heart.

Halfway through. Some clues aimed at American solvers but not bad.

Very good