This book is highly recommended for both experienced solvers and beginners alike. The former will enjoy reading about how a compiler thinks and will get 80 cryptic crosswords that are completely new to UK puzzlers, while beginners can go through the 12 Techniques that Jack Dunwoody has identified and documented, with lots of examples of each, before tackling the puzzles. The author is the compiler for a leading financial magazine and was tasked with providing puzzles to rival those from the "Financial Times".

This book is a UNIQUE MUST for solvers of cryptic crossword puzzles. The author, Jack Dunwoody, is the compiler for a leading financial magazine and has collected some 60000 phrases from 8 to 15 letters over the past 15 years. So what, you say? Well, he's also tabulated them in order of the last words of the phrases and not just in the standard alphabetical sequence.
This is a "tumble turn" book where the solver can find the phrases that fit the solutions either from the first letter/word (which the compiler often hides) or from the last word.
Dictionaries don't tell you what goes before a word, e.g. at KNIGHT you should find KNIGHT ERRANT, KNIGHT BANNERET, KNIGHT MARSHAL, KNIGHT TEMPLAR, etc. You will not find ARISE SIR KNIGHT, BLACK KNIGHT, GREY KNIGHT, WHITE KNIGHT, etc. However with this phrases book you can now also find these reverse phrases. This is unique in reference works available to cryptic crossword solvers.

This book is a sequel to the FINWEEK BOOK OF CRYPTIC CROSSWORDS which contains 80 puzzles from Jack Dunwoody's FINWEEK series of puzzles. The first book includes a TECHNIQUES section which explains how a compiler thinks. The author has identified 12 techniques that a compiler uses when setting cryptic puzzles and gives plenty of examples of each. Solvers, experienced or would-be, should go for the first book of the series and then move on FINWEEK CRYPTIC CROSSWORDS 2, which has a further 85 puzzles.