Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8): A Memoir of Love, Exile, and Crosswords (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "I remember cities by their skylines at night..." (more)
Key Phrases: South African, Cape Town, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Obsessed with the "narrative quality" and linguistic challenge of cryptic crosswords, London-based TV journalist Balfour sees them as an eloquent metaphor for life: "Crosswords tell stories about ourselves. Crosswords express our humanity.... And British crosswords do it better than any others." In 1983, aged 21, Balfour left his native South Africa, seeking "a bigger world out there, a world where ideas have greater currency, and where words mean more." Journeying in Europe, Africa and America, he became increasingly fascinated with cryptic crosswords, which he links to his travel tales: "We take a bus to the outskirts of Zagreb. Years later I see a clue for Zagreb in the Independent." Headed to Moscow, he took "three pieces of identity"-his South African ID document, his passport and an anthology of Guardian crosswords. He spoke with many crossword "setters," and some may wish for lengthier profiles of these erudite editors plus more anecdotes such as the one about a man who proposed marriage via clues hidden in a 1998 New York Times puzzle. The reader is introduced to the working methods of the Guardian's clever, prolific setter who uses the name Araucaria and has produced more than 57,000 puzzles. In Balfour's polished prose, "every word is pregnant with possibility." Doubly lit with wit, this memoir of layered meanings is written with the realization that "the invisible web of words that binds all knowledge is something real and tangible."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Think Word Freak with international flair. A nonfiction Ella Minnow Pea with a built-in book-length puzzle. Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8) will enthrall (or obsess!) anyone interested in words.

Born and raised in South Africa, at age twenty-one journalist Sandy Balfour went into exile and began traveling the world. While hitchhiking through Nairobi, Cairo, and Moscow, before settling in England, he was introduced to a hobby that has ensnared millions of cognoscenti: the cryptic crossword.

Cryptics offer the ultimate linguistic challenge-leagues beyond Scrabble, more eloquent than The New York Times puzzle. For Balfour, they became both a personal obsession and a way to understand something of himself and his new adopted homeland. Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8) weaves the story of Balfour's travels with an insider's account of the pastime called "the world's most remarkable crossword." We meet legendary setters like Araucaria and Bunthorne, learn of great clues such as "Amundsen's forwarding address (4)," and travel the course of Balfour's life from the Ubangi River in the Congo to the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, Connecticut.

Peppered with anecdotes that explain the workings of cryptic puzzles while also offering a devilish hidden riddle, this book is a crossword lover's must-have and a deliciously engaging account of an outsider who falls in love with a new place.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher (February 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585421987
• ISBN-13: 978-1585421985
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #815,257 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, November 11, 2004

By	Sarah Sammis "Avid BookCrosser" (Hayward, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I wish Balfour had concentrated more on his love of crosswords and less on the memoir. The crossword discussion and examples were fascinating and educational. I've learned a great deal on the art of solving the cryptic variety of crosswords. By the end of the book my chances of solving these clues had gone from none to slim. The deciding factor now is a matter of culture. So many of the clues in the British puzzles relate to British culture and/or slang as well they should. I'm fairing better with the clues in the Games Magazine cryptic crosswords which is a huge step forward for me.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cryptic and Clever, October 20, 2005

By	Barb Gee (Western Australia) - See all my reviews

This is a clever, quirky little book. The cover says it is a memoir of love, exile and crosswords, but it actually defies categorisation. It isn't really a memoir - the writer is quite selective about which doors of his life are opened to the reader. We know he becomes a crossword afficianado and has a deep fondness for his adopted country (England, he is an ex pat South African) and for his "girlfriend", a title that becomes somewhat grating as the book progresses and she becomes central to his life and the mother of his chidren. But along with a few snippets about his professional life, that's about all he gives away about himself. The story is more a series of recollections of moments in time which he describes for their life importance and for their association with where he was at the same time, in his development as a crypiic crossword afficianado. The originality and cleverness of the book is in the way it is a history of the development of cryptic crosswords and and their setters, and a "how to do them" guide, (arguably a fairly dry subject) which is flavoured up with human interest by being embedded in some important events in the writer's life. Definitely recommended for those who love doing cryptic crosswords and those who aspire to do them. Probably of less interest to those who consider crosswords to be only for nerdy types who need to get a real life. (Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose - answer, rebelled - if you can't work it out and are itching to know why, buy the book!!)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written story of love and obsession, August 24, 2005

By	David Ljunggren (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

At first impression this seems to be a wandering memoir focussed on the author's love of crosswords with a few personal details thrown in. But as you read on, it becomes clear Balfour is writing a long love letter to his girlfriend, who introduced him to crossword puzzles. As he explains lucidly how he slowly began to understand the way the puzzles were put together, he slips in more and more details about his girlfriend. As you wonder whether they stayed together, you learn that she is pregnant with their first child. Time passes on, he gets better and better jobs, and suddenly she is giving birth to their third child. This is a wonderful piece of writing and one I cannot recommend highly enough.