Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free One-Day Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
20 used & new from £3.60
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
A Clue to Our Lives: 80 Years of the Guardian Cryptic Crossword: 85 Years of the "Guardian" Cryptic Crossword
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

A Clue to Our Lives: 80 Years of the Guardian Cryptic Crossword: 85 Years of the "Guardian" Cryptic Crossword (Paperback)

by Sandy Balfour (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
Price: £6.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Only 2 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want guaranteed delivery by Wednesday, July 15? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
15 new from £4.23 5 used from £3.60

Frequently Bought Together

A Clue to Our Lives: 80 Years of the Guardian Cryptic Crossword: 85 Years of the "Guardian" Cryptic Crossword + Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8): A Memoir of Love, Exile and Crosswords + I Say Nothing: No. 3: My Family and Other Puzzles
Price For All Three: £22.97

Show availability and shipping details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

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

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

by Sandy Balfour
4.7 out of 5 stars (6)  £5.99
The "Guardian" Cryptic Crosswords Setters Series: Gordius

The "Guardian" Cryptic Crosswords Setters Series: Gordius

by Hugh Stephenson
4.3 out of 5 stars (3)  £5.49
A Display of Lights (9): The Lives and Puzzles of "The Telegraph"'s Six Greatest Cryptic Crossword Setters

A Display of Lights (9): The Lives and Puzzles of "The Telegraph"'s Six Greatest Cryptic Crossword Setters

by Val Gilbert
5.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £6.99
I Say Nothing: No. 3: My Family and Other Puzzles

I Say Nothing: No. 3: My Family and Other Puzzles

by Sandy Balfour
£9.99
Chambers Araucaria Crosswords: v. 4 (Crosswords)

Chambers Araucaria Crosswords: v. 4 (Crosswords)

by Araucaria
5.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £5.49
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Guardian Newspapers Ltd (15 Oct 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0852651066
  • ISBN-13: 978-0852651063
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.4 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 193,970 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Product Description
Starting with the first "Guardian" crossword in 1929, this book contains a selection of puzzles from the last 85 years of the "Guardian" newspaper including reader correspondence plus fascinating coverage of the setters themselves. This is a cryptic social history that reveals how world events have been reflected in the clues of the "Guardian" cryptic crossword since 1929. The result is both a humorous and affectionate telling of the twin stories of the paper and its puzzles, its setters and its solvers, its tempora and its mores.

About the Author
Sandy Balfour is crossword editor at the Guardian. He is author of 'Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose' (8): 'A Memoir of Love, Exile and Crosswords' (2004) and 'I Say Nothing: My Family and Other Puzzles' (2006). He is a noted social reformer and currently chairs the multinational chocolate company, Divine, with the twin aims of making rich people fat and poor people rich.

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below
(1)
See all 2 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

A Clue to Our Lives: 80 Years of the Guardian Cryptic Crossword: 85 Years of the "Guardian" Cryptic Crossword
77% buy the item featured on this page:
A Clue to Our Lives: 80 Years of the Guardian Cryptic Crossword: 85 Years of the "Guardian" Cryptic Crossword 3.0 out of 5 stars (1)
£6.99
Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8): A Memoir of Love, Exile and Crosswords
8% buy
Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8): A Memoir of Love, Exile and Crosswords 4.7 out of 5 stars (6)
£5.99
Secrets of the Setters: How to Solve the "Guardian" Crossword
7% buy
Secrets of the Setters: How to Solve the "Guardian" Crossword 3.7 out of 5 stars (3)
£6.99
Monkey Puzzles (Guardian)
5% buy
Monkey Puzzles (Guardian) 4.3 out of 5 stars (3)
£4.79
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

1 Review
5 star:    (0)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A bit disappointing, 13 Dec 2008
A couple of facts first. The cover price is not £12.99, as currently reported, but £8.99. And the cover design with a horse has been replaced by one with a dog. The book follows the current standard formula for newspaper crossword anniversary books, established by 75 Years of 'The Times' Crossword and "Daily Telegraph" 80 Years of Cryptic Crosswords. So we get a puzzle for each of the Guardian puzzle's 80 years, and information about the solvers, setters and crossword editors over the years.

Looking at the puzzles first, all but a couple are squeezed onto one page per puzzle - half the space usually provided in crossword books. This means you get to write your answers in poky little grids - if you give this book for Christmas, include a fine-point biro! This combines badly with another problem - in my copy at least, cheap poor-quality binding which suggests pages might fall out. Another one: based on the half-dozen or so puzzles I've tackled so far, the puzzles have not been checked properly. There are two clear mistakes in clues, which I'll explain in a comment so that you can choose whether to see them. And the 1975 Alphabetical Jigsaw puzzle doesn't include the standard instructions, though they do appear in the text.

The style of the puzzles seems a fair reflection of the Guardian crossword over the years. There are a few 'advanced' puzzles, such as a misprinted definitions one from Custos, but only one modern Bank Holiday special, and this is not one of the double grid ones that many old solvers will fondly remember from the 1970s to 90s, but a 'jumbo' grid one from 2008.

Setters represented in puzzles with bylines (which started in 1970): Araucaria (11), Janus (6), Custos (4), Rufus (3), Enigmatist, Audreus, Paul (2 each), Nimrod, Lavengro, Altair, Julius, Brendan, Crispa, Bunthorne, Taupi, Orlando, Brummie (1 each). Actually, 'Nimrod' is credited with the 1/1/2000 puzzle, but this seems to be a mistake or a different 'Nimrod'. The only other Nimrod puzzle is from 1970, and as a Guardian solver since 1978, the fact that anyone had ever used this name at the Guardian was news to me, so I guess the first 'Nimrod' retired or died in the 70s. ('Engimatist' has used this pseudonym at the Independent since about 2005, and I'm sure he would not have done so if it had been in recent use at the Guardian). Araucaria getting the lion's share of puzzles reflects his output and popularity, but there are complete books of Aruacaria puzzles from the same publisher, and it seems a shame that other setters go unrepresented - there are no puzzles at all for Fawley, Fidelio, Gemini, Gordius, Hendra, Mercury, Pasquale or Shed.

For solvers not familiar with cryptic puzzles before about 1970, be warned that you'll see some unexpected clue-writing practices and will find some of the older puzzles extremely difficult. As with any of these collections, I'd suggest starting with the most recent puzzles and going backwards in time.

How about the text about the Guardian crossword story? There's plenty of it (about 120 pages), and lots of interesting material - comments about puzzles from an interesting range of solvers, and some fond memories of setters no longer with us, such as Custos. It needed better checking to remove mistakes like Ximenes being a teacher at 'Dulwich College' (actually Christ's Hospital), and the "Charles" (presumably Charleston) in a list of 1920s crazes from which only the crossword survives. There are also some baffling attachments of '[sic]' to spellings that are perfectly OK.

As far as I can tell, we don't get any information about the pioneer setters of the 30s and 40s. This seems a shame - I guess it must mean that unlike Adrian Bell at the Times, or Leonard Dawe at the Telegraph, there is no information to tell us who they were. Even with the more recent setters, there are stories that go untold, such as Fidelio contributing puzzles from his prison cell, or Enigmatist having his first Guardian published while still in his teens. And there are irritatingly part-told stories too, like the mention of a 'weekend festival' organised in 1977 as some kind of rival to the Times Crossword Championship. We're told that it happened, but what went on, or who won any prizes, is left unstated.
Comment Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (1 discussion)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
Fact correction - Guardian crossword editor 0 November 2008
› See all discussions...  
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]

   

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Feedback

Health & Beauty at Amazon.co.uk

Elemis Resurface and Renew Skin Care Gift Set of 4 Products
From soap to shavers, massagers to mascara, stock up on your daily essentials or truly pamper yourself.

›Discover Health & Beauty

  

Make A Wish

Get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List Make sure you always get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List.

›More info on Wish Lists

  

We've Got Converse

Converse
Stock up on your favourite styles with great deals on Converse shoes.

›Shop Converse

  

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

›Learn more about Gift Certificates

  
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
4.5 out of 5 stars (74)£3.86
 Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga)
Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga) by Stephenie Meyer
4.1 out of 5 stars (462)£6.49
 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
4.1 out of 5 stars (164)£3.99
 The Host
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
4.2 out of 5 stars (80)£3.86

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates