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Amazon.co.uk Review
In Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8), award-winning documentary filmmaker Sandy Balfour traces the history of his longstanding fascination with the construction and solving of crosswords, and searches deeper, into the multiplicity of languages, and the relationship between setter and solver that at first appears cruel and combative, but establishes itself as empathetic and playful.
On the way, he reflects on matters less cerebral: his early life in Apartheid-era South Africa, his transplantation to Britain, the travels and tribulations of international filmmaking, and a personal journey to fatherhood; all the time both burdened and enabled by the seemingly conflicting modes of thinking--unfettered and rebellious, pedantic and disciplined--that characterise the successful cryptic crossword. The book is studded with cryptic clues (thankfully, and instructively solved later), and culminates in a crossword set by the author's chief tormentor, and hero, Araucaria, of the Guardian, which appeared in the newspaper to celebrate Balfour's 40th birthday.
Balfour writes in an easy, discursive style, and while it's doubtful that complete newcomers to cryptic puzzles will find him an entirely suitable tutor (try instead How To Do The Times Crossword), he is at least blessed with a wonderful capacity to enthuse. Crossword regulars should seek no more elaborate invitation than the challenge of the book's title. --Alex Hankin --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Francis Wheen
‘This beautiful book is as enigmatic and pleasurable as a perfect crossword clue'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
My expectations of this book were guarded as I had been urged to read it by my crossword-addicted father as he believed it would finally break down my resistance to what has always appeared to me to an unfathomably tedious pastime. I had no idea that I would be immediately and so wholly entranced by Balfour's candid yet enigmatic tale of falling in love with this country and its sensibilities through the seemingly innocuous cryptic crossword puzzle. And that's the magic of this superbly written and totally original memoir - the reader discovers that clues, solutions and grids serve a far more intriguing purpose than merely filling up endless commuter time. Crosswords, Balfour seems to suggest, both illuminate and throw fresh shadows upon the big and small issues that perplex us all and tell us far more about Britain and Britishness then any other comment or feature article that a broadsheet newspaper may include. But that is, as they say, only half the story. By far the real substance of this book - and it is what makes it so compelling - is the story of a man's travels across continents and towards identity and true home. Balfour tells with warmth, wit and disarming honesty how he left his native South Africa in the 1980s to avoid military conscription and headed towards an uncertain future with his girlfriend. This beautifully balanced relationship is the actual axis of the book and imperceptibly welds together the twin aspects of Balfour's obsessions: puzzles and love. Has the author inspired me into a new and beautiful phase of paternal bonding? Probably not because one still requires the right kind of brain matter to slove my father's beloved crosswords. But more importantly he has written a book to keep and cherish.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I had been intrigued by cryptic crosswords but had no idea how to solve them when I came across this book, which unlocked some of the unwritten rules and revealed the other side - the crossword setters. Balfour's growing passion for cryptic crosswords provoked a desire in me to learn how to master them myself. I duly attended a one-week course and the art of a the cryptic crossword has now become a passion of mine. What more can you ask of a book, but that it inspires you to take on new challenges?
The fact that the book is also a journey of self-discovery for the author is an added bonus and altogether I felt it made for a really unusual and interesting memoir.
The fact that the book is also a journey of self-discovery for the author is an added bonus and altogether I felt it made for a really unusual and interesting memoir.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This short - one might say handy - little book would make an excellent travelling companion. It's an agreeable memoir of various (mainly quite recent) foreign travels, built around a strong interest in crosswords. Indeed the overall effect is a bit like a crossword, with intersecting experiences and connections that slowly build into a recognizable thematic whole. The writing is pleasant, and the author's personality comes over as both intelligent and likable. Certainly one does not have to like crosswords to enjoy it (although it probably helps).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Gripping read with great insights
I'm not a crossword person myself though I've had a few people try to explain them to me in the past and this book suceeds where they've all failed. Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2010 by Eleanor Silver
I love it
Very funny, and very entertaining. This ought to be on th wish-list of any croswsword solver or -would-ne solver, whatver their present skill or lack of it with crossworPretty Girl... Read more
Published on 8 Dec 2009 by Dr. Christopher H. Wilson
Fanscinating book
I found out about this author through his very good book on cricket 'What I love about cricket' and discovered I had alot in common with him (ex-South African, draft-dodger, etc,... Read more
Published on 17 July 2009 by M. James Crawford
Buy this book - you won't regret it.
You don't have to enjoy crosswords to think this is a book quite out of the ordinary: at times touching and at times it had me laughing out loud. Read more
Published on 29 May 2008 by Dennis Childs
A moving biography
I read Sandy Balfour's previous memoir, Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8) which is about 'love, exile and crosswords' and I loved it. Read more
Published on 6 Oct 2005
Well written but rather aimless
An interesting history of how the author ended up in the UK and how he came to love crosswords, rightly described as a quintessential English pastime. Read more
Published on 3 Jan 2004
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