false 1704495 3 Think <i>Word Freak</i> with international flair. A nonfiction Ella Minnow Pea with a built-in book-length puzzle. <i>Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8)</i> will enthrall (or obsess!) anyone interested in words. <br><br> 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. <br><br> Cryptics offer the ultimate linguistic challenge-leagues beyond Scrabble, more eloquent than <i>The New York Times</i> puzzle. For Balfour, they became both a personal obsession and a way to understand something of himself and his new adopted homeland. <i>Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8)</i> 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. <br><br> 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. 1535621 24 2 2003 Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8): A Memoir of Love, Exile, and Crosswords total:17|5:5|4:5|3:5|2:2| 17 64 29 3 3 0 false false Fri Nov 21 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jul 07 18:33:55 -0700 2008 Fri Nov 21 14:54:38 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 0 true false Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Wed May 07 22:37:34 -0700 2008 Wed May 07 22:44:56 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Sat Dec 01 06:26:58 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 01 06:28:54 -0800 2007 0 0 false false Thu Nov 05 12:37:21 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 12:37:21 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Jul 14 16:44:03 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 14 16:44:03 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Jul 08 16:28:29 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 16:28:29 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Jun 03 05:22:32 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 05:22:32 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sun May 31 19:04:12 -0700 2009 Sun May 31 19:04:12 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu May 21 11:24:20 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 11:24:20 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Mar 19 10:29:13 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 10:29:13 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Mar 02 13:26:04 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 02 13:26:04 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Dec 19 03:40:08 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 19 03:40:08 -0800 2008 2 0 false false Sat Nov 08 08:16:05 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 08 08:16:05 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Wed Aug 27 01:03:15 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 27 01:03:15 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Fri Aug 08 06:41:14 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 08 06:41:14 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Wed Jul 09 09:59:53 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 09 10:02:59 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Wed May 07 22:47:44 -0700 2008 Wed May 07 22:47:54 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sun Apr 20 08:12:48 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 20 08:12:48 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Mon Apr 14 12:23:30 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 14 12:23:30 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sat Apr 05 13:44:45 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 05 13:44:45 -0700 2008