Pretty Girl In Crimson Rose (8) by Sandy Balfour

53 years ago, when TV’s were B&W and a teacher’s monthly salary was £59 – I still have a pay slip! – a friend invited me on a Scottish walking/climbing holiday, him, me and five girls. Perfect! Cometh the hour, I arrived at our meetup in York to find not five girls but just one, his girlfriend! The thought of discretely looking the other way for two whole weeks took all the shine off any glories the Highlands might have to offer. The girl friend had an idea, she phoned a friend, who agreed to join us in Fort William. Problem solved, second girl on her way. During the hours of sitting together in a Morris 1100 travelling up the Scottish west coast, the four of us battled our way through the Guardian cryptic crossword. No. 12,111 – I still have that too. Clue 22A was very apposite, “Time soon modifies feelings” (8) Ans: “Emotions” (can you see why?). My feelings were soon modified, emotions kicked in and Reader, I married her.

Which brings me to “Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8)”, by Sandy Balfour. – a memoir of love, identity, and crosswords. He tells the story of how he and his girlfriend hitchhiked from South Africa to England in 1983 and of his subsequent life as a filmmaker and journalist. It is also a love letter to the art of the cryptic crossword which he and his girlfriend discovered together. Don’t let the thought of “difficult” crosswords put you off reading this short, delightful book. Yes, we meet lots of clues (answers all given, either in the text or appendix) and we learn how the cryptic clue works and the inside stories of some of the setters, but there is far more to the book than this. Sandy Balfour takes us on his very personal journey with anecdote, humour and a lightness of touch that carries the reader along. Here is a sample:

“New Year's Day 1990. My girlfriend and I have taken the first steps towards creating a home in London by buying part of a house near Arsenal Football Club. She is attempting to teach me the basics of crosswords. "Take 'Pretty girl in crimson rose'," she says. "Eight letters. What does it mean?" "It means," she continues, "that we have a pretty girl and she is wearing something red, or pink. She is wearing something that suits her prettiness. Prettiness, girls, roses - they all go together." I nod. "Got it," I say. "It means," says my girlfriend, "nothing of the sort." I nod again and smile encouragingly. I am keeping up. "That" she says, "is what they want you to think it means. What it actually means is either the first word or the last word. What it actually means is 'rose'."

If you like word play and the idiosyncrasies of the English language and are intrigued by or take delight in cryptic crosswords, you will enjoy keeping company with Sandy and his wife, always endearingly referred to as his girlfriend, as he takes you on their personal journey, and his life as a film maker in the turbulent 80’s and 90’s.

'An extraordinary memoir... a positive page turner... A mesh of journeys and destinations, politics and romance, it touches what is beyond words.' Sophie Ratcliffe, The Times

My girlfriend and I still do crosswords together, not always solving them but always taking delight in clever clues. Here are a few:

a.      Picture of girl kept by her parents (8)

b.     Group fixed stage scenery to mount sequence of songs (3) The answer is clued five times by a word that has 364 different meanings and takes most pages to define in the OED

c.      Potty train (4)

d.      Two girls one on each knee (8) - Title of another book about crosswords. By Alan Connor

 Answers:

Title: rebelled. Red is crimson. Pretty girl is belle and it is IN red. Rebelled means rose as in, the people rose up in protest.

Emotions is an anagram of “time soon”

a. Panorama b. Set – It can mean, group, fixed, scenery, to mount, sequence of songs 

c. Loco, d. Patella

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If Only They Didn't Speak English by Jon Sopel & Educated by Tara Westover

 

Bill Bryson claimed he didn’t understand the UK despite living here for 30 years. Well, Bill, the feeling is mutual. When I look across the pond at the USA, I am totally baffled, which is why I needed If Only They Didn't Speak English by Jon Sopel.

Take these conundrums for starters:

How could a man who openly lied, insulted his opponents, and ignored shocking revelations about his personal life, be elected President of The United States? How could a country in which 65% of the adults identify as Christian not change its gun laws after the killing of 20 children at Sandy Hook? How could a country that is a bastion of democracy see a violent mob try and overturn by force the result of a democratic election.

This book by the BBC’s North American editor goes a long way to explaining the enigma that is the United States. Bill Bryson says of the book: "Jon Sopel may be the sanest man in America. He is certainly one of the most insightful. . .".

In the introduction Jon Sopel says: “Through music, literature, film and TV and even through the food we eat and the clothes we wear, we have all a highly developed sense of what America is; ….but America in the election year of 2016 and its extraordinary aftermath felt about as foreign a country as you could imagine.”

The book is divided into ten chapters, beginning with “Anger” and ending with “Chaos”, neat bookends to all that lies between, God, Patriotism, Race, Truth, etc. As you might expect from an experienced journalist the book is highly readable with anecdotes, humour and telling phrases to whisk you along. “Donald J Trump played by the Queensbury Rules in reverse. There was no belt below which he would not punch, no line he would not cross.” But, he also finds a lot to admire in America: “ ….. the odds are much higher [than being shot] that you are going to be blown away by civility, decency and courtesy.”, and “the work ethic of young people is off the charts”

So, if you want to get under the skin of the foreign country that is the United States then this is the book for you.

If politics is not your thing and you much prefer to immerse yourself in a country by reading about its people then try Educated by Tara Westover.  This is the best-selling, coming of age memoir of a young girl, growing up in a strict Mormon family in Idaho. Tara’s Father was a survivalist who believed we are living in the biblical end-times - as do many of Donald Trump’s supporters. In 1992 there was a tragic siege of a family in Ruby Ridge, also in Idaho, that resulted in the death of the wife and son. This reinforced her Father’s belief that his family should be prepared to withstand a siege, be self-sufficient and have nothing to do with any government agencies such as medical care or education. Tara’s mother treated all their illnesses and injuries, some very serious, and learned midwifery from a friend. Tara had no formal education until she was seventeen but with a desire to free herself from her family’s influence and her obvious talent, she entered Brigham Young University, and eventually completed a PhD in Cambridge. “Educated” has been recommended by no less than Barak Obama and Bill Gates so need I say more. It has sold over 6 million copies, so you’ve probably already read it.

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