Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose - Sandy Balfour

Half a million people a day do it in the Telegraph. The Times claims almost as many, and the Guardian 300,000. Most people remember their first time, and everyone has a favourite. You can do it in bed, standing up, or on a train. You can do it alone, with a loved one or in groups. The Queen does it in the bath. It is not illegal, immoral or fattening. In fact it tops the Home Office list of approved entertainments for prison inmates. Crosswords are a very British obsession.

Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8) is a personal reminiscence and a guide to solving crossword puzzles. But it is much, much more than a 'how-to' book. Each chapter is starts with a clue, and uses anecdote, history and autobiography to solve it, in the process describing something of what it means to love England.

In the process, we encounter The Best Crossword Clue Ever, The Most Beautiful Clue in the World ('Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose' (8) )) and the eccentric personalities behind such legendary compilers as the Guardian's Araucaria and The Times'Ximenes.