![]() Each of the cryptic clues relates to a character or situation revealed in the book. Sample clues included 12 across - 'followed by black Anglia?' (5 letters) - and 24 down - 'Made Alice clinch one?' (1, 4 words). The answers to each of the clues, when completed, form an additional table of contents for the book. The crossword itself is fairly cryptic and would have been something of a challenge to the average reader. To find one - especially, an uncompleted one - is rare indeed. Because the answer sheet was only laid in - and not affixed in any way to the book - naturally most of them were either completed and sent in, or thrown away, or otherwise lost. The competition offered a prize of £50 worth of book tokens for the first ten solutions received by the publishers, by post, adding the name of the bookseller who sold them the book. So, straightaway, the reader is given to understand that crosswords, and puzzle solving, hint at something in the character and the challenge he faces in the novel. Answers to each of these clues ('Parley', 'nostrum') are listed in the beginning papers of the book. For example, when he's on a train journey to Wales, the narrator adds the word STURGEON into the crossword he's completing, allowing him then to finish 23 down - MULGA - and 2 across, SISTRUM.Įach chapter heading reads like a crossword clue - so, the first chapter is 'Sweet talk', the second is 'Old solution'. ![]() The crossword puzzle links to the fact that in both The Ipcress File and Horse Under Water, the central character of the narrator - unnamed in the novels, but subsequently known as Harry Palmer in the movies - enjoys completing crossword puzzles as a diversion from his work as an agent employed by W.O.O.C.(P)., woking for his boss, Dawlish. This was part of the marketing ploy by Deighton's new publisher for this book, Jonathan Cape, to capitalise on the success of The Ipcress File and encourage booksellers to stock the novel. ![]()
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