THE RIDDLES OF THE SPHINX Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle

Author and narrator Anna Shechtman guides listeners through this combination feminist history of the crossword puzzle and personal memoir. As a young woman struggling with the compulsions of anorexia, Schectman discovered that crafting crossword puzzles distracted her from self-destructive behavior. At 18, she had her first puzzle published in THE NEW YORK TIMES. Schectman lovingly recounts the complicated histories of the forgotten icons of the crossword, such as Margaret Farrar. Shectman cautiously describes her own struggles, performing the passages on her life like someone who is focused on completing her own crossword. She used insightful inflections but occasionally sounds detached from her own history. The result is an audiobook that is deeply thoughtful, and occasionally heartrending. V.B. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2024]