What do You think about The Clue In The Crossword Cipher (1967)?
The format presented here appears as a forerunner to the Dan Brown location chasing sequences mystery/clue books. I was personally disappointed in the fact that this wasn't a decoding experience in the sense of code-breaking, which I had associated with "cipher" in the title. Instead it was just a socially reactive chase sequence where adversaries raced and tried to prevent Nancy Drew from determining the meaning of a token object plaque. Naturally, the plaque was a shorthand emblem representing a golden horde.The book was published at around the same time that Erich von Daniken had become famous with his publication of "Chariots of the Gods". It obviously picks up on the Zazca Lines and pictographs, which are commonplace knowledge today, but were apparently not well known at all in the 60's. Machu Picchu was also apparently not well known. It's been a while since the 60's but I was thinking that archaeological wonders were not wholly unknown in the media of the time. I would have been about the same age as this Nancy Drew is portrayed in the late 60's, and I think that a lot of this culture and archaeology was fairly well known at the time. On the other hand, I know a lot of people who don't have a clue regarding topics like this, so redundantly introducing it to kids is probably a good idea.There was an obvious disregard for archaeological research processes. The main characters here get permission to go dig up the Nazca plateau with a single phone call, and apparently intended to do it as if it were an afternoon picnic.The only other take-away here was that a culture and society in Peru was sketched to present the fact that the US and Europe aren't the only seats of civilization.
—Joe White
This book has probably the greatest amount of WTFery to date.In this edition of The Nancy Travelogues, Nancy and B&G go to South America! To decode some old plaque. I was hoping for more of a treasure-in-plain-sight thing like with the NYT Crossword Puzzle, but no luck. Nancy dives into a creek to save the plaque, and takes a ride on a runaway ox. Nancy almost gets sucked out of a plane (at a high cruising altitude, the passenger door just falls off the fuselage! For some reason they fly all the way to Lima Peru from "The Argentine" and land safely). A guy hurls roofing material at her in an attempt to kill her and also throws a BOMB at her. And you know what? He's the head of a smuggling ring that smuggles (get this) QUININE in hollowed out fork handles. I'm waiting for the bad guy in the next book to be smuggling table salt. Anyway, it makes NO sense for him to try to kill/hurt Nancy. ALSO: Ned kisses Nancy. This is the first such contact I've ever read about.The girls find a wooden plaque *nailed to a tree* that reads: "Trees are man's good friends. Do not wound them."The fat-shaming of Bess hits new lows too, even with an alpaca fat-shaming her, and a guy saying, "Alpacas won't carry loads of over 100 lbs." No idea how heavy Bess is but I'm thinking at least 150-175, maybe more. Anyway, they find a box with gold monkeys or something in it. And they slightly vandalize the Nazca Lines.
—Melanie
After reading a total of 42 Nancy Drews, in addition to multiple Kay Tracys and Trixie Beldens during my middle school years, I believe (and I may be wrong since it was quite a while ago) that this was the last book I read. This one put me over the top. I remember feeling I'd finally reached my limit for this genera. This is not to detract from the book, which I'm sure was just as engaging as the rest of the series. I believe I'd just gotten bored with ol' Nancy. I believe I pretty much jumped from this to Jurassic Park...it was time to quit.
—Mindy
