A selection of quiz and puzzle books on a festive background.

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Reading lists

12 best quiz and puzzle books for adults

A delightfully damp tour of the British Isles, led by natural forces (an official BBC Weather book)

188 Words for Rain

‘Alan knows everything, knows everyone, and writes beautifully too.’ 
RICHARD OSMAN 
 
‘The man with the contents of the Oxford English Dictionary stored just above his left eyebrow … and he’s quite funny too.’ 
RORY CELLAN-JONES 
 
'A gorgeous, funny tour of the British Isles as seen from the clouds.’ 
KONNIE HUQ 
 
 
For fans of THE ETYMOLOGICON and VERY BRITISH PROBLEMS, a delightfully damp tour of the British Isles. 
 
 
Mizzle. Dreich. Raining knives and forks. A real mugga-fisty. A spot of plother... 
 
We Brits love talking about the weather. So much so that our islands have hundreds of words and phrases for rain, some self-explanatory and others that really leave us scratching our heads. From a light smirr in Aberdeen to a "it's raining knives and forks!" in the Brecon Beacons, each type of rain tells a story about the people and places it falls on. 
 
In this delightfully damp tour of the British Isles, writer and puddle-splasher Alan Connor digs deep into the meaning and quirky histories of over one hundred words for precipitation. He gets caught in a plash in Northumberland, crashes a fox's wedding in Devon and ponders the phenomenon of Brits-who-picnic-in-the-car, in this charming and witty celebration of our very British obsession.

Alan Connor has had a column about words in the Guardian since 2011. His comedy writing includes Charlie Brooker’s Wipe programmes and Have I Got News For You. His previous books have dealt with why we enjoy quiz questions and what life is like in different areas of the Shipping Forecast. His favourite kind of rain is a fine, misty Scottish smirr.

A new kind of quiz book from the hit BBC 1 game show

Pointless Facts for Curious Minds

I love Pointless. It's funny, and it makes me feel less thick. Like all the best dates.

Alan Connor is the question editor of BBC2's Only Connect and has writes quizzes for various newspapers. He cannot see a new fact without wondering how to make it into a piece of quiz. Alan is a screenwriter, journalist and the author of Two Girls, One on Each Knee, about the puzzling world of crosswords. His favourite quiz question is: What word was intentionally omitted from the screenplay of The Godfather?

Which star of The Crown is the great-granddaughter of a British prime minister? 
Which TV quiz show is based on the creator's experience of being interrogated as a prisoner of war? 
Which property on the Monopoly board does not exist in the real-life London? 
 
For lovers of the most obscure and unlikely facts - as well as the unsung quizzing geniuses out there (we all know a couple) - comes Pointless Facts for Curious Minds, the book where obvious answers mean nothing and obscurity reigns. A compendium of fascinating and arcane bits of knowledge, mixed amongst a healthy dose of Pointless quizzing, this is a book that takes a quiz as only the starting point of your intelligent adventures. 
 
Pointless Facts for Curious Minds gives you the chance to put your knowledge to the test and prove your Pointless credentials.

Question Smash: 104 New, Classic and Fiendishly Difficult Rounds

House of Games

Alan Connor is the author of Two Girls, One on Each Knee: The Puzzling, Playful World of the Crossword ("witty, charming, encyclopaedic and highly readable" - Spectator) and The Joy of Quiz ("An absolute delight" - Mail on Sunday). He has made quizzes for various TV shows and newspapers and written comedy including BBC Film's The Rack Pack, A Young Doctor's Notebook (Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe) and Have I Got News For You.

Do you know which Cluedo character was killed off in 2016? How about which band has a species of shrimp named after it? Reckon you could guess the name of a song from lyrics where the words have been replaced with synonyms? 
 
Then fingers on buzzers, because House of Games is back and it's better than ever! 
 
Packed with 104 new, classic and fiendishly difficult rounds from the hit BBC show's question writers, House of Games: Question Smash is the ultimate collection of brainteasers, puzzles and trivia. Pit your wits against friends and family with favourites like Highbrow Lowbrow, Rhyme Time and Don't State the Obvious, as well as brand new games from the brilliant minds behind the show. 
 
So limber up your frontal lobes, brush up on your trivia and get ready to return to the House of Games.

The Shipping Forecast Puzzle Book

'Alan Connor embraces all the idiosyncratic history of the Shipping Forecast and impishly crafts a cryptic voyage of the mind'

Zeb Soanes, the voice of the Shipping Forecast, from his foreword

Alan Connor is a journalist, writer, presenter and puzzle and quiz master. Currently the question setter for Richard Osman’s House of Games, he’s the former question setter for Only Connect, and sets crosswords for the Guardian and the Observer. His TV writing credits include A Young Doctor’s Notebook, Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe and the BBC film The Rack Pack, and he is the author of several books, including Two Girls, One on Each Knee: A History of Cryptic Crossword and The Joy of Quiz. The go-to person for all things puzzle and quiz, his grandfather worked for the Met Office, which helped spark his life-long love of the Shipping Forecast.

Attention all Shipping Forecast fans. Set sail on a voyage unlike any other... 
 
Each day, millions tune in to hear the Shipping Forecast's unique cadence and poetry, words thatturn our island landscape into something strangeand magical. It's almost like a puzzle to be solved... 
 
The Shipping Forecast Puzzle Book tests your general knowledge and lateral thinking through a series of fiendish puzzles, in which all the answers can be found on a map as place names on the coasts or in the seas. For example: 
 
· An eagle's under this 
· What a Komodo Dragon really is 
· Near where someone was horribly cruel to 343 felines 
 
And because your voyages trace the shapes of letters of the alphabet, that's just the beginning... 
 
With a foreword by Zeb Soanes, the voice of the Shipping Forecast, and fully illustrated with specially commissioned maps, The Shipping Forecast Puzzle Book will help make you a Master of the quizzing world.

101 new & classic games from the hit BBC series

Richard Osman's House of Games

Host of Pointless and Child Genius, Richard Osman presents the first official quiz book to accompany his hit BBC Two Show, Richard Osman's House of Games.

Richard Osman (Author) Richard Osman is a creative director for Endemol UK. He has worked as an executive producer on numerous shows, including 8 Out of 10 Cats and 10 O'Clock Live. Richard rose to fame presenting Pointless with Alexander Armstrong. Richard's popularity and tremendous knowledge of trivia led to him presenting his own BBC quiz, Two Tribes, along with Insert Name Here, Child Genius and Richard Osman's House of Games. He is also a regular on panel shows such as Have I Got News For You and writes a column for the Radio Times. Alan Connor (Author) Alan Connor is the author of Two Girls, One on Each Knee: The Puzzling, Playful World of the Crossword ("witty, charming, encyclopaedic and highly readable" - Spectator) and The Joy of Quiz ("An absolute delight" - Mail on Sunday). He has made quizzes for various TV shows and newspapers and written comedy including BBC Film's The Rack Pack, A Young Doctor's Notebook (Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe) and Have I Got News For You.

Do you know how many post boxes there are in the UK? Could you guess how many times the word 'goat' appear in the King James Version of the bible? Fancy playing a game of charades where all of the books, films and plays are entirely made up? 
 
Now, look around the room. Is anyone there the kind of person who’ll say ‘I just don’t understand this’, when faced with something that’s not just perfectly easy to understand, but is ... well, fun? 
 
Ask them to leave. 
 
Have they gone? Good. 
 
Now welcome inside the House of Games ... 
 
Featuring questions based on some of the most loved rounds from the hit BBC2 show, including Roonerspisims, Venn Will I Be Famous?, Dim Sums and Answer Smash, Richard Osman’s House of Games Quiz Book is the ultimate test of wit, wisdom and imagination. 
 
Curated by Richard Osman and Alan Connor and featuring over 50 new and exclusive games to try out, this is your chance to step inside the House of Games and pitch your trivia skills against your family and friends. 
 
Quirky, unique and exactly the right amount of silly, House of Games contains hours of guaranteed fun!

Alan Connor

One of the hottest realities right now, The Traitors is an absolute phenomenon you can enjoy also in a book

Plenty of intrigue in this immersive experience

The Traitors: Interactive Game Book is something of a unique proposition. A bit like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, it allows you to make choices that may or may not lead to victory in a fictionalised version of The Traitors. There are also little missions included that you can play alone or with other real-life people.

Ever since the show aired, Traitors fans have been asking how they can be part of the wonderful world of the show . . . The book is full of all the mystery, suspense and fun of the show.

Amanda Lovett (Season 1 contestant, BBC The Traitors UK)

The Ultimate Game of Cunning, Logic and Intuition

Test your wits with the ultimate game of cunning, logic and intuition 
 
'This book is brilliant' Zoe Ball, BBC Radio 2 
 
It's time to start your adventure. Get them before they get you 
 
Put your sleuthing skills to the test in a world of deception, betrayal, and strategy. Placed in a castle in the Scottish Highlands, you must figure out if your fellow players are Faithful or a Traitor. Can you trust Jorge, the dentist with an encyclopaedic memory and tendency to smile at everyone? Or Nina, the retiree who acts like the group's matriarch but has a knowing glint in her eyes..? Beware, for in this treacherous game, trust is a luxury you cannot afford. 
 
In the official book of the BAFTA-winning phenomenon, The Traitors: The Interactive Game Book, the decisions you make will decide what happens next. Take this thrilling journey on your own or with others, pooling your wisdom to make the right choices. With over 20 standalone games to play in a group - all with cunning Traitors twists - this is the perfect gift, guaranteed to unleash hours of mischief and fun. 
 
*Praise for The Traitors TV show* 
 
'Addictively fiendish, this treachery was the best thing on TV in 20 years' Daily Mail 
 
'By far and away the most compelling and engrossing reality show of 2022, if not all time' Rolling Stone 
 
'One of the hottest realities right now, The Traitors is an absolute phenomenon you can enjoy also in a book format. Now, this is not a normal book' Digital Spy

Alan Connor

Praise for The Traitors

This book is brilliant

One of the hottest realities right now, The Traitors is an absolute phenomenon you can enjoy also in a book

Plenty of intrigue in this immersive experience

This book is brilliant

One of the hottest realities right now, The Traitors is an absolute phenomenon you can enjoy also in a book

Plenty of intrigue in this immersive experience

This book is brilliant

One of the hottest realities right now, The Traitors is an absolute phenomenon you can enjoy also in a book

Plenty of intrigue in this immersive experience

Books by Alan Connor

Articles featuring Alan Connor

12 best quiz and puzzle books for adults

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