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The Puzzling, Playful World of the Crossword

Two Girls, One on Each Knee

Alan Connor's charming, fascinating history . . . is as elegantly sprinkled with surprising gems as the most satisfying crossword . . . thoroughly, consistently entertaining . . . In a single, gloriously decipherable chapter he lays out with perfect clarity the entire range of rules and devices through which cryptic clues work their magic

It is witty, charming, encyclopaedic and highly readable - and it can be read in any order. Take a chapter or a paragraph, a puzzle or a clue. In each the reader will find something to intrigue and delight.

Two Girls is a lovingly crafted little book, from the table of contents - where chapter titles are hidden in a crossword designed by the great Araucaria - to the index, which skips from "I give up, see frustration" via "primness in American crosswords", to finish with "zookeepers, beleaguered".

A lovingly crafted little book . . . Connor's wry, good-natured tone and his commitment to the serious business of play make him the perfect guide to a great pastime as it approaches its 100th birthday

Connor writes with great flair . . . it is nice to dip in and out of his entertaining essays

The brilliant new book on crosswords that delivers fun galore whether you're a doer or a duffer

There is something to entertain even the most infrequent dabbler

Alan Connor is the question editor of BBC2's Only Connect and Richard Osman's The House of Games. He is the author of the TV tie-in quiz books for The House of Games and The Traitors and is the question editor of the BBC1 drama Ludwig. He writes quizzes for newspapers including the Guardian. His favourite quiz question is: What word was intentionally omitted from the screenplay of The Godfather?

In the century since its birth, the crossword has evolved into the world's most popular intellectual pastime: a unique form of wordplay, the codes and conventions of which are open to anyone masochistic enough to get addicted. In Two Girls, One on Each Knee, Alan Connor celebrates the wit, ingenuity and frustration of setting and solving puzzles. From the beaches of D-Day to the imaginary worlds of three-dimensional crosswords, to the British school teachers and journalists who turned the form into the fiendish sport it is today, encompassing the most challenging clues, particular tricks, the world's greatest setters and famous solvers, PG Wodehouse and the torturers of the Spanish Inquisition, this is an ingenious book for lovers of this very particular form of wordplay.

The Official Jack Reacher Puzzle Book

What Would Reacher Do?

Alan Connor (Author) 
Alan Connor is the question editor of BBC2's Only Connect and Richard Osman's The House of Games. He is the author of the TV tie-in quiz books for The House of Games and The Traitors and is the question editor of the BBC1 drama Ludwig. He writes quizzes for newspapers including the Guardian. His favourite quiz question is: What word was intentionally omitted from the screenplay of The Godfather? 
 
Lee Child (Introducer) 
Lee Child is one of the world’s leading thriller writers. He was born in Coventry, raised in Birmingham, and now lives in England's Lake District. It is said one of his novels featuring his hero Jack Reacher is sold somewhere in the world every nine seconds. His books consistently achieve the number-one slot on bestseller lists around the world and have sold over one hundred million copies. Lee is the recipient of many awards including Author of the Year at the 2019 British Book Awards. He was appointed CBE in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY LEE CHILD 
 
If you can’t wait for the next Reacher novel, enjoy your hero vanquishing all manner of bad guys in the form of sudokus, word wheels and Murdle-like puzzles. Puzzle solving has never been so bloodthirsty. 
 
You don't need to have read Jack Reacher books to know how to play. You just need to adopt Reacher's cool, calm, matter-of-fact approach to solve the puzzles and save the day. 
 
With puzzles created by Alan Connor, the puzzle setter for hit TV shows Ludwig, Traitors, House of Games and Only Connect, test your solving skills against the best in the business. 
 
And remember, be on your feet and be ready. If in doubt, drink coffee.

Alan Connor

In 1938 Britain started to quiz. Since then, quizzes have become ubiquitous entertainment from pubs to primetime, suffered major criminal investigations, created unlikely folk heroes and been subjected to the rigours of question checkers. The Joy of Quiz tells the history of quiz and its makers, wonders how we came to make a game out of remembering scraps of information, looks at the tactics of professional quizzers and reveals the shadowy worlds of setters and checkers. Along the way, it asks questions such as 'What is a fact, anyway?' and 'Whatever happened to prizes like sandwich toasters?'

Alan Connor

Books by Alan Connor

Articles featuring Alan Connor

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