My book to mark the centenary of the crossword is published today by Penguin. Here it is…
…in Kew Bookshop.
Reviews, etc: Spectator; Telegraph; Scotsman.
From the blurb:
• How have crosswords helped international relations, caused a strike by welders, become embroiled with espionage and even caused a moral panic?
• What have Frank Sinatra, P. G. Wodehouse and Stephen Sondheim got to do with the humble grid?
• What connects Bletchley Park and the Daily Telegraph?
• Which famous fan starts each day with the Telegraph crossword and kippers?
On 21 December 2013, the crossword puzzle will be 100 years old. In the century since its birth, it has evolved into the world’s most popular intellectual pastime. In Two Girls, One on Each Knee, Alan Connor celebrates the wit, ingenuity and frustration of this addictive sport and how it has grown.
The story of the crossword takes us from the beaches of D-Day to the banks of the river Neva, via Fleet Street and the Old Bailey. It involves the most fiendish setters, such as Torquemada and Ximenes; famous fans (both real and imaginary) from P. G. Wodehouse to Frank Sinatra, Inspector Morse to Reggie Perrin. You’ll discover how crosswords have featured in films such as Brief Encounter and songs by Madness and Ian Dury; how they intersect with espionage, jokes, class and morality; and how they reflect back how our language and behaviour has changed over the last century. You’ll also discover how listening to white noise can help you do a crossword, why you should start in the bottom right-hand corner, and why cryptic crosswords are actually easier than quick (honestly).
This is a book about language and how it speaks to itself, twisting and transforming through cryptic clues before resolving itself, with a bit of luck, into an answer. Where else would you find words such as Intussuscept, Obtemperate, Zibet and Raisiny?
You can buy it from your local bookshop, or from Penguin, Waterstones, Amazon, on Kindle, via Google etc…
- A don’t-be-scared piece for Guardian Review; Monocle FM; Moncrieff
