Becoming You | Apple TV

A long time in the making. There is something extraordinary in every episode.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm | Amazon

“Additional material”, written before the substantial Covid elements, for this, released on 23 October.

Borat

Richard Osman’s House of Games | BBC2

Series four starts on 12 October. Happily (for me), the question-editor bit of production preceded … the Unpleasantness.

See also: my book for Penguin, The Joy of Quiz. And, to a lesser extent, the official spin-off book.

Crossword column | The Guardian

An unusual honour: featuring in The Antidote: the ‘list of non-coronavirus [Guardian] articles our readers spent the most time with’.

Attention should pass to St Christopher’s hospice in Sydenham.

Charlie Brooker’s Antiviral Wipe | BBC2

Proud to have taken part. BBC2, 9pm, 14 May.

Jam On It | Podcast

Since the mid-’90s, my friend Pandora and I have been planning a music- and ingredient-themed experience where the listener cooks along in real time. It’s finally here, as an unofficial podcast. Get involved.

Fingers on Buzzers | Podcast

I’m the guest on the new episode of this quiz-discussion podcast.

Apple / Acast / etc

How to solve Cryptic Crosswords during Coronavirus

Looking for a distracting hobby that takes a chunk of time? 

Maybe one with a bottomless supply that you can access without going out into the world?

But you find cryptic crosswords baffling?

Here’s a selection of understandable explainers from the Guardian (if you prefer, your local bookshop can get my book for you).

And another thing: crosswords are best learned with a friend or family member. Beginner-friendly puzzles: Observer Everyman; Guardian quiptic; Telegraph; Times2.

Cryptic devices

Right, these are the bits of business like anagrams that you find in cryptic clueshidden answersdouble definitionssoundalikesinitial lettersspoonerismsCockney rhyming slang; containersreversalsalternate letterscyclingstutteringtaking most of a word; making a word naked; first & last letters

Bits and bobs

You also come across abbreviations and whatnotRoman numeralsNato alphabetGreek letterschemistryabbreviations for countriespoints of the compassplaying cardscapital lettersapostrophescricketalcoholthe churchdrugsmusicanimalscarscitiesriverswhen the setter’s name appearswhen the solver appears; royals; newspapers; doctors

Individual letters

A surreal set of “interviews” with the alphabet: ABCDEFGHIJKL

Top 10 Crosswords in Fiction

10Brief Encounter
9PG Wodehouse
8The West Wing
7Martin Amis
6Madness’s Cardiac Arrest
5Rubicon
4Alan Plater
3Inspector Morse
2Lord Peter Wimsey
1: The Simpsons

Interviews with setters

What makes these people tick: Paul; Enigmatist; Anax; Tramp; Boatman; Arachne; Rufus; Shed; Puck; Pasquale; Morph; Orlando; Gordius; Audreus; Philistine; Otterden; Doc; Crucible; Picaroon; Nutmeg; Chifonie; Screw; Chalicea; Knut; Styx; Marc Breman; Azed; Navy; Smurf; Enocta; Vlad

Random bits and bobs

100 years of crosswords; commentary from the Times Crossword Championship; rudeness; plagiarism; David Nobbs; Steve Pemberton

David Moseley obituary | The Guardian

Also known as Gordius.

St Barts

Inside No 9 | BBC2

You should watch this episode first

… then listen to the podcast to discover my indirect association.

The book in question is The Joy of Quiz.

See also: The Riddle of the Sphinx

The Shipping Forecast Puzzle Book | BBC Books

For every Shipping Forecast area, you find the places on the map indicated by various clues. Join the places to form the shapes of letters. Join the letters to form a sea shanty.

Out 5 November from your local bookshop / Penguin / Waterstones / Amazon etc.

It also gives a flavour of what it’s like to be in each of Dogger, Fisher, German Bight…

The Best of 2010-2015 Wipe | BBC2

Crikey.

Alternative Election Night | Channel 4

Not another one:

See also: Election Night Quiz; Election Lexicon

Richard Osman’s House of Games | BBC2

Series three of House of Games; 100 episodes.

See also: my book for Penguin, The Joy of Quiz

Have I Got News For You | BBC1

Series 58 begins 9pm, Fri 11 October.

Martin Clunes

Richard Osman’s House of Games | BBC Books

Book of Games

I am proud of this book, which comes out on 17 October.

It has some games from the TV show, and some new ones and, with a couple of exceptions, all new questions. There are some imaginary behind-the-scenes conversations and general nonsense.

Blurb:

Do you know how many post boxes there are in the UK? Could you guess how many times the word ‘goat’ appeara 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.

Have I Got News for You | BBC1

Series 57 begins 9pm, Fri 5 April.

David Dimbleby

Have I Got News for You | BBC1

Series 56 begins 9pm, Fri 5 October.

Steph McGovern

Hotel California | BBC News

030301gold_house.JPG

A Smashed Hits about (the) Eagles’ Hotel California:

“Vaguery is the primary tool of songwriters,” Frey told a journalist during a 2003 pro-am golf tournament in California’s Pebbel Beach, where he was partnered with Huey Lewis. “It works, it means whatever the listener wants it to mean.”

Sources: History of the Eagles; Hit Story: It All Started Because Of Rattlesnakes; Rockin’ ‘Round The Round, SF Gate; Jennifer Parker’s McBusted: The Story of the World’s Biggest Super Band and this lovely data collection from Southern California Public Radio.

Trump, double-negatives and politics | BBC News

double negative

A quick piece for the BBC about double negatives:

It’s hard to understate how often we find ourselves using two negatives when we don’t mean to – in fact, this sentence begins with a common example

See also: