Crosswords and indexes involve thinking about what the reader or solver will understand, and pointing them towards a target. And both forms of work are governed by rules - which are sometimes bent. Paula sets puzzles as Pixie, and created a mini crossword for us to solve: buff.ly/o2au3y1

For our last Coffee Morning of 2025 we relaxed with some festive puzzles and games, joined by our friends from @cilipmdg.bsky.social and @@the-ciep.bsky.social. @baindex.org discussed the overlap between cryptic crosswords and indexing, forms of creative writing involving synonyms and definitions.

My alter ego Pixie set a new themed mini cryptic crossword for this morning’s Coffee Morning Zoom with @indexers.bsky.social. You can give it a solve too if you like, thanks to the excellent @mycrossword.co.uk. www.mycrossword.co.uk/mini/187

Looking forward to @indexers.bsky.social puzzling Coffee Morning Zoom this Thursday. Ruth Martin on jigsaws and Wordle, David Green on anagrams and draughts, and I’m talking crosswords with a brand new mini cryptic from my setter alter ego Pixie.

Lovely meet-up for indexing and other talk with @indexers.bsky.social Yorkshire group in Sheffield, including three Chairs of the Society of Indexers, past and present.

For today's Talking about the Past session, 18 SI members gathered to discuss dealing with titles of works in indexing. In subheadings, should they be interfiled with general topics or grouped together? The image below shows three possible approaches.

Indexer back on a train, December 2025. Headed over/through the Peaks and Pennines to meet some of @indexers.bsky.social Yorkshire group in Sheffield. Also attempting to join in today’s ‘Talking About The Past’ Zoom en route.

They've done a Paddington musical and it's supposed to be very good but the bear looks like it's on drugs

Last December, I did an #Indexmas advent calendar A to Z of indexing. They’re on the thread below for reading by the day or all at once. Feel free to add your own and see also @indexers.bsky.social and #IndexSky for your extra festive index needs. 🌟

@djbduncan.bsky.social @baindex.org any bets about what book that might have been?

An excellent past couple of Friday nights in Manchester with Adam Ant at Bridgewater Hall and The Hives at Aviva Studios. All still got it and then some. 🤩

A few comings and goings at the Society of Indexers, as in the thread below. Welcome to Carlos and Rob, goodbye to Ruth and Steve, with many thanks to each of them, and to all the other society volunteers. It would not run without you.

Thinking that surely book indexing is something AI could do? Think again. @asindexing.bsky.social has released its statement on indexing using LLM-based AI tools - these tools simply don't do a good job of indexing. For a quality index, use a human indexer. buff.ly/X7Vuesc

It's not just me with a new cryptic on MyCrossword this weekend! We'll be solving a couple live at 12 noon, set by Umpire @mpcryptics.bsky.social and Flush @4flush.bsky.social #CrypticSunday twitch.tv/crypticsunday

The Cure tickets for Manchester 2026 are in the bag. 🕸️ *celebratory twirl*

Super Furry Animals reuniting for a tour is my Oasis.

I really enjoyed answering @mathewlyons.bsky.social's questions about my favourite books, which brought out patterns I hadn't noticed in the things I like. I'd recommend to anyone having a think about how you'd answer. open.substack.com/pub/mathewly...

I’m glad to get back to joining in with this live today. Being on the other side of recent conference(s) chaos now frees up more headspace for cryptic crosswording again. Yay!

Spectacular setting in Stockport Parish Church – St Mary's in the Marketplace for a gig and a dance at the Mercury Climbing festival finale. 💜

A few index entries to end the week from our ‘Humour and bias in indexing’ session at @indexers.bsky.social #SIConf25. From my published index to Big Beacon by Alan Partridge (@neilgibbons.bsky.social, Rob Gibbons and Steve Coogan). #IndexSky

Join us this Thursday for another fine evening of live comedy at Thread in Stockport’s historic market place! Thursday 25th September, 7.45pm wegottickets.com/event/668645 #Stockport #comedy #comedyclub #theheatons #marple #edgeley #offerton #cheadle #levenshulme #manchester

"The indexers have dispersed now . . . ." On the day before the rapture thing? Ominous. Who made it on to the main- and sub-headings lists then? #IndexerHumor

Seeing all the posts about the @indexers.bsky.social conference has made me realize how much I enjoyed the @indexerscanada.bsky.social conference this summer. It's so rare for me to drop into a group of strangers and immediately feel comfortable. Hoping to go to the SI one someday!

Back from a wonderful weekend at @indexers.bsky.social #SIConf25 and @the-ciep.bsky.social #CIEP2025. Big general thanks for now to all involved. It’s been hard but fun to give two different presentations at two conferences in under 24 hours, and glad to complete the challenge. Now for a big sleep.

I just returned from Birmingham, where I spoke at the Society of Indexers (@indexers.bsky.social) conference #SIConf25. It was a great conference!

The indexers have dispersed now as #SIConf25 is over. Profuse thanks to the Conference Committee: @baindex.com, Caroline Diepeveen, @nicolaking.bsky.social, Ann Kingdom, Sharon Laverick and Beverley Winkler for creating such an enjoyable conference, and to all the presenters & participants.

Another day, conference, and 9.15am presentation. 😬 Now at Kents Hill Park in Milton Keynes for @the-ciep.bsky.social’s #CIEP2025. I’m running a breakout session on ‘Another trick up your sleeve: adding book indexing to your editorial skills portfolio’, with a live indexing exercise for all.

We did it! @annkingdom.bsky.social and I speaking on ‘Humour and bias in indexing’ at @indexers.bsky.social #SIConf25 conference. I got @alaughinstockport.bsky.social and @murderinccomedy.bsky.social in there. 😀

Fascinating session at #SIConf25 from Ruth Martin on indexing emotions and the emotions of indexing. Ruth identifies the human qualities of empathy and intuition as indexing superpowers.

First up on the third and final day of @indexers.bsky.social #SIConf25 are @annkingdom.bsky.social and me on ‘Humour and bias in indexing’. We hope to entertain, make people think, and keep everyone awake at 9.15 on a conference Sunday morning.

I enjoyed chairing this author panel session featuring Society of Indexers Honorary President @carosanderson.bsky.social, Jane Calvert, and the always-welcome @djbduncan.bsky.social at @indexers.bsky.social #SIConf25. Some excellent discussions here between the authors and the indexers.

A great challenge to index The Claremont Run: Subverting Gender in the X-Men by J. Andrew Deman @claremontrun.bsky.social. Eight indexers have made indexes to this, with author permission, including original indexer @closereadingie.bsky.social. An amazing experience. @indexers.bsky.social #SIConf25

Excellent start to @indexers.bsky.social #SIConf25 day 2 with ‘Adapting with Agility: How Indexing Societies are Responding to Al Challenges’ from @tanyaizzard.bsky.social plus JoJo Chen from the China Society of Indexers via Zoom. We are coordinating approaches as individuals and societies.

Our first keynote for Day 2 of #SIConf25 looks at how indexers and indexing societies can respond to the change and challenges of AI. JoJo Chen and Tanya Izzard give the Chinese and UK perspectives.

Anya Somerville from the House of Commons Library gives our first keynote, on indexing the proceedings of Parliament #SIConf25

Arrived in Birmingham for #SIConf25 yesterday evening. Lovely to see friends again and talk about nothing but #indexing for the next three days!

On the road to Edgbaston Park for @indexers.bsky.social #SIConf25. Here’s a sneak peek into my book bag for what I’ll be talking about in my ‘Humour and bias in indexing’ session with @annkingdom.bsky.social. See everyone soon! #IndexSky

Leaving a foggy Sussex on my way to Birmingham for @indexers.bsky.social's #SIConf25. Reading this beautiful novel which is, appropriately, mostly set on trains.

Today I have been exploring Birmingham ahead of the @indexers.bsky.social #SICONF25 conference which starts tomorrow. My first stop was the Library of Birmingham, including a visit to the rooftop terrace and a meander round the book rotunda indoors. Good start to a book-focused weekend.

Busy conference weekend ahead at @indexers.bsky.social #SIConf25 (I’m presenting on humour in indexes, among other hats), then @the-ciep.bsky.social #CIEP2025 (with ‘An extra trick up your sleeve: adding book indexing to your editorial skills portfolio’). See you here or there! #Edibuddies #IndexSky

Indexers will be gathering in Birmingham tomorrow for our annual conference. We're delighted to be welcoming presenters and participants from our sister societies around the world. Follow along with #SIConf25 #IndexSky

Looking forward to my presentation at the 2025 CIEP Conference! I will talk about those editing interventions that go beyond grammar and spelling. #CIEP2025 #AmEditing @the-ciep.bsky.social

I pre-ordered Dennis Duncan‘s _Index, A History of The_ long ago, but I’ve fallen way behind on my 📚, so I’m only just now reading it — and this chapter on index satire + sabotage is hilarious! 🤣 I think we should revive punk book criticism in the form of mock indexes :)

One week till @indexers.bsky.social #SIConf25. With: @carosanderson.bsky.social @djbduncan.bsky.social @tanyaizzard.bsky.social on AI @closereadingie.bsky.social peer-review panel @annkingdom.bsky.social and me on humour, and more. Look forward to presenting, learning and much catching up! #IndexSky

Perversely cheering to re-encounter the "Index to Tears" compiled for an 1886 edition of Henry Mackenzie's #18thc novel _The Man of Feeling_. (It's reprinted in the modern Oxford edition.) 47 entries for a novel of 98 pages. I like the parenthetical annotation "Choking, &c, not counted".

Another good Zoom with @indexers.bsky.social on ‘What I know now that I wish I knew then’ (thread below, to be continued at #SIConf25). Attendees ranged from trainees to some who began indexing in the 1970s. Many of us like the job so much that we do it for a long time (20+ years for me). #IndexSky

We like an index joke, and here's a good example of the "use the whole span of the book to make a point" index joke #IndexSky

Last chance to book for #SIConf25 The Heart and Mind of Indexing, 19-21 September, at The Writers’ Suite, Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre, Birmingham, UK. Booking closes today, Monday 18 August - ensure your place at #SIConf25 via buff.ly/8tvslBl

Most read in @indexer.bsky.social this week 📖 'Taxonomies, folksonomies, ontologies: what are they and how do they support information retrieval?' by Madely du Preez Find it on the LUP website: bit.ly/INDEX-Preez @indexers.bsky.social @cilip.bsky.social @djbduncan.bsky.social @baindex.org

Last few days to reserve your place for Society of Indexers @indexers.bsky.social 2025 conference ‘The Heart and Mind of Indexing’ in Birmingham. Booking closes on Monday 18 August. I’ll be there in various guises. See also you at #SIConf25? #IndexSky