A lot of great things in this auction, but for the modernists out there, here's Allen Tate's annotated first edition, first issue copy of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land www.swanngalleries.com/auction-lot/...

For real, it's Crowley Time! Episode 39: The DiPoni Contingency, as seen live on stages throughout the land, is on your podcast app and at crowleytime.com NOW! What happened to Marco DiPoni? Find out with Gemma Arrowsmith and Paul Putner! @mmaarrow.bsky.social @realpaulputner.bsky.social

The best party of the 2025 @wansteadfringe.bsky.social book festival was chatting with the great @alanconnor.bsky.social about crosswords, quizzing, Monty Python, Bach, suits, and 100 other things.

What’s the Crown Copyright situation here?

Quick cryptic in The Times today is a debut by ‘Kybos’ Kybos is a Greek word for a six-sided 🎲 … Testers are wonderful people who deserve so much ❤️ #cryptic #crossword #isitreal

Psst …. Job opening on the funnest team around www.nytco.com/careers/job-...

Boris Johnson 2011, urging a cautious response to a gunman: www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/0/a...

🟠 Align 06/09/2025 ⏰ 06:19 🔄 11 globe.com/align

In @theipaper.com Weekend, #Inquisitor 1921: Friends of Mine by Kruger; Solution 1919: V&A? by Eclogue @derekharrison.bsky.social @olyduff.bsky.social @alanconnor.bsky.social @mickhodgkin.bsky.social @somsram.bsky.social @jon-summers.bsky.social @tilsit999.bsky.social

I wrote the Jumbo cryptic crossword in today’s Guardian Puzzles Summer Special. It’s a bit of a brute in places: Whopper made of unknown meat? (5) Family tent is a big mistake (7) Rogue wife gatecrashes function (5) Minimalist style of Soprano family boss (8)

Another roll of the 🎲 for anyone? Bonus Summer Puzzle Pullout in the Guardian today! The tails of common hipppotami hypntic and inimitable - lovely! (4) Item used to dry bedraggled owlet (5) When agitated, God sure complained (7) …and a lot more summer fun!

Exciting times! observer.co.uk/puzzles/geme...

Exciting times! observer.co.uk/puzzles/geme...

My preferred kind of cheeky greengrocer.

Crosswords as a spectator sport: my Times report on the first World Cryptic Crossword Championship (in the paper tomorrow) www.thetimes.com/article/c2f7...

Wordle 1,463 4/6 ⬛⬛⬛🟩🟩 ⬛⬛🟩🟩🟩 ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

If you can help please get in touch!

#crosswords LOOK! 👀 ⬇️

#crossword people: is the setter name Ariel untaken?

I'm back with some more nonsense in today's Independent crossword - hope you enjoy it! puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/crypti...

1 month till I am back in Leeds for @leedslitfest.bsky.social 2025 (Sunday 15th - tickets below). There will be questions about books & books only! Fun to be had & prizes to be won. New venue! - the frankly legendary Hyde Park Book Club. Can’t wait. www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/2025-...

So, crossworders: can anyone add a letter count?

Melodie Is A Wound is, in its longer version, a highlight of the wonderful new Stereolab album. You take your pleasures where you can these days, and this is a consoling delight. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nndp...

A @stereolabgroop.bsky.social cryptic crossword by @alanconnor.bsky.social? Yes please.

A cryptic clue a day, AI style… Day 13 This one came a close second in how long it took me to read as I was laughing so much. Dedicated to @alanconnor.bsky.social today… enjoy! #cryptic #crossword #ai #aicrypticwisdom

Elon’s getting grief seemingly, principally issues from Tweeters (4) Looks like the Guardian Quick Cryptic has a new setter, who is apparently a little bit tricky (maybe they will take that feedback on board…) but teaches some key cryptic words & indicators … ;-) Enjoy! ❤️🎲

Genuinely historically accurate version: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Day_D...

I set today’s cryptic crossword in the Guardian. Hopefully, it won’t leave you feeling drained. Last lines of sonnet recalled trapping end of penis in flies (7) Writer of Lady In Red ultimately inspired by pop duo (7) www.theguardian.com/crosswords/c...

Genuinely touched by this, everyone. Best World Book Day ever. www.penguin.co.uk/books/458388...

Well I’m calling it a three. Wordle 1,356 4/6 ⬛⬛🟨⬛🟨 ⬛🟨🟨⬛⬛ 🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I admit that having them appear as early as Pancake Day is not un-eerie. 🎍 #asparagus #chinnfamily #herefordshire

Bada bing bada boom: Wordle 1,278 3/6 🟩⬛⬛⬛🟨 🟩🟩⬛🟩⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Fiddly business for me: Wordle 1,274 4/6 ⬛🟨🟨🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

That was exhausting: Wordle 1,269 5/6 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 ⬛🟨⬛🟩⬛ ⬛🟩🟩🟩⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Satisfying! Wordle 1,268 3/6 🟩⬛⬛⬛🟨 🟩🟨⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

☔️🐴🚕 Jonas Hanway, 1st man to use an umbrella in London, became a hate figure for cab drivers, who tried to run him down. They thought the umbrella would kill off rainy-weather demand for their cabs. Fab fact via @thetimes.com review of “188 Words for Rain” by @alanconnor.bsky.social

‘This lovely book’. — The Times, our nation’s newspaper of record.

Ooh: Wordle 1,265 3/6 ⬛🟨⬛🟨🟨 🟨🟨⬛🟩⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Rain book is in the Sun! (I think it is all simply lifted from this lavish Sunday Post p2-3 spread: www.sundaypost.com/fp/188-words... )

Oh good: Wordle 1,254 3/6 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟨⬛🟨🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

If ever get to meet @alanconnor.bsky.social I think the first thing I’ll blurt out is ‘Please can you finish the alphabet?!’ 😂 I’ve found these articles so helpful (and fun!) when setting, but I really miss them when I am wanting help with P-Z! 😂 www.theguardian.com/crosswords/c...

"188 Words for Rain" by @alanconnor.bsky.social A delightfully damp tour of the British Isles, led by natural forces (an official BBC Weather book). available from all good bookshops 📖 book sample www.jellybooks.com/cloud_reader...

There's a mention for a recent clue of mine in @alanconnor.bsky.social's latest Guardian crossword blog Banger from Charli xcx album practised in auditorium (9)

Me walking and talking rain in YOU magazine. www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/art...

It's the Seasonal Reposting Competition! Repost this over the weekend, and one lucky person will get a free signed copy of one of my books. For you or the #crossword addict in your life: 50 @guardian #puzzles and the stories behind them: boatmancryptics.co.uk/crossword-bo...

The system works! Wordle 1,246 3/6 ⬛🟨🟨⬛⬛ 🟨⬛⬛🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I'll post just the stills here since they are all excellent.