It's the Only Connect series 21 final tonight, Monday 26th Jan. 8pm BBC2 Pitchers vs 5Ks. Series stats so far: Pitchers: P4 W4. Average score: 28. Among the heaviest most consistently high scoring teams across all rounds for many years #onlyconnect

Instead of a shield in the "Chests of Chance" they should contain resolution methods. Three chests. Those in the tie choose one, and host keeps the remaining one. All get read out, but the one left with the host is used to resolve the tie. Producers decide which options are in the mix... #traitorsuk

In what might be the most exciting thing to have ever happened in my entire anonymous existence, Only Connect has a Law-themed Christmas special at 8pm tonight… … AND I GOT TO CONTRIBUTE A QUESTION! Assuming it wasn’t cut for obscenity. (Non-tangible) prizes for correctly guessing which is mine.

It used to be a Christmas tradition for our whole family to go down the pub, come home after a few hours and deck the halls. To be honest I’m surprised the Halls carried on living next door for as long as they did.

Some reading for the post-Quizzy Mondays crowd. Alex McMillan, writer on a show you've just loved, explains the difference between Korean and Dutch shows, the long shadow of Nasty Nick, and why "The Traitors" is A Bit Different. bsky.app/profile/und... #OnlyConnect #TheTraitors #GameShows

Sport FACT: Tennis star Coco Gauff’s full name is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio Coco Gauff.

THE FAILED CARTOGRAPHER (Palindrome) Demand a hill, at solid nadir…. Damn it! One morn, I saw I was in Rome, not in Madrid, and I lost all I had named....

BREAKING: BBC announces CELEBRITY PUPPET TRAITORS for 2026. Claudia Winkleman will host but never acknowledge that everyone else is a puppet. #celebritytraitors

THE YETI SPEAKS (whose two halves use the same letters, in the same order):

I'm biased but I genuinely think this is the best quiz book ever. www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Pub-Quiz... Closely followed by our new one: www.amazon.co.uk/Daily-Quiz-B... Or, if you prefer a slight Irish vs British angle to your quiz questions then: www.amazon.co.uk/Daily-Quiz-B...

"Helluva lotta work building a motte and bailey castle" "Keep on top of it?" "That's the standard design, yes"

Tech issues at QQQ HQ today so we’re putting The Friday Quiz on a google form to replicate the normal experience as best we can: forms.gle/pHqzm6AjY7Jb...

Ooh. A new quiz book. From the people behind questions on Only Connect, The 1% Club, and The Big Pub Quiz Book. Available to pre-order now: www.amazon.co.uk/Daily-Quiz-B...

Only Connect is back! Tonight, 8pm, BBC2. Nice easy episode to get the series underway as usual.

Weet

I've put together a sometimes opinionated list of tips for setting cryptic crosswords. Hopefully it's useful. I certainly found it useful to try to put some of my setting instincts into words. charliemethven.com/tips

A RECIPE FOR EVIL (Palindrome) Evil: Oats. Apple. Kiwi. Kelp. Pasta. Olive.

WAR ENDS WAR: A pair of palindromic sonnets that are perfect anagrams of each other.

Beware: Venom mustn’t summon ever a web. #palindrome

Who, in their right mind, would write palindromes? Oh, we're who.

I've only just spotted the Four Opinions' #OnlyConnect themed kippahs! Brilliant!

I got = 2 This is the greatest moment of my life #OnlyConnect

Only Connect series 20 final, and the 500th ever episode. Tonight, 8pm on BBC2. Four Opinions vs Tea Totallers Four Opinions: P4 W4. Average score: 23.75. Highest score 29 Tea Totallers: P5 W4. Average scores 25.8. Highest score 31

Monday’s Only Connect is the Grand Final, the last in the series and THE 500th EPISODE! To mark the occasion, my TV column this week is a quiz… (sorry about the paywall) www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/500-epi...

I did a thing.

This is a work of art.

The #OnlyConnect Single Special "One" supercut

All right, fun's over. The #OnlyConnect CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS SPECIAL kicks off in half an hour: 2023 champions the Strigiformes grapple with 2024 champions the Thrifters. The teams are lovely. The questions are not. 8pm on BBC Two.

Pleased to see that 2025 is the International Year of Helping Someone with Parkinson's by Buying Their Memoir and Actually It's A Decent Read.

Can’t wait for everyone to hear/see/witness this very special special.

I've made another crossword! There's a cryptic and a quick version, both with the same answers, some of which have relevance to Only Connect. A PDF version of the cryptic and quick can be found here: danielpeake.com/blog1/my-puz... I'll publish the solution tomorrow. Enjoy! #OnlyConnect

Honouring Sadiq Khan belittles the achievements of Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg Sir Gavin Williamson Lord Chris Grayling Baroness Charlotte Owen Baron Shaun Bailey Baroness Michelle Mone Sir Christopher Chope Lord Ben Houchen Baron Ross Kempsell and Lord Lebedev of Siberia

The Only Connect “Single” special tonight is particularly entertaining (and possibly a little silly in places). Highly recommended NYE viewing. BBC2 8pm (or anytime thereafter on iPlayer).

@paulsinha.bsky.social just finished ‘One Sinha Lifetime’: a thoroughly enjoyable read. Thank you!

BLOG UPDATE: Enough of the "50 Best TV Shows of 2024" lists. What about the 50 Most Inescapable TV Shows of 2024? The ones you simply can't avoid. Here's the definitive list. brokentv.uk/2024/12/20/t...

Really fun Only Connect special tonight and the next couple of days. Well worth a watch.

@gralefrit.bsky.social just finished ‘Be Funny or Die’: have learned so much and been greatly entertained in the process. Thank you (I was a contributor on Unbound as Jack Waley-Cohen)

tenet's on telly

HERE'S SOME EXCITING NEWS. This Christmas, we have made EIGHT Only Connect specials! Starting Monday night at 8pm, then 8.15 on Christmas Eve, and 8pm most nights from Boxing Day: a range of themes, wonderful returning teams, and some really lovely episodes. Merry Quizmas!

Only Connect is on almost every day over the festive period from Monday 23rd - mostly new specials made this year, but a couple of repeats. They are all excellent - we can't wait for everyone to see what we've helped create! #onlyconnect

In the lobby of a Cardiff hotel in September with my fellow OC question editor, we saw a note at reception saying the England T20 squad were staying, and he said "But I don't think i'd recognise the England T20 squad these days". A tall man standing near us looked across with a half-smile.../

Friday quiz: qqq.vc/friday

ChatGPT can't count: chatgpt.com/share/675218...

Friday quiz time: qqq.vc/friday Topics today include Dutch football, sea creature, African geography, and blockbuster films. I reckon most people will get 6 or 7 out of 9 today. Let us know...

An oscillation ambigram is a design where you can read two different words based on how you interpret the elements of the letters. E.g., Douglas Hofstadter illustrated the wave-particle duality of the nature of light with this oscillation ambigram. (📷: Douglas Hofstadter)

Hey there - I'm Daniel Peake. Assistant Puzzles Editor at a UK newspaper and picture researcher / question writer for Only Connect. As of late 2024, I stream a few evenings at week at twitch.tv/quizzydan All views here are my own and not those of any of my employees etc etc etc

Our 'The Big Pub Quiz Book' (qqq.vc/book) has excellent reviews on Amazon (348 reviews - almost all extremely positive). We're currently editing our follow up ('The Big Daily Quiz Book'), which I think may be even better in many ways...due out sometime in 2025.

Friday quiz time: qqq.vc/friday Topics today include jumping, literary sisters, women's football, "apples" and classical music. Not necessarily in that order. Let us know how you get on, and spread the word.

Incredible

Some flag reviews: China - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Panama - ⭐️⭐️ Australia - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Japan - 🔴