Ashley Knowles (Boatman) will be at Waterstones in Brighton from 7 pm on Thursday 19 January to host a rare joint appearance of Guardian Crossword Editor, Hugh Stephenson and John Halpern (Paul in the Guardian, Mudd in the Financial Times, Punk in the Independent and one of the panel of setters for the Times) to talk about the art, practice and future of crossword compiling and to answer your questions. This is a free event, open to all who love cryptic crosswords. Bring a bottle and relax.
Ashley will also be signing copies of his book, ‘Boatman – the first 50: collected crosswords from the Guardian and the stories behind them’ and John will have his books, including his most recent release, ‘The Story of the Crossword’.
My train tickets and hotel reservation were made five weeks ago! I am really looking forward to being in the audience.
Tom Johnson (aka Maskarade, Gozo, Didymus)
Almost entirely an unappetizing prospect.
@WAWOT
How many letters?
I would like to know if the book ‘The Story of the Crossword’ is different from John’s hardback ‘The CENTENARY of the CROSSWORD’ (which I have in my library) or if it is an altered title for the paperback edition.
You mean that Paul’s roughly two puzzles a week for the Guardian are only a quarter of his output? And he writes books as well? Wow!
Alas it’s a bit too far for me to make it.
Ashley, John & Hugh: could you arrange to do such an event in the Leeds / Harrogate / York area? Failing that how about central London?
Thanks to all who made it to Brighton last night and filled the house in entertaining fashion at Waterstones. I enjoyed it, and I definitely wouldn’t rule out doing the same again further north. I’m talking to other Waterstones branches, and I’ll keep you posted …
Oh, and – Rishi, if you’re still following – John wants to point out that “Story” has an entirely different, er, cover from “Centenary”. And that’s it.