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Alan Connor

Reporter

Indexed articles, last 90 days
3
Latest publication
Sep 11, 2026
Outlet visibility, for theguardian.com
Top 1K sites
Earliest in this view
Jul 6, 2026

Latest articles

  1. Article · Sep 11, 2026 · Alan Connor

    Crossword editor’s desk: when a theme is literally a theme (opens the original)

    Excerpt · English

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    EastEnders hides in a Guardian crossword and Guardian crosswords hide in a thriller One way to ensure a novel gets my attention is a foreword that mentions crosswords, specifically the Guardian’s. I admit that this does not happen often, but it has just happened. Tony White’s Phantom at the Feast opens with this claim: emboldened in the text of this novel are the solutions to successive Guardian ‘Quick Crosswords’ that appeared through sixty days in 1985 from 3 April to 1 June You can re

  2. Article · Jul 19, 2026 · Alan Connor

    Wendy Law obituary (opens the original)

    Excerpt · Neutral tone · English

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    Ingenious crossword setter who compiled the weekly quiptic in the Guardian under the pseudonym Hectence The quiptic crossword is billed in the Guardian as the “puzzle for beginners and those in a hurry”. The mind-bending tricks and idiosyncratic conventions that are sometimes to be found in the cryptic are avoided: the emphasis is on pleasure. It was an ideal style for Wendy Law, otherwise known as the crossword setter Hectence, who has died aged 65 of cancer. In the Guardian, where she started,

  3. Article · Jul 6, 2026 · Alan Connor

    Crossword editor’s desk: farewell to Eddie (opens the original)

    Excerpt · Positive tone · English

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    A tribute to a dog (not a setter) was among June’s puzzles Solvers come to Brockwell puzzles expecting a theme. One of June’s prize crosswords felt a little different, though. And it was. Over to Brockwell himself for an explanation: I wrote this puzzle to help process my grief and to celebrate our “Eddie boy”, which was his PET NAME. Eddie’s ashes are scattered in beautiful Brockwell Park, the SCENE of his WATERLOO on several occasions, when chasing squirrels up a TREE. Definitely a M

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