Puzzling

I've just finished a once-in-a-lifetime index, for a book on the history of the crossword! I doubt such a perfect job will ever come along for me again (indexers usually index books on subjects they're familiar with). And I was asked to put cryptic clues and jokes into the index! This is  very rare, and was a huge amount of fun! I am mentioned in the text as a cryptic setter, so had the unusual situation (again, very  rare) of indexing my own name. A few of the sillier entries, to whet your appetite: sloppy teaching, see cheating [a 'sloppy' version (or anagram) of teaching is cheating] torturers, see setters victims, see solvers The book, Two Girls, One on Each Knee: The Puzzling Past of the Cryptic Crossword is by Alan Connor (who writes frequently for The Guardian  crossword blog ), and is being published by Penguin. It will be out in a few months' time, so keep an eye out for it. The book is very interesting and well-written, and actua...

An index can be many things. Usually it's a helpful guide to the contents of a book, a friendly way in to the information. A helping hand... BUT ... There lurks a darker side ... the index as revenge! Détente by Index: On Earl Sprague’s Invitation to a Subheading This article by Matt Seidel is one of the most hilarious things I've read in a long long time! It is fictional, but so utterly wonderful ... Matt clearly knows a little about indexing, as he's come up with a very convincing and vengeful index!  It's not often that indexes are a source of comedy, or even mentioned in cartoons ( although this is a notable recent exception !). This article is making indexers around the world laugh immoderately and possibly pee a little too — thank you Matt! ( His other articles are very funny too, check out his website !)

As well as writing puzzles, I am also an editor and indexer (cos, let's face it, writing puzzles is no damn way to earn an income!). As an indexing exercise, I recently finished writing an index for the book Quirkology , by Richard Wiseman. An interesting book that suffers from the lack of an index. It's beyond me why authors of non-fiction pass up indexes for their books ... Anyway, that's a rant for another time. You are welcome to download the PDF of the index for free, and print it out. Then you can refer to it when reading your copy of the book! There are two versions of the file: A4 Quirkology Index This index is a straight forward layout, on A4 (will resize to US Letter easily), and you can print it either single or double-sided as you prefer. Staple them together. Booklet Quirkology Index This file has been designed to make a little booklet that can be slotted into the back of your copy of Quirkology . To use this file, you need to be...