QuizQuizQuiz

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

Photo of, on the left, a single weetabix, labelled ‘a weetabix’ and on the right three weetabixes, labelled ‘some weetabices’.

Photo of, on the left, nine weetabixes labelled ‘weetabix’ and on the right six weetabixes labelled ‘weetabvi’.

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

What better way to mark the 500th episode of Only Connect than with a quiz? This week, Victoria is celebrating a special achievement

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...

It’s the third place play off. General merriment and bamboozlement for all.

YouTube video by Tom Crosbie Tom Crosbie: PENN & TELLER FOOLED by White Rubik’s Cube & Pure Skill! (Full FOOL US Performance)

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.

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

Cryptic Crossword by Everest ACROSS 1 Unofficial soldiers construct surreal rig (10) 7 Herald at arms has information (4) 9 Second-rate team, leaderless, succeeded and prepares tea (5) 10 11 12 15 16 17 Nan must bust tin (7) Sleep in overturned vessel (3) Fickle half-porcine lover of Paris (11) High-ranking Spanish man seizes Italy (6) Most casino-goers are good walkers (8) Some Canadians return to thanks with a new society (8) 20 'Succession' series primarily exhausting, with Gerri ultimately fired before the midway point (6) 22 Tit for tat? (5,6) 24 26 James Bond's lavatory: upside down! (3) Investigator of what "Kendrick, Kournikova, Wintour ..." could be said to be (7) 28 29 30 Like a Dublin native with a touch of alcohol? (5) Teddy bears for small dogs? (4) More than one point-to-point racer from the East features on the radio (10) DOWN 2 Ice bucket challenge leaders take part in craze making chest protector (7) 3 2/3 x 11 = 4/5 x 7 = constant (4) 4 Lender hoards Nigerian capital and becomes less certain (7) 5 Former 'Just A Minute' host stripped - it's a crime! (5) 6 Rough coastal weather results in this mother of Ares rising without conclusion to war (3,4) 7 Martial art level obscured by bandana (3) 8 Glass acrobat (7) 13 Maybe Mr Benn's very funny when debt notices are replaced by end of prosperity (6) 14 16 18 Ace Christmas band, only half as unknown (6) Stomach problem that could knock you out? (3) Fuss about genetic molecule causes a bit of a whirlwind (7) 19 Try for a job at laptop production without battery terminal (5,2) 20 Ordered notices for department (7) 21 Unconventional North Korea drops reconstructed ark, and only them! (2,5) 23 One supports thin strip of wood used as a club by Indian police (5) 25 Measure how long it takes for object's pairs to reverse (4) 27 Beach boys regularly displaying stomach muscles (3)

Quick Crossword ACROSS 1 Sherlock Holmes' street informers (10) 7 Information (4) 9 Prepares, as tea (5) 10 Latin word for tin (7) 11 Siesta (3) 12 Lover of Paris, e.g. (11) 15 High-ranking (6) 16 Casino-goers, perhaps (8) 17 Residents of Canada's capital (8) 20 Twine (6) 22 Import and export rules, collectively (5,6) 24 James Bond codename (3) 26 Person breaking down 7 Across, e.g. (7) 28 Like coffee with added whiskey? (5) 29 Playthings (4) 30 People who use maps to race from point to point (10) DOWN 2 Internal organ protector (7) 3 Like the numbers 2, 3, 6, 8 etc (4) 4 Less certain (7) 5 Pyromaniac's crime (5) 6 Spume, essentially (3,4) 7 Martial arts level of proficiency (3) 8 Acrobat (7) 13 ____ Swank, 'Million Dollar Baby' actress (6) 14 Merlin or Gandalf, e.g. (6) 16 Basic state of matter (3) 18 Destructive whirlwind from a supercell (7) 19 Try for a job at (5,2) 20 The Horne ____, band (7) 21 Like ____, very special (2,5) 23 Bamboo stick used as a weapon; I halt (anag.) (5) 25 '____ After ____', Cyndi Lauper hit (4) 27 What there are "six" of in a "six-pack" (3)

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!

The Most 50 TV Shows of 2024 Yes, that’s not a typo. Or at least, not an accidental one. Lots of newspapers, magazines and websites are currently parading their list of The 50 Best TV Shows of 2024 (spoiler: you haven&#8…

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)

YouTube video by Michael Spicer That Scene in a Christopher Nolan Film When You Give Up Trying to Follow the Story

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