Alan is a four-letter crossword solution for the term 'cryptanalyst turning'. A cryptanalyst is someone who specializes in analyzing and deciphering codes and ciphers. Turning is a term used to describe the process of taking a plaintext message and transforming it into an encrypted message. ALAN is likely a reference to ALAN Turing, a British mathematician and cryptanalyst who is widely considered to be the father of modern computing. He is best known for his work on breaking German ciphers during World War II.