Mark hits a wall
The crossword practice goes badly wrong this time.
See Mark's cryptic endeavours crash and burn ...
2020-11-12 10:28:28 +0000 UTC View Post
crackingthecryptic posts
Watch Mark practise his cryptic solving
The Times Online Crossword Championship is coming up in two weeks, so Mark tries three crosswords in a row - at speed.
2020-11-04 21:31:29 +0000 UTC View PostNovember Reward Puzzle(s)
Hello, everyone. Thank you for supporting us here!
We are delighted to present our monthly reward here - a pair of grids, forming a single puzzle, as shown in the accompanying document, which also contains links to access the puzzles in our software.
All the best, Simon & Mark
2020-11-01 15:42:32 +0000 UTC View PostTaking on the Monthly Club Special
Mark tackles the Times's unbelievably hard cryptic crossword - how will he do this month?
A special video for Patreons
Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAPQxJljnlA
The Pirate Puzzle Hunt - Solved!
How to solve the Pirate Puzzle Hunt
Today we post 5 videos on Scott Strosahl's amazing pirate puzzle hunt, explaining how to solve each of the four separate puzzles, and also how to tie them together to get the final answer. At the end of video 5 are the successful solvers - well done!
Here are links to the videos:
Puzzle 1: Islands of the Briney Deep (Sudoku variant): https://ww...
2020-10-20 19:16:17 +0000 UTC View PostCracking The Cryptic: The Book!
Hi everyone,
As many of you may have heard, Mark and I have decided to try and make a sudoku book! Yesterday evening we launched a Kickstarter campaign with the objective of reaching certain funding targets that would allow us to create, simply, the best sudoku book ever made.
Our vision is to make a "greatest hits" book (ie a book featuring the best puzzles we've solved on CtC over the last three years) but, hopefully, augmented by brand-new sudokus from the wo...
2020-10-13 20:22:14 +0000 UTC View PostPhistomefel's New Puzzle: Early Access!
Hi everyone,
As mentioned in tonight's video, Phistomefel has produced a new sudoku with a break-in he describes as his most beautiful ever (which means it's amazing!). We hope to showcase this puzzle on the channel in the coming days but we wanted to give our patrons a sneak preview so do have a go at it first at the link below!
Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. In cages, digits must sum to the small clue given in the top left corner of the cage. ...
2020-10-07 19:21:10 +0000 UTC View PostA Bonus Puzzle
We've been sent this puzzle that we thought we'd share with you all.
Obstacles
Normal sudoku rules apply.
In the final grid, there is a palindromic snake. It cannot touch itself, even diagonally. The given grey squares are the start, end, and midpoint of the snake (although which which must be determined).
One of the given coloured lines is a thermometer, the other i... 2020-10-02 09:20:36 +0000 UTC View Post
October Monthly Reward: The Puzzle Hunt!
Hi everyone,
Here is the new puzzle hunt by Scott Strosahl. This is a wonderful collection of puzzles and we really hope you enjoy them as much as we did. Do drop us an email if you manage to finish and let us know your feedback so we can pass it on to Scott.
We will release a video (or two depending on how long it gets!) talking through how to approach it all for $3+ patrons later in October :)
Simon & Mark
Mark Vs The Vicious Cryptic
Mark embarks on his monthly battle with The Times Monthly Special Cryptic. Will he manage to extract revenge after being beaten up last month?! You can watch at the link below!
Simon & Mark
Cosmology by Bobuardo da Vinci: Bonus Solve
Hi everyone,
After our community vote, here is our bonus video solve of Cosmology by Bobuardo da Vinci. My goodness this was a tricky puzzle but it's also extremely clever. You can play the puzzle first at the link beneath the video.
Simon & Mark
2020-09-25 12:46:06 +0000 UTC View PostSeptember Monthly Reward Video: Tour De France
Hi everyone,
Here is our solution video to September's Tour De France-themed sudokus - a fitting day to release it given the mountain top finish in today's stage!
Did you manage to solve the puzzles?
Simon & Mark
Phistomefel's 12x12 Star Battle: Bonus Video
Hi everyone,
As mentioned in the last few videos, we've recorded a bonus video solve of Phistomefel's most recent 12x12 starbattle puzzle from Logic Masters Germany. It's a really interesting puzzle with a "normal" solve path and a unique "change the puzzle" path that Phistomefel - being a genius - built into it. You can find the video (which has links to where to play the puzzle) here:
Mark Vs Nightmare Cryptic Crossword
If you like a monthly dose of schadenfreude interspersed with awe that anyone can solve puzzles like this check out Mark's latest battle with The Times Monthly Special crossword. This is not for the faint hearted or weak of vocabulary! You can watch at the link below.
Simon
September Reward Puzzles
Hello everyone,
[***Sept 3rd UPDATE***
Apologies to our Patreons who have turned out to be cleverer solvers than we were as testers. The 2nd puzzle works with the rule that all climbs are left-to-right, which is how it was compiled, but we thought it also worked without that rule, which turned out to be wrong, as several brilliant solvers have now demonstrated. We apologise for any time wasted, and have corrected the document for a final time. We will publish a further...
2020-09-01 18:41:07 +0000 UTC View PostMitchell Lee Explains His Amazing Puzzle
Hi everyone,
We're so thrilled to share with you Mitchell's video walkthrough of his incredible Odd Even Little Killer Sudoku - one of the hardest puzzles we've ever seen. Hang around until the end of the video as we've included the names of all successful solvers - well done to you all. Also, beneath the video there is a variety of information about some of the ideas involved behind the puzzle for anyone interested in such things.
Enjoy!
Simon & Mark
Starbattle by Phistomefel
As mentioned in our recent videos, here is a bonus solve of a beautiful (and quite challenging) starbattle puzzle by the great Phistomefel. Do give the puzzle a try first (there is a link under the video as usual).
Thank you all so much for the support.
Simon & Mark
Walkthroughs Of The Two Puzzle Hunts
Hi everybody,
Here is our solve video which goes through both of Joke's recent puzzle hunts (one of which appeared free here and the other was our monthly reward puzzle for August). We're delighted so many of you enjoyed them :)
Simon & Mark
Compass Puzzle: Bonus Solve
As mentioned on the channel, we've recorded a short video explaining how to find the solution to Scott Strosahl's beautiful playing-card-themed Compass puzzle! You can play the puzzle here:
Rules:
- - Divide the grid into regions based on the given clues.
- - There will be one orthogonally connected 13-cell region for each suit, pl... 2020-08-08 17:47:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Prasanna's Card Game Puzzles
Hi everyone,
Last month our fan Discord server ran a challenge to create puzzles based on playing cards. Almost all the entries used a standard pack of cards (and we've featured two poker based puzzles on the main channel). Prasanna Seshadri, one of the grandmaster puzzlemakers at gmpuzzles.com, based his puzzles on some more unusual sets of cards from games he owns. You can play Prasanna's puzzles in the two attached files. PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT PAGE 3 ...
2020-08-04 16:12:11 +0000 UTC View PostMark Solves The Listener Crossword
Hello everyone,
Mark has recorded his solve of a recent Listener crossword puzzle. Ancient Mariner by Tringa. (The Listener is considered to be the hardest regularly published themed cryptic crossword in the world).
You can find the video at the link below.
Thank you for supporting the channel here, we really appreciate it.
Simon & Mark
August Monthly Reward: A New Puzzle Hunt!
For our August reward, we're delighted to share with you this wonderful collection of puzzles by Joke van Veenendaal. Remember puzzle hunts don't have much in the way of instructions so check out this video if you want to learn more about how to attack this sort of challenge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4zdw2q-iAQ
Let us know how you get on and please send any feedback ...
2020-08-01 17:24:49 +0000 UTC View PostNew Puzzle Hunt
As mentioned in our recent videos, we're delighted to bring you the first of two puzzle hunts by Joke van Veenendaal. See if you can find the hidden location - which may be 10 or 11 letters!
If you aren't sure how to approach the hunt you can check out our puzzle hunt guide video by expert hunter Neil Talbott here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4zdw2q-iAQ
Enjoy!
Sim...
2020-07-25 17:13:15 +0000 UTC View PostSudoku Puzzle Hunt 2: The Solution Video!
Just over a month has passed since we released our latest sudoku hunt and the response has been incredible. Huge congratulations to all those who managed to come up with the correct 6-letter word. In this video, we go through the solution.
Enjoy and, as always, thank you very much for supporting the channel here.
Simon & Mark
&n...
2020-07-24 15:07:24 +0000 UTC View PostJuly Reward Puzzle Video
Mark talks through the solution to the Queen Sudoku puzzle that was July's Patreon Reward
2020-07-20 15:11:21 +0000 UTC View PostMark's Monthly Crossword Battle!
Hi all,
Welcome to Mark's monthly wrestle with The Times Monthly Special crossword. I believe Mark is literally the only person on the planet who could regularly solve this puzzle dictionary-less, let alone at the speed he does it. Enjoy the latest fight here!
Simon
July Monthly Reward Puzzle
Hi everyone,
A big welcome to all our new patrons! To celebrate the release of our Queen puzzles update for our Chess Sudoku app, we've made a Queen Sudoku as the July reward. This puzzle should be of average difficulty.
Rules: Normal sudoku rules apply. The digit 9 operates like a chess queen and no 9 can be a queen's move away from another 9.
[There has also been an update to the Classic Sudoku app too for anyone who enjoys their plain old nor...
2020-07-02 19:15:24 +0000 UTC View PostOur New Sudoku Puzzle Hunt Is Out!
Cracking the Cryptic Sudoku Hunt 2
We are delighted to announce the release of the Cracking The Cryptic Sudoku Puzzle Hunt. We have included a teaser in the attachment which will allow anyone to read the preamble and try the first puzzle. The whole hunt is available to patrons of the channel so please do consider becoming a patron if you enjoy our content!
We are offering a small prize for the first correct solution received and will try ...
2020-06-27 14:04:51 +0000 UTC View PostOur Second Sudoku Puzzle Hunt
Cracking the Cryptic Sudoku Hunt 2
We are delighted to bring you the second Sudoku Hunt from the channel. We are offering a small prize for the first correct solution received and will try to give a shout-out to all correct finishers when we release the solution video in due course.
Two requests:
1) We are really happy for people to solve singly or in groups, but do please bear in mind that any online discussio...
2020-06-27 14:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostA Stephen Sondheim crossword
Mark has solved one of the classic Stephen Sondheim crosswords which appeared in the late 1960s in the New York Magazine. You can watch the video here: