CRAZY Crossword Video
Here's Mark's attempt at the December Times Monthly Club Special cryptic crossword. How will he get on this month with this insane cryptic challenge?
You can watch the video here:
2022-01-23 21:23:45 +0000 UTC View Post
crackingthecryptic posts
Fillomino Aquarium by Phistomefel
This is one of the best puzzles I've ever seen. It's the new puzzle from Phistomefel and it's just a ridiculous creation. I spent 90 minutes last night absolutely enthralled by it and you can watch my attempt by clicking the link at the base of this message. But do give yourself a treat by having a go first!
You can play it in our software here:
January 2022 Reward - A Sudoku Hunt This Is
Happy New Year Patreons!
What better way to kick off the New Year than with a brilliant Sudoku Hunt by Peter C Hayward. As trailed in our book, CTC's Greatest Hits, and on the channel, Peter has created a remarkable journey through time and space that you will LOVE working your way through.
Once you have reached the end and "decided on the name for the next trilogy", email us at cra...
2022-01-01 16:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostPuzzle Pyramid - the Solution Videos
Hello Patreons!
Very well done to everyone who finished, or indeed made any progress in, the Puzzle Pyramid. This Christmas bonus comes with A FULL SUITE of solution videos - thank you so much to Aspartagcus, PjotrV and Panthera for not just creating the puzzles, which were awesome, but also the solution video walkthroughs (all but three, which feature guest appearances from Simon).
The CTC Mexican Standoff - the Solution Videos
Hi Patreons!
Here are the solution videos for December 2021's monthly reward sudoku hunt, the Mexican Standoff. The videos show how to solve each puzzle, Barred Windoku by PaperScissors, Looking Glass Killer by jneen and Poison Picnic 4: Wasp Sandwich by Chilly, as well as the final puzzle, in which video you will find out who won the standoff, what the question-mark represented, and if y...
2021-12-29 10:49:35 +0000 UTC View PostMark versus The Times Monthly Special - a clear winner
Watch Mark take on the Times's Monthly Club Special cryptic crossword - the hardest regular crossword anywhere. Warning: Do not try this at home without a dictionary to hand!
This month there is no split decision - a clear winner emerges ...
The video is here:
2021-12-19 12:20:15 +0000 UTC View PostOur Christmas Gift: The Pyramid Puzzle Hunt
Hi Patreons!
Thanks so much for supporting our channel. We are delighted to bring you a fantastic Christmas present - a puzzle/sudoku hunt by some wonderful constructors: PjotrV, Panthera and Aspartagcus. You can access this puzzle hunt by going to this URL: https://amgine.nl
The password you need to open the fil...
2021-12-18 16:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostGCHQ Christmas Card 2021
Hi Patreons,
Every year GCHQ release a challenge for the public. This year it's aimed at 11-18-year-olds in the UK. You can look up the original challenge here: https://www.gchq.gov.uk/news/christmas-card-2021 or watch Mark take us through the solutions!
Here is the video:
Negativity by jovi_al
As mentioned in tonight's video, we're releasing this bonus video on the above puzzle. It's a staggeringly clever construction and "trick" but neither of us would have solved it!!
How did you do?!
You can play the puzzle here:
https://app.crackingthecryptic.com/sudoku/mdtTb9qmhp&...
2021-12-01 20:31:00 +0000 UTC View PostDecember Reward: Mexican Standoff
Hello Patrons!
Thank you so much for supporting our channel, and so enabling us to bring you extra content as often as we can. The monthly reward for our $2 Patrons and above is Mexican Standoff, a three-way shoot-out between three constructors who sent us puzzles and had no idea they would be involved in this contest!
Solve the four puzzles, find out who wins, and send us the requi...
2021-12-01 16:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostNovember Reward Solution Videos
Hello Patreons!
Thank you so much for supporting us, and thanks to those who complimented the extraordinary November reward, the PBN Institute puzzle pack by Panthera and TheAsylm. 178 of you matriculated through all the puzzles and reached degree level.
We are delighted to present videos to some of the most interesting puzzles amongst the 45 presented. Some of these were considered...
2021-11-25 10:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostGenuinely Approachable Pencil Puzzles
As mentioned in last night's video, Simon has been trying some of the Genuinely Approachable Pencil Puzzles from the Discord server - and they're brilliant. [The daily puzzle can be found in the channel "daily-pencil-puzzle-discussion" and these slightly older puzzles are in the channel "daily-pencil-puzzles".]
In this video, he goes through the first 8 puzzles and talks through som...
2021-11-23 18:53:18 +0000 UTC View PostMark tries Lighthouse - the "Example Puzzle"
Mark has been told by Simon to have a go at Phistomefel's 6x6 example puzzle for Lighthouse. If this goes OK, Simon will attempt to solve the 9x9 version by Livestream tomorrow (21st Nov) at 9.00pm GMT on YouTube. Mark's solve is on the following video:
The ...
2021-11-20 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostWarning: Insane Vocabulary Ahead!
Mark takes on The Times Monthly Club Special, by Roger Phillips - the hardest cryptic regularly published anywhere! You are warned that you will have heard of very few of these answers, but Mark tries to tackle the puzzle without using the dictionary ...
You can watch the video here:
2021-11-09 11:34:29 +0000 UTC View PostPadlocked - the remaining Solution Videos
We published nine solution videos for Padlocked a couple of weeks ago - but some people wanted to see more! Thanks so much to the creators of the incredible Lockout Lines hunt who have rallied round to create videos for the remaining six puzzles.
We are delighted to bring them to you, completing the reward for Patreons in October!
Niverio shows how to solve Treasure Chest by M...
2021-11-08 17:56:29 +0000 UTC View PostTwo Truths And A Lie by zetamath
Hi all,
As mentioned on the channel in the last few days, Simon attempted this extraordinary puzzle by zetamath recently. We intended this to be a patreon-only video but there has been a huge appeal for it to appear on the main channel too. Thank you to those patrons in particular who expressed the view that this would be appropriate for such an amazing sudoku. We'...
2021-11-01 22:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostNovember Reward: the PBN Institute
Hi Patreons! {PDFs edited 02/11/2021}
We are delighted that the Paint-By-Numbers Institute had shared its full educational pack with us, from Intro level through to Degree level PBN!
You have to download the first document "PBN 01 Intro to J...
2021-11-01 16:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostAn unbelievable crossword finish
Mark takes nearly forty minutes to explain the finish to this wonderful Listener Crossword, Variety Show by Enigmatist, and that's with the clues already solved!
The puzzle was published by the Times on September 18, 2021, and was an absolute tour de force by thes compiler, John Henderson. Very likely the Listener of the Year for us, which is saying something.
The crossword is only ...
2021-10-24 08:27:40 +0000 UTC View PostNovember Reward - Pre-Release Bonus Puzzles
Hi Patreons!
We are excited to announce that the November reward for paying Patreons will be "The Paint-by-Numbers Institute proudly presents our Picture Puzzle Pack!"
The PBN Institute seems to consist of Panthera and TheAsylm, who have created a huge, but approachable puzzle pack with an awful lot of picture content. We will be releasing this on November 1st with some excitement.<...
2021-10-22 19:25:59 +0000 UTC View PostPadlocked: 9 Solution videos!
Hi Patreons!
We have not just one video solution for you this month, but nine! We asked the constructors if they were interested in/able to make videos for their puzzles, and eight of them have done it – many thanks to Riffclown, Mr Menace, Andrewsarchus, Memeristor, grkles, Chilly & Tallcat for their videos and of course to these constructors and MavericksJD, Twototenth, Virtual an...
2021-10-21 10:41:24 +0000 UTC View PostEuclidean Sudoku by Botaku
As mentioned in tonight's video, Simon has done battle with this brilliant puzzle by Botaku. You can watch the video at the link below but do try the puzzle first:
Play the puzzle here: https://app.crackingthecryptic.com/sudoku/tMmgPBBP93
SudokuPad link:
Euclidean Sudoku by Botaku
As mentioned in tonight's video, Botaku has set an intriguing puzzle with some complex-looking rules! Play the puzzle here:
https://app.crackingthecryptic.com/sudoku/tMmgPBBP93
SudokuPad link:
2021-10-16 19:06:10 +0000 UTC View PostMark's Monthly Slugfest
Hi Patreons,
Yet again, our crossword champion goes toe-to-toe with the most brutal regular cryptic crossword there is. See who comes off best this time, as Mark battles Richard Rogan, the Times Crossword Editor, on September's Monthly Club Special.
Be warned: in terms of vocabulary, you will not have heard of most of the answers here. Indeed, Mark is not even aware of most of these...
2021-10-14 18:07:43 +0000 UTC View PostPhilip Newman's Sudoku Pack: Counting To 9
As mentioned in tonight's video, the anniversary of Philip's first appearance on Cracking The Cryptic has just passed. To celebrate, Philip released a pack of 10 sudokus which we thought you'd like to see.
If you own our SudokuPad app then this link will allow you to load all the puzzles into it.
October Reward: Padlocked - A Lockout Lines Hunt
We're so excited to share this one with you. The attached document is a Lockout Lines sudoku hunt from some of the great and good of the sudoku world, including the two inventors of the Lockout Lines ruleset: Tallcat and Riffclown.
If you manage to solve the final puzzle send us an email at crackingthecryptic@gmail.com
We'll be awarding a Baba Is You key (giving you fre...
2021-10-01 15:01:07 +0000 UTC View Post6x6x6 Sudoku - Solved Here
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for supporting us on Patreon! We are thrilled to provide you with a solution video to Sam Cappleman-Lynes's 6x6x6 Sudoku.
This was a brilliant puzzle, in which it was vital to keep using the disjoint set rule which applied to all 6 grids - so it acted a bit like a Sudoku Cube!
Here is the solution video:
Looney Tunes Sudoku Hunt - the Solution Video
Hi Patreons,
Thank you so much for supporting our channel! Thanks to the hundreds of people who entered the Looney Tunes sudoku hunt, and the hundreds more who solved it without entering too.
About 85% of entrants sent the right answer, so clearly the means of deriving and attributing the 'sandwich score' could have been more clearly specified, but well done to those who...
2021-09-21 09:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe Sudokult Gospel
Some of the world's best constructors have teamed up to create this extraordinary classic sudoku pack. Featuring over 50 puzzles, shye, jovi_al, Philip Newman and Sam Cappleman-Lynes have put together a set of sudokus that TEACH solvers about advanced techniques - one technique per puzzle.
It is a quite incredible gift to the solving community. Do drop a comment underne...
2021-09-20 18:38:19 +0000 UTC View PostSam Cappleman-Lynes 6x6x6
Here is a bit of a treat for you: Sam Cappleman-Lynes, one of the world's most brilliant puzzlers, has created a new set of 6 linked 6x6 sudokus. Play them right now at either of the links below:
That Beast of a Cryptic
It's time for Mark to challenge himself with The Times Monthly Club Special cryptic crossword, the one with the insanely recondite vocabulary, and the most cruel clues regularly published anywhere.
This months's puzzle is by Roger Phillips, a bit of a nemesis for Mark - see how he gets on in the video:
2021-09-10 09:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post