Championships 2016 chatter

Author   sotiraPosted on Categories Announcement
I thought it might be nice to have a thread where folk can chat about Saturday’s event without hijacking main puzzle threads and annoying those who weren’t there and wouldn’t have wanted to be. So here it is.

40 comments on “Championships 2016 chatter”

  1. Saturday was hugely enjoyable (again). Generally, the ultra-modern News UK building was a good venue for it — lovely view of St Paul’s cathedral to occupy me when I got stuck — although the building itself is a bit like something out of a JG Ballard novel. After passing through airport-style security we were whisked up to the 17th floor in an elevator with no buttons, pre-programmed by security to make sure we didn’t wander into the Features department or Rupert Murdoch’s private hot tub in the penthouse. And, in true Ballard style, the building started fighting back during the first qualifier. Around the 40-minute mark a very loud recorded voice began informing us that a security incident was being investigated and we should prepare to evacuate if the alarm sounded. And kept informing us, every few minutes thereafter. It was piercingly loud, and poor old Richard R was standing at the front looking mortified every time the thing started up. I don’t think the News UK building has an off-button. I’d hate to be in it if it really got angry.

    In the end the organisers added 5 minutes to the hour to compensate for the considerable distraction.

    Mixed day for TfTT regulars. No doubt others will relate their experiences. Personally I did pretty well. All puzzles completed in about 53 minutes with no mistakes, which was my main goal after making several errors in my only previous attempt. I finished 27th in my heat, so missed an automatic invite for next year by a couple of spots. A major improvement on last time, though, so I’m happy.

    And the George pub was a perfect spot for the all-day meet-up, having a nice big courtyard for mingling in. I met some familiar faces and some new ones and had a lot of fun (and far too much wine). Cheers to all for making it a great day.

  2. Good thinking .. so, how did it go, Sarah? Apparently the usual winner won .. i can’t find anything on the Times main website or on the Crossword Club site. However Tony Sever, bless him, has provided a list of finalists and their finishing order.

    Do you know which ones have aliases we would recognise?

    1. I’m pretty hopeless on names, Jerry. If Penfold stops by later he seems to have most of the identities nailed down. Cryptic Sue, of course, made the final, so well done to her.
    2. 9 Helen Ougham (89) – Blogs Jumbos under her own name
      10 John McCabe (89) – Mohn2. Never yet managed to pin him down to say hello in person.
      16 Matthew Marcus (87) – Old thingamabob. Er, Verlaine.
      21 Marcos Fernandes (77) – erstwhile Jumbo blogger Fathippy I think.
      24 Sue Prout (65) – Cryptic Sue!!!
  3. Unfortunately, events conspired to stop me mingling in the pub after the other business of the day, though I at least managed to say hello to one or two blog regulars over coffee at the venue. I hope to do better next year at being sociable (this could be my motto for the whole thing, of course).

    As for the puzzles, happily I managed to finish just before the building started being alarmed. I couldn’t wait for the official results, but one of the invigilators showed me as 20th on his list, which seems about right for that finishing time. Assuming I didn’t make a slip of the pen (fingers crossed), that means a 6th year of finishing between 19th and 22nd in my heat, so clearly I know my place. In football terms, I am a Swansea or West Brom, not challenging for the Premiership title, but managing to avoid relegation, which is a good enough result for a club of my size. I shall return next year, naturally, both for the enjoyment of the occasion, and just in case I turn out to be Leicester City.

  4. Great idea, Sotira. I thought Saturday was hugely enjoyable too and I was very sorry to have to head off without popping into the George.
    Strangely, the fire alarm didn’t bother me – probably because my usual solving spot is a rush hour train, so silence, while welcome, is hardly a pre-requisite.
    I thought the puzzles were extremely fair. Having gone into the day a bit pessimistic after a poor week on the daily offering, I made pleasing progress and finished about the same time as you. However, I fluffed a shortie on the final grid (not sure we can talk specifics of clues on here yet) so ended up 40th – one place lower than last year.
    To pick up on topicaltim’s theme, I think that makes me a Brentford or Barnsley…
  5. Good idea S. I’ll be along to add my thoughts later when the hangover has finally gone.
  6. Great to meet up,thanks all for your company,very much enjoyed.Have started time training with a view to taking a combative roll next year.Sotira,you left your goody bag behind,will forward if you wish.
    1. It was my first time competing, and I found it hugely enjoyable.

      I finished 14th in the 2nd semi (c. 37 mins total), so pleased to qualify for next year, but a bit annoyed to miss out on the final by 2 places.

    2. Great meeting you. That was fun. And glad to hear you’re going to have a tilt next year. I realised I must have left the goody bag in the pub (definitely wine-related!) but I can live without it. Thank you, though. See you next year.
      1. Did everyone’s goodybag have a Times Jumbos book in it, or did I nick off with someone else’s?
            1. You won’t think that when you try and do the Daily against the clock on an iPad. And of course, you cannot enter the Club board with an iPad. Should have wished for something else :-))
  7. Yes, good idea Sotira. I’ve already annoyed people on the main puzzle threads but it’s nice to have somewhere to do it more thoroughly.
    The puzzle bit of Saturday was a complete disaster for me. I raced through the first couple of puzzles in 22 minutes, so was feeling pretty good about things as I started the third. A little over ten minutes later I had all but five clues in that puzzle done, but unfortunately that was as far as I got: I spent the next half-hour or so staring at those five clues. When they announced the extra five minutes to make up for the distraction of the alarm I thought ‘oh God please no, just put me out of my misery’.
    The pub was great fun though, and I managed to stay for far longer than I have in any previous year. It is very rare these days for me to drink that much beer so yesterday was not the easiest of days. Worth it though.
  8. I am mortified to realise that I could probably have made the top ten this year, if I’d gone back over my sillier answers in the fifteen minutes or so that I didn’t use for checking at the end of the finals. When will I ever learn? Lovely to see so many of the great and good in the boozer afterwards.
  9. I went down on Saturday against my better judgment, as I was (and still am) suffering from a bad case of flu. I came 16th in the 2nd Prelim though, so pleased to have booked my spot for next year. Halfway through the final I got an attack of the shakes, but wouldn’t have finished inside the hour anyway.

    Went down the pub afterwards for a couple of drinks, but didn’t stay long. Sorry, but I wasn’t up to circulating and just stayed inside the Parliament Bar while I was there.

  10. I’ve put the Championship results on the right-hand menu now (replacing the 10th-anniversary puzzles). Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get hold of the “official” printout for the final, so I’ve borrowed Tony Sever’s list instead – the link takes you to his blog.
    1. I’d love to but I can’t find your email address. I know I used to have it but it must have disappeared along with a lot of others when I had a big hard disk crash about a year ago.
      1. You should by now have received an email from a very kind man who knows both of us 😉
  12. In a sense, I’m pleased that I’m not good enough to qualify for the finals as there’s no way I would have been able to keep up in the all-day drinking stakes.
    It’s a shame that there has been no official mention of the results on The Times Crossword Club website yet.
      1. Ah, I see they must have had a slight recount for Prelim 1. Several of us have moved up one place on the results there, meaning I missed an automatic invite by one place. Rats!

        Edited at 2016-10-24 05:50 pm (UTC)

        1. I believe you have Richard Fletcher to thank for that, he realised he hadn’t been marked down for erroneously putting scarper as an answer and told the markers so thereby being demoted from 25th to 29th.

          Simon

  13. The talk of the lunchtime boozing session was definitely the NW corner of puzzle 3 in the morning session. It will be interesting to see if it causes problems for everyone on here when published. Whilst it didn’t defeat me totally (as it did Keriothe) I did need 20 minutes for those last 5 clues. The upshot of which was that I finshed all correct, after about 58 minutes, which put me two places lower than Sotira in 29th.

    Tony S also blamed that corner for his missing out on a place in the final.

    The social side was far more successful, with several members of this parish putting up a good show in the mingling and drinking stakes. It was particularly please that Keriothe and Sotira were able to stick around a lot longer than on previous occasions. I just wish somebody had told me that necking pints of 5.6% craft beer isn’t the best tactic when you can’t find a 4% hand-pulled beer you like.

    Special well done to Verlaine and my protegee Cryptic Sue for making the final, as well as to Mohn for the top 10 finish.

  14. I was there for my second attempt, in the second preliminary round. Last year I finished in 19th place, but this year I slipped down after getting one wrong (if we’re not revealing individual clues yet, I won’t say what it was). I’m taking positives, though, as I was a lot faster this year – and would have made the final if I hadn’t made that error.

    The clue I slipped up on was my pet peeve of (I think) an obscure foreign word being clued as an anagram, but I can’t really complain given that a significant majority of competitors got it right. In fact, I think I might have been the only 89-scorer to have made my error in puzzle 2.

    Didn’t manage to say hello to anyone, unfortunately – if I qualify again next year, I’ll try to do better on that front.

    1. mauefw,

      Yes, I spent a while on that clue.
      Once I had all the crossing letters, though, there was only 1 reasonable spelling that I could see (the right one!).

  15. Thanks for this Sotira. I spent a good part of yesterday looking for the results (when I wasn’t obsessively checking 538 for US election stuff). Congratulations to all and I’m very sorry indeed to have missed it. The mental image of Rupert Murdoch and his jacuzzi will stay with me I fear, to be ranked with the equally horribly unforgettable one of DJ Trump in a man bun. It was good to see Dave Howell – one of our TLS stalwarts – in the top ten.
    1. I gather Murdoch and Trump despise each other so at least we don’t have to think about both of them in the same hot tub at the same time — a vision more awful than anything JG Ballard ever dreamt up.

      Edited at 2016-10-24 03:11 pm (UTC)

  16. That was good fun – although I didn’t mingle – but it was my first effort and I was at least pleased that, sitting in what my be described as exam conditions for the first time in 25+ years, I didn’t simply go blank. I finished well down in my heat but went for (some little) glory in an attempt to get top 25, giving up the possibility of 15 minutes’ checking that I’m sure would have quickly spotted 2 of my 3 errors. I’ll try again next year I think. Well done to everyone who did well or even not as well as they’d have liked.
    1. Your description of your prelim experience is exactly the same as my finals experience! To a quite uncanny degree.
  17. Cracking day, nice to meet up with people. I think the name badges should have an AKA typed in the middle!

    Tom Stubbs

  18. Not sure what to make of my singular achievement of competing in the final (my first time) but finishing 13th in my heat! I think there was a mix-up because I finished almost simultaneously with no 12 (but I concede he was a second or two faster) so I was told I was in the final and then at then end that I shouldn’t have been.

    I have finished 13th once before so that’s still my PB.

    Good drinking and word-related storytelling as ever, felt very much the worse for wear on Sunday.

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