The new Times Puzzles platform came into effect on Wednesday 3rd September. This thread is for TfTT contributors wishing to discuss the changes rather than having comments on the subject scattered throughout the puzzle blogs.
This does not affect the Crossword Club at the moment, but we have been told that will follow in due course.
The first effect I noticed was that the option to print puzzles appeared to have been removed, but Prof Paul has found the Print option on the Cogwheel icon. It’s item 6 of 7 and not visible on my screen without scrolling down.
I’m a Long-time-Lurker from Australia, who has been avidly following this site and attempting the TftT every morning, first thing. I believe I’m just getting better (and faster) at it now, and then…! I’m suddenly locked out with the message “Error 400: can’t find the site” or somesuch. HELP! This is practically my life-blood since being incarcerated in a Retirement village and being physically handicapped; what can I do now??
Hey, wait, I’ve got a new complaint: the “tab” key on the keyboard no longer moves you to the next clue. And shift+tab doesn’t go back to the previous clue. In fact, using the tab key makes the crossword grid lose keyboard focus entirely, meaning that when you press the enter key, unexpected things are going to happen – in my case, it opened the “submit feedback form”.
It’s little things like this that make a huge difference to usability.
I’ve given it a few days to settle down and I’m glad some are enjoying the changes. I didn’t think there was much wrong with the old version but heh! Personally I’m irritated by the way that the cursor skips over spaces that are already filled in, so I find that unless I’m extra careful I keep having to undo and re-enter.
The Sunday Times prize Sudoku cannot be reset if you go completely wrong. On the Classic app you can only undo the latest entry. In the online version you can at least repeatedly press the undo button to effectively reset the grid.
I am frustrated as none if the puzzles retain characters, making the puzzles unplayable , this is my way to staying sane, please fix.
I’ve had problems with the Suko for ages now on my Android. All of a sudden, in ‘notes’ mode, it stopped showing the numbers 1 -5, though it will show 6-9. I complained weeks ago via a review in Google Play, had a response from The Times asking every question under the sun about the app version, Android version, download speed of phone etc. but it has not changed a jot. It happens in both the app and website version on the phone. I can only use Suko now on my laptop which is very annoying.
Following the changes to the puzzles, I can now only see a tiny version of the crossword grids on my phone. They all worked perfectly before the changes. It makes no difference if I alter the size of the text or the grid, it still appears as a tiny square at the top of the screen with the lettering so small it can barely be read. What on earth is happening? They are normal on my laptop screen but no use if I want to use the phone for them.
I agree totally CazT, why on earth reduce the size of the grid? I normally complete the Concise puzzle on my phone but the letters are now so small they are hardly discernable.
The Times Puzzle app has completely stopped working on my Android tablet. I didn’t like the new version that came out in September: the grid was too small and the onscreen keyboard was obscured at the bottom. but now even that’s not working.