New club site now released

Crossword Club members should now have received e-mails announcing that the new site is live and telling you how to set up your details. I’ve had a quick look.

You can now complete cryptic crosswords online. The interface isn’t exactly the same as for the former Times2 Race the Clock, so may take a little getting used to. The puzzle I tried wouldn’t let me submit the answer, but that might have been because it was about 3 years old. I’ll have another go tomorrow.

The main good news for the moment: discussion forums are back, without the moderation process that slowed everything down on the old Bulletin Board.

I’ll add more to this posting tomorrow after looking at the site in more detail.


(Thursday update)

With a dental appointment and a power cut, I haven’t had as much time to look at the new site as I’d hoped.

The submit button now works for online solving, regardless of whether your solution is all correct. And Mark G has already beaten my time for one past puzzle tried as an example.

I’ve looked at the print versions of puzzles. The black/grey choice for blocks has been replaced by a constant darker grey – a bit of a shame but not a big issue for me, though it is rather bizarre that the newspaper site still gives you the choice for today’s puzzle. There are various issues with the formatting of blocked grid puzzles which I hope they’ll sort out quickly.

The print-only Mephisto and Listener currently use a page layout that makes the print version unusable for me – clues printed to the right of the grid in an area that’s too wide unless you switch to landscape (which means a three-page printout for the current Listener.

The site seemed rather slow yesterday but this seems to have improved today.


(Saturday update)

The speed seems to have gone back to largo rather than prestissimo. Listener and Mephisto now print on one page though with an odd layout.

I’m making this my last update here – there’s plenty of discussion about the various remaining issues on the club site’s revived discussion forum.

65 comments on “New club site now released”

  1. Unfortunately it took me less than 45 seconds to find my first terminal bug, which prevents resuming puzzles, which in turn prevents me from tackling todays cryptic. I’ve posted a report on the forums there, so it’ll be interesting to see how things go.
  2. When I click on the link in the e-mail it redirects me to a “forgotten password” page.
  3. The link in the e-mail doesn’t work for me, either. Why am I not surprised?

    Tom B.

  4. I tried to log in several times, but failed. The links in the invitation email open a “forgotten password” page. The forgotten password page sends me another email. The link in that email opens a page that says:
    “Password reset – Error
    Either we failed to receive an activation code or an invalid activation code was used.”

    A tortuous process, that fails to complete.. not an encouraging start!

  5. Also, the site has posted solutions to the current Listeners and Mephistos which have not closed yet. Oops.
  6. Tried to log in – would not accept my password and I am now locked out of the old site as well.

    Shoddy and shocking.

  7. My subscription is due this week, do I use the free month and save £2.0825 or create a new subscription and save £4.99?

    And it’s ORANGE!

    sidey

  8. Sorry to hear of the login problems – I followed the message in the e-mail rather than worrying about what the page displayed said, and for what it’s worth, managed to get logged in without any noticeable trouble.
    1. I also followed the message in the email – tried to log in and my password was rejected. Tried to get into the old site and discovered that the link took me to the new site again. Now when I try it it takes me to step 3 of a process to login as a new or re-subscribing member.
  9. No problem logging in with my current email address and password, but I don’t think much of the new site. Totally gobsmacked that the solution to this week’s Listener is available! I don’t think they could have done anything more inflammatory if they’d tried.

    And what’s this with my “performance” score? I’ve opened two Listeners, a Mephisto and a TLS, submitted nothing (nor even entered a single answer), and now have a Top Score of 154 with an average of 60.

    Just tried Concise RTC – that should ruffle a few feathers too. It’s the same as the old online submission for cryptics, i.e. no skipping of entered letters, and the Submit button doesn’t work (at least, not in Firefox). Just checked, not in IE either.

  10. Same experience as jerrywh. I can’t log on at all.

    A simply stunning display of incompetence. How hard can it be simply to use the same database of users and passwords for a new site?

    The orange colour is awful.

    1. I suspect that using the same database is what they ARE doing when in fact they should not be. That might explain why some of us are locked out of both systems. Mind you, who knows …
  11. Been sent an e-mail telling me I’ve got a free preview and a month’s free access to new site. All I’m getting is a page asking for my credit card details. Subscribed for a year last February so still got 4 months left. What’s going on?
  12. Delayed submitting the weekend puzzles until after I had logged on to the new site but don’t see anything to indicate a successful submission. That’s a little unsettling.
    Also tried printing today’s but only can can get the light grey squares whereas I prefer the familiar solid black and the puzzle being trimmed to 70% for some extra space to futz around in.
  13. Peter,

    You may want to qualify “available” in the title, because it clearly is not available to all members.

    Will you be speaking to your contacts at The Times? If so please do post any information you can glean.

    Chris

    1. “available” now changed to “released”.

      I have already e-mailed people at the Times to let them know about the log-in problems, the dead “submit” button, and the places where people are talking about the new site.

      As far as posting information goes, this is really up to the Times staff. It’s simply not my place to speak on their behalf unless they ask me to.

  14. If you have membership of the main newspaper site, you need to use that password instead!
  15. Following the email link I too found that the new site would not accept my old password and neither would the page arrived at by following my previous shortcut (used OK yesterday). I then logged in to the complementary thetimes.co.uk link and clicked on puzzles and arrived OK. My grey puzzle printed out exactly the same format/hue as previous.
  16. Having failed to manage to log in this morning, I went through the “forgotten password” pages and reset my password ( to my original one ) and that allowad me into the site.
  17. I clicked my usual link to the old site, was redirected to the new and logged in without difficulty. Maybe I beat the early morning UK rush.

    In the printed version, the clue numbers in the boxes have paled almost into oblivion, whereas the unimportant black squares have been given greater prominence. In the old “grey version” print, the numbers were still black and the ink wastage roughly halved. Can we at least have the black numbers back?

  18. No problems with new site, although it provides more info than I really want (Leaderboards, Recent Games).

    N.B. I subscribed specifically to Crossword Club and hence (until about January) have free sub to Times Online. No password issues; and even my old shortcut works fine!

  19. I was looking forward to the new site, but sadly it has proved to be the ‘same old same old’.
    I could not get and still cannot get access, even after resetting my password.
    I sent the obligatory email to customer support at ‘help@timesplus.co.uk’, but thought I would also call the 020 7711 1523 number.
    After a couple of minutes of recorded advertising for the NOTW site, I was put through to a rep. On announcing that I was having problems logging into the Times Crossword Club, he immediately hung up on me!
    Let’s hope I actually get a response to my email, but I am not hopeful judging by much previous experience.

    Mike Allward

  20. Couldn’t log in using my old password, but the reset password link worked fine for me.

    I quite like what the new site promises. That it will track performance, show stats and so forth. Clearly there are many bugs and I get the impression that the release was rushed out to meet a deadline when it really wasn’t ready. I write web pages for a living, so I can appreciate the difficulties, but I would be horrified if I released anything like this.

    No doubt the problems will be gradually sorted out over the next couple of weeks or so.

  21. It became clear – eventually – that the Submit button only worked if you had an incomplete grid. I can only assume that the people testing the software were no good at crosswords, and upon finding that their incomplete grids were being correctly submitted they figured it was working properly.

    You lot, of course, are far too good to find this out, because you all complete the grid before trying to submit it. 😛

    As of 11am this morning, some official or other posted on the site that the Submit button is fixed. It’s working properly for me now, but not for some others.

  22. Logged in without problem. I only use the Club to fetch the daily puzzle for printing and certainly won’t be tempted to use their forum in preference to this one (ever, I suspect).

    Only real gripe for me, therefore, is that I want my black squares back. The grey makes it looks like my printer’s on the blink. The crossword is sufficiently important to me that I’m happy to spend a little more on ink each year to get it the way I want it. The previous grey/black option seemed like a very sensible arrangement. Too sensible?

  23. I just get directed to the forgotten password message, have submitted my email address three times but no return email.Can’t get in with old password so will just wait until you guys tell me it’s ok. Confession is good for the soul. I did today’s puzzle in the newspaper in my local library’s reading room
    1. You may need to email customer services. I had the same problem and it took two emails to sort it out. Looking at my details on the site it appeas that they have had to do a manual adjustment to give me free access until the (extended) end of my subscription period.
  24. I share the problems that many others seem to have had. The link in the email took me to a ‘reset password’ page. I did that and was then taken to a subscription page, even though I have several months left to run on my current sub. I tried to login via the Times main site and both my new and my old password were rejected. An email to the help desk has not been acknowledged, let alone answered. My usual link to the old site also now takes me to the ‘reset password’ stage.

    Chris G

  25. No problems with getting in to the site, but lots with the puzzles!

    Likes – it seems I don’t have to reset my password every time I go to the site
    – Typeface used for onscreen clues means they all fit within one screen, rather than having to use the scroll bar

    Technical problems – several javascript error messages, seemingly to do with cake….?
    – Can’t get puzzle grids to display correctly in IE – the black squares and clue numbers aren’t where they should be
    – Same submit problem as others

    Dislikes – Typeface used for onscreen answers – why not a sans serif, more like what you would write yourself?
    – I’m EXTREMELY disappointed that they haven’t taken the opportunity to grey out clues that you’ve solved, as the Guardian online puzzle does
    … and …
    – Yuck, it’s orange!

  26. OK, I now have access having exchanged a couple of emails with Customer Services, and most importantly, now have today’s cryptic!

    First impressions of the site are not very positive but I will wait til I have found my way around.

    A number of the above comments seem incorrect as the “print” version of the cryptic prints at least as well as the old version did. Obviously the “play” version will not! And it is true that the black option seems to have disappeared.

    The Times seems to have handled everything with all of its customary smooth competence, efficiency and panache 🙂

    1. I have had a reply to my first email from this morning, but their suggested login/password combination still leads to the subscription page.

      I await their second reply…….

  27. The old version gave me an option to change the size of the clue font in a rather nice clean window (or tab once I tamed it). This overlay of your current window is hideous. Bye subscription. You won’t be getting a renewal here.
    1. You seem to be looking at the “play” version not the “print” version, which is as adjustable as ever
  28. Having finally manged to get into the site, I like the grid coming up automatically in grey as it saves me having to select it. The numbers were clearer though when they were in black.
  29. I don’t see the point of all this record keeping if, as it appears, the moment you open a puzzle even to take a look at it, it treats it as a game in progress. Surely there should be a “Start to solve” button to activate this new feature?
    1. Looking at it from a competitive point of view, if publicly quoted times are to mean anything, the clock has to start as soon as you look at the puzzle. I think there’s scope for an option allowing you to abandon solving for a publicly quoted time, and come back later with your private clock turned back to zero.
      1. I’d prefer to simply lose the timer entirely; many of us simply don’t care, and it’s distracting and somewhat oppressive to have it sat there micromanaging you as you try to enjoy a relaxing solve.
        1. I think it’s becoming clear from the new site’s forum that there are plenty of people who simply don’t care about solving times and would prefer not to see this and other information about them. I hope we can persuade the Times to provide a “competitive / non-competitive” setting in user profiles and modify various aspects for non-competitive solvers – I’m guessing that if you don’t want to see the timer, you also don’t want your time-dependent points score shown on leaderboards.
  30. I’m happy to report that after email correspondence with the customer service team I have managed to log in.

    Chris

  31. Having downloaded the puzzle this morning I had three gripes.

    1 – Hyphens after the clue numbers
    2. No space between the end of the clue and the bracketed enumeration.
    3. No “print black” option

    Looking back now I see that these three points have been addressed.

    1. At 00.30 on Friday.

      I just printed off the Friday puzzle and note that:

      1) Black/grey print options have been restored
      2) Grey is back to grey as prior to new system
      3) Clue numbers are now back to black
      3) Hyphens after clue numbers are gone
      4) Full stops after clue numbers have not returned (I’ve no problem with this)
      5) Spaces between clues and enumerations have been restored

      I’m very happy with all of the above, but please can we have the date of the puzzle next to its number?

      1. Certainly better! Thanks for a rapid response. If I could have everything, then I would add

        1. yesterday’s slightly darker grey
        2. full stops after clue numbers
        3. … and the date!

        Short cuts, log-in etc all went without problem. And, if they are going to provide those silly leaderboards, at least give us the facility to filter them (by solver/crossword number).

  32. Well done to the elves of The Times techie caves for putting right much of what was wrong yesterday in double-quick time.
  33. The Listener still prints on two pages. The change the size of the font button has gone and it is still ****ing orange. Has anyone got positive comment about this ****?

    I have cancelled my subscription.

  34. I now realise, having read the original email more carefully (but should it really say “access HERE” with a bright orange link before explaining how) that I was mean to enter my Times Online password and not my crossword club password. So it was not surprising that I couldn’t log in initially.
    However:
    The email suggested that this was a week’s trial so why –
    a- does the old version of the website appear to have disappeared already?
    b – does my Times Online password take me to an invitation to re-subscribe? As does my attempt to change my password? Trting to access the club from within Times Online leads to an amusing error message from Firefox along the lines that the application in question is not set up to handle cookies properly (!). As someone who is lucky enough to have free membership, I encounter this problem every year and iot has always taken some jiggery-pokery behind the scenes to correct. I suspect a simple call to the helpdesk (between the hours of 8-30 and 7-30) will not cure it but perhaps I am being optimistic.

    Having said that cancelling one’s sub because of the colours or fonts seems a mite impetuous …

  35. Given that the ability to comment has been restored (and more – you don’t have to wait to be editorially approved) I found it discouraging to find the resulting threads full of bile and venom. While I would accept that it would have been nice to get it right first time, I can’t see why we should be upset at being used for what is effectively beta testing. Why not civil comments about what needs to be changed, rather than instant “I’m resigning” toys out of the pram stuff? I thought Times solvers were more gentle(wo)manly than that.
    I have already posted such a comment on the board.
    1. I agree that people should not abuse the comments forum (if only I could log in to see it) but if this is “beta testing” then what the bleep has happened to the old website? Call me a fuddy duddy old traditionalist but I thought that if you gave someone a week to test something out new – you did not remove their ability to use the old, stable version which they are paying for? I’d be very cross about that, tho I hope I would be restrained also in my comments.
  36. Changes are fine for me but I just got an email from Worldpay informing me of this…

    “IMPORTANT: The following Regular FuturePay Agreement with Times Newspapers Ltd has been cancelled, in accordance with the request we received from either yourself or Times Newspapers Ltd.

    No further payments will be taken under this agreement. If you believe that this agreement should not have been cancelled, please contact Times Newspapers Ltd at: custserv@timesonline.co.uk

    Thank you for using RBS WorldPay, processing payments securely on behalf of Times Newspapers Ltd.”

    Am I missing something? (and I’ve not cancelled)

    1. As the crossword club has informed subscribers (perhaps in the FAQs) the current FuturePay Agreements were tied to the old site and so can not continue to be used. You are not being thrown out of the site, but you will have to start a new subscription (which will then renew automatically every year) when your current one expires, which will be a month after the original expiration date. I only hope there will be a provision to start the new subscription on the precise date when the old one expires.
  37. Yesterday I had similar problems to those described logging into the new site. In anticipation of a lack of response from customer services I emailed a message to the three addresses I could find (custserv@timeonline, technical@timesonline and help@timesplus). During the course of the day each responded and each in turn reset my password. I could see what was happening so it wasn’t a problem correcting this. However, this afternoon (and for no apparent reason) I received an email message from RBSWorldPay saying that my “Regular FuturePay Agreement with Times Newspapers Ltd has been cancelled, in accordance with the request we received from either yourself or Times Newspapers Ltd” … what?!
    1. Please see my more detailed reply to torre_canyon’s post immediately following yours.
  38. Print crossword on single sheet of A4!

    Default print using Firefox, IE8 (IE9 blew a fuse!) would not allow me to change margins etc to get everything on one sheet.

    Solution: download page as separate document, re-open, all normal tools available to get it on one sheet.

    What an unnecessary palaver!

    1. Just for the record: which crossword are we talking about here?

      Of the prints I’ve tried, all the 15×15 crosswords have fitted on one page (Firefox 3.5.2), and Listener and Mephisto now fit on one page though the layout on the page is not ideal. Jumbos take two pages but that seems fair enough.

      1. Saturday Prize Crossword (Firefox 3.6.10; not sure about IE8 version (on other machine which is switched off).
  39. I still cannot get the onscreen version of the crosswords to display correctly in IE (version 8.0.7600.16385). If I highlight a clue, it appears that the answer runs diagonally across the page. The printed version comes up OK and I can apparently both now complete, and submit, the onscreen one in Firefox. It worries me though, because I was trying to keep the cookies “quarantined” in IE.

Comments are closed.