The Online Crosswords Championship

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Announcement
Well, we are nearly there.   For the first time, those who can’t make it to London will be able to try their skills against the best solvers in the world, even if they have to get up in the middle of the night to do it.   Of course, it won’t be the same without the beer and the prizes, but we’ll have to make the best of it.

David Parfitt, the Times Crosswords Editor, has posted full information about the contest in the Crossword Club Forum.   In response to my question, he has stated that the three puzzles will be re-used in December as regular Wednesday puzzles in the print publication and the online newspaper site.   As we have done in the past, we will blog the puzzles when they appear in the paper.

This thread is for discussion of the Championship.   Those who have competed are free to discuss the puzzles and the clues once the contest has closed at 12 PM GMT, which means that if you did not participate, and you don’t want to see spoilers, you should not read the comments after the competition is closed.

I am going to give it a go, but I don’t expect to finish unless the puzzles are exceptionally easy.   Mr Parfitt did not give any hints about this, but it is possible that with such a large number of people competing, they may present us with only moderately difficult puzzles.

The timing of the contest in various parts of the world might be challenging to some, but it’s hard to see what else they could have done.   Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore will have it fairly easy, and will the UK, Europe, and Africa.    It is a little late in New Zealand, and very early indeed here on the East coast of the USA.    Caffeine and adrenalin will have to make up the difference.

Good luck to all!

148 comments on “The Online Crosswords Championship”

  1. Message on Twitter from Richarc Rogan: “I don’t think anyone thought to stress test our crossword server… Grovelling apologies …”

    I had previously asked if it was possible that it would still start today but at a later time, and his reply was “There’s more chance of Rudy Giuliani’s hair dye holding I suspect alas”

    1. ‘I don’t think anyone thought to stress test our crossword server’.
      This is really quite extraordinary.
  2. If the site removed the Print option so that there was just a Play option then wouldn’t matter when people started … of course, this still relies on people’s honesty to an extent but, at least for most of us, wouldn’t change much … as soon as you start one puzzle, your clock goes off until you have finished all three puzzles … just a suggestion … (maybe open for 24 hours) … such a shame as clearly idea was very popular, to state the bleeding obvious
    1. You have clearly never worked for the Times – a logical solution? Nah, that’ll never catch on.
    2. I for one think it’s high time for a neutrino to be crowned the Times Crossword Champion, with a blistering 1 minute 14 seconds solve time for three full puzzles…
  3. Another comment about the timing of the virtual competition, considering its global audience. I’ve also been square dancing on Zoom and the times chosen were often 10am in California, which is early afternoon on the East Coast of the U.S., early evening in Britain and Europe and really convenient for everyone except our Australian dancer, who gets up in the middle of the night.

    Perhaps when and if the Competition is repeated, a check on the localities of the expected participants could be used to pick a starting time which would let a majority of competitors log in during waking hours.

  5. When I refresh I’m getting the twirly circle thing for a little longer before the error reappears. Which is nice.
  6. The site has always been dodgy, the IT department either is incompetent or starved for funds to buy a faster server and more bandwidth. Or is it outsourced to Serco?
  7. ….how long do you give it before giving up completely.

    I had to get special leave from Mrs H to do this (it’s her birthday weekend).

    Mr Parfitt – you might want to call a halt, draw a line under it and reschedule for next Saturday (with all hamsters fully fit and all IT hands on deck) when Mrs H might have simmered down….

    1. This cannot really proceed as envisaged at this point, can it? Hopefully defeat can be admitted (and some of us can finally get to bed!)
    2. Please pass on Club Birthday wishes to Mrs H. My daughter’s birthday as well… but she understands where my priorities lie…
  8. Yes – the grids were there half an hour before the start but failed to download. Clearly The Times not geared to the response. Pity to have wasted my Saturday morning as a forwent other arrangements.
  9. I am giving up for the day. These things happen. But personally, I think it would be better not to dash it out without warning. Better a well informed longer delay than another mess
    1. I think that’s the way I’m heading too – like others had to get a passout from the OH for this time anyway, so hopefully an organised, communicated, delay is in order.
  11. I’m giving up for the day – see you all on Monday’s blog.

    Will enjoy reading the torrent of comments saying how everything came up at 11:02am and a great competition was had by all….

  12. I would suggest an announcement now to abandon today would be sensible and then decide on a plan going forwards ….

    Edited at 2020-11-21 11:01 am (UTC)

  13. Okay it’s 3am here, I’m going to bed! Will check to see if there are any new puzzles to do in the morning 🙂
  14. I’m actually quite relieved. I had to go in to work today for a live software release (the culmination of a 4-year project) so I didn’t really have time for this.

    There were placeholders for all 3 puzzles on the site at 7:00 this morning, but when I logged in at 10:30 hoping not to be disturbed for half an hour or so I thought the firewall was blocking it, so I tethered the laptop through my phone and then realized it was another Times cock-up. Let’s hope they reschedule it for next Saturday and get their act together!

  15. Boris – sorry – the Crossword editor – promised to roll out a world beating competition.
  18. I now have all 3 giving a page not found – presumably this is possible due to the number of people giving up…..
    1. I think they may have pulled the crosswords themselves – if nobody ever accessed them they could use them again.
      1. I agree. Today’s cryptic seems to be working – and appears easier than the normal Saturday puzzle
  19. I managed to get on the site about 5 minutes ago, established that the puzzles had been taken down (the links were still up) and read the “rules” in the forum. Now it’s bolloxed again.
  20. Huge apologies again for the technical wipeout this morning. Our IT team are still working on it. We’re hoping we might be able to salvage something from the event. I’ll update you as soon as I can.

    David Parfitt
    Puzzles Editor

  21. Come on ref! You have been looking at the action replay for long enough! Time for a decision so we can all stand down until next week!
  22. The IT team has got the site working, and they are confident it won’t fail again. We are going to go ahead, but on balance, we think the fairest thing to do would be to reschedule the event for 10.30am GMT tomorrow (Sunday, November 22).

    Please accept my sincerest apologies for the disruption to your weekends. I hope with every bone of my body that we can make it up to you with an enjoyable event tomorrow.

    David Parfitt
    Puzzles Editor

    1. This appeared while I was composing the note below. **** happens and I really hope it goes OK tomorrow.
    2. A first world problem in the grand scheme of things but a big disappointment nonetheless. Pity the likes of the poor sods who have had to stay up into the small hours, revise personal plans(to the chagrin of loved ones) and absolutely everyone who has had their time wasted in a futile search for the non-existent.

      There’s no perfect solution to satisfy all the many who have been inconvenienced but just giving 24 hours notice of a further attempt to run the competition will surely exclude many who cannot revise their lives in such short order. Surely at least a week hence would be fairer to enable maximum participation(technology permitting)?

      1. Yes, I really can’t apologise enough to everyone who was looking forward to today, and especially those who had made special arrangements to be ready for the event to start this morning.

        As you say there’s no perfect solution to rescheduling, but we felt that having got everybody keyed up for the event this weekend, it was better to reschedule for as soon as possible. Many apologies to those who won’t be able to make it the new time.

  23. As well as being the chair of epidemiology at Little Fransham University I am also the chair of IT cock ups at Wood Rising college. You shouldn’t have done it the way you did. Of course I won’t commit to telling you how to do it next time, just that you were wrong this time. Please send my consultancy fee using my usual bank details.
  25. ….since I wasn’t really very enthusiastic about this idea from the outset. I think we should put it off until after New Year when, hopefully, the lockdown will have been relaxed sufficiently for me to nip down to Curry’s and finally succumb to a laptop. Tomorrow ? Nope.

Comments are closed.