As the first competitor other than former Times finalists to be all-correct with a total time under 80 minutes, Sabine just pinches the star from Mark. I’ll start awarding the spoon regularly when I’m more sure who’s had a bad week.
Those who feel humbled by taking longer to solve some single puzzles than the leaders took for the lot: I used to feel much the same years ago when championship puzzles were reprinted with a note showing the percentage of finalists finishing in less than half an hour. Quick solving usually requires years of practice, starting young.
Mini-championship
| Position | Name | Errors | Total time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Goodliffe | 0 | 00:38:37 |
| 2 | Peter Biddlecombe | 0 | 00:52:08 |
| 3 | Sabine | 0 | 01:08:25 |
| 4 | Tony Sever | 0 | 01:09:47 |
| 5 | linxit | 0 | 01:36:32 |
| 6 | neildubya | 0 | 01:37:04 |
| 7 | dhogg | 0 | 02:23:13 |
| 8 | foggyweb | 0 | 05:17:06 |
| 9 | talbinho | 1 | 01:09:13 |
| 10 | ilanc | 1 | 04:42:45 |
| 11 | JohnPMarshall | 2 | 02:52:05 |
RTC points table
| Position | Name | Total points (max: 72) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Goodliffe | 70 |
| 2 | Peter Biddlecombe | 62 |
| 3 | Tony Sever | 53 |
| 4 | Sabine | 49 |
| 5 | talbinho | 47 |
| 6= | neildubya | 38 |
| 6= | linxit | 38 |
| 8 | dhogg | 30 |
| 9 | fgbp | 28 |
| 10= | JohnPMarshall | 16 |
| 10= | ilanc | 16 |
| 12 | foggyweb | 14 |
Fastest for each puzzle:
Sat/Tue/Thu/Fri: Mark Goodliffe 5:11, 7:10, 6:15, 8:46, Mon: Peter Biddlecombe 4:30, Wed: talbinho 5:46
Star: Sabine
Spoon: not awarded
Raw scores:
Peter Biddlecombe, 00:09:50, 00:04:30, 00:15:15, 00:06:57, 00:06:27, 00:09:09, 0
Mark Goodliffe, 00:05:11, 00:05:02, 00:07:10, 00:06:13, 00:06:15, 00:08:46, 0
fgbp, 00:20:21, 00:08:20, X, X, 00:10:08, 00:16:03
JohnPMarshall, 00:31:34, 00:24:35, 00:32:15, 00:12:22, 00:58:13, 00:13:06, 2, 23678/24D 23682/19A
ilanc, 00:28:40, 00:23:50, 00:44:55, 00:35:10, 01:10:10, 01:20:00, 1, 23682/21
linxit, 00:16:01, 00:15:10, 00:17:55, 00:14:57, 00:18:42, 00:13:47, 0
talbinho, 00:12:27, 00:08:22, 00:21:02, 00:05:46, 00:12:36, 00:09:00, 1, 23681/22A
neildubya, 00:17:46, 00:09:31, 00:23:12, 00:11:34, 00:23:41, 00:11:20, 0
Tony Sever, 00:16:03, 00:08:35, 00:16:22, 00:10:24, 00:09:36, 00:08:47, 0
dhogg, 00:45:04, 00:27:37, 00:23:19, 00:18:27, 00:19:54, 00:08:52, 0
foggyweb, 00:49:42, 00:36:19, 01:07:00, 00:40:35, 00:55:00, 01:08:30, 0
Sabine, 00:13:21, 00:10:34, 00:11:07, 00:09:08, 00:12:05, 00:12:10, 0
OK, that was 25 years ago (and it was actually for Monday to Saturday, rather than Saturday to Friday), but it suggests a target of 36 minutes for the six puzzles (i.e. an average of 6 minutes per puzzle) for any aspirant Times Crossword Champion to aim at.
However, if Mark G. is as good as I think he is, he has probably already bettered that, and I therefore propose a target for him (and others of his calibre) of 30 minutes for the six puzzles, based on my estimate that John Sykes at his best was at least a minute per puzzle faster than me at my best.
Go for it, Mark.